Anonymous wrote:A wonderful nanny - never late, never in a bad mood and never texts or makes personal calls when she is working (we have nanny cams and I know that she carries an inexpensive flip-phone just for DH and I to call her). I was the only employer who posted that they could answer "yes" to the three questions posed last week.

She is a college graduate with graduate school credits in ECD and years of experience. She is truly great with our baby and the baby loves her. She has handles all child related chores including making his baby food and doing his laundry (at her home on her off hours without pay as she has a washer/dryer in her apartment and we don't - she said it was easier for her to do this rather than haul a baby to the basement). The baby has been learning and thriving in her care. Further we have no worries about his health or safety.

She has been at $18 an hour for 34 hours with no other benefits other than guaranteed hours for this last full year.

She has asked for either a $2 an hour raise or a $1 an hour raise with 2 additional hours added to her schedule. Further, she has asked to be paid for any vacation weeks we take off and the option to make up any hours she loses on federal holidays.

Further wrinkle - I am still in graduate school and DH works full time. We have been using a small part of our savings just to have a nanny and would definitely have to dip about $300 into our savings a month to meet her requests.

What would you do?

Anonymous wrote:$18 an hour is reasonable. You should pay her for your vacations - if you can afford an vacation and nanny then you should be paying her. And, you should pay for the federal holidays she is working. I would do a .50 raise. Sounds like you should go to day care.

Anonymous wrote:I'm an MB.

I think you can definitely find someone to care for your child, and do most of the same responsibilities, for a lower hourly rate. So that is an option if the budget is really problematic for you. (For 30 + hours a week I do think you should offer some level of vacation and holiday leave, but you could prorate that - not sure you need two weeks leave, one sick, and ten federal holidays for a 3 day a week position.)

Can you find a nanny who is always on time, never sick, goes above and beyond, in whom you have complete confidence and trust easily? No. When you find that it is gold, and may very well command stretching your budget as much as possible.

Your peace of mind should be considered as an extremely important part of the decision making process, and something of monetary value.

So I think you have choices, but you don't want to find yourself a year from now thinking that a couple of hundred dollars a month seems like an easy price to pay compared to the aggravation of making a change, dealing w/ someone possibly less reliable, etc...

If you can find a way to do it therefore, I'd support finding the money. I don't think though, that you can't have a negotiating type conversation with your nanny. If you feel held hostage then that's not good for the long-term relationship, but finding a way for everyone to be happy with whatever solution you've reached is important. It has to work for you as well as the nanny.

Good luck.

Anonymous wrote:Nineteen dollars an hour for 36 hours a week, with two weeks paid vacation at your choice, IS STILL A GREAT DEAL for a nanny who your baby loves and is absolutely dependable, responsible and dedicated. She is not even asking for paid federal holidays or any sick time or personal time paid.

Don't make a foolish mistake, OP. Use the next six weeks to go look at what is available and maybe hold some interviews. You'll learn very quickly what a bargain you are getting. Two years from now when you are working again this increase and depletion of your savings won't matter at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I'm not a troll. Honest situation and an honest question.

Yes, the baby will be going to preschool but not in the coming year.

She is a no-nonsense nanny. I am fairly certain that these are her bottom-line demands as she has given us a lot of time to make up our minds (none of this would take affect until her year anniversary with us in six weeks). She has not however given us any ultimatum. So does that mean there is negotiating room?

OP I'm a nanny very similar to yours in behavior and in my approach with my employers. I plan to have the same conversation with my employersa few weeks before my contract ends, and I would be going into my 3rd year with them with no raise or change in benefits. They are really wonderful employers and I enjoy my job but the compensation is simply not up to snuff. I am going to request a raise, and lay out my terms, and give them until the end of our contract to decide. I will also make sure that I have another job lined up that meets or exceeds my compensation requests, and if they refuse or attempt to negotiate, I unfortunately will give notice. All of this is to say no I don't think you have any negotiating room here. You have gotten this great nanny for a bargain this year, and you can either afford her or you can't, and as another PP said there is no shame in that. If you can't afford her, let her go with a great reference, and perhaps lower your expectations to a nanny you can afford. That nanny could still be wonderful, but maybe she has less experience, or maybe she doesn't prepare baby food, or maybe she doesn't do laundry. What's important is the care of your child.

I can't wait to see how this fantasy turns out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I'm not a troll. Honest situation and an honest question.

Yes, the baby will be going to preschool but not in the coming year.

She is a no-nonsense nanny. I am fairly certain that these are her bottom-line demands as she has given us a lot of time to make up our minds (none of this would take affect until her year anniversary with us in six weeks). She has not however given us any ultimatum. So does that mean there is negotiating room?

OP I'm a nanny very similar to yours in behavior and in my approach with my employers. I plan to have the same conversation with my employersa few weeks before my contract ends, and I would be going into my 3rd year with them with no raise or change in benefits. They are really wonderful employers and I enjoy my job but the compensation is simply not up to snuff. I am going to request a raise, and lay out my terms, and give them until the end of our contract to decide. I will also make sure that I have another job lined up that meets or exceeds my compensation requests, and if they refuse or attempt to negotiate, I unfortunately will give notice. All of this is to say no I don't think you have any negotiating room here. You have gotten this great nanny for a bargain this year, and you can either afford her or you can't, and as another PP said there is no shame in that. If you can't afford her, let her go with a great reference, and perhaps lower your expectations to a nanny you can afford. That nanny could still be wonderful, but maybe she has less experience, or maybe she doesn't prepare baby food, or maybe she doesn't do laundry. What's important is the care of your child.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I'm not a troll. Honest situation and an honest question.

Yes, the baby will be going to preschool but not in the coming year.

She is a no-nonsense nanny. I am fairly certain that these are her bottom-line demands as she has given us a lot of time to make up our minds (none of this would take affect until her year anniversary with us in six weeks). She has not however given us any ultimatum. So does that mean there is negotiating room?

Anonymous wrote:I think that the fact that you essentially gave her no benefits for her first year means that you can't really only give her a little bit for year 2. I think she's telling you that the job as is is not working for her.

It sounds like she is not asking for any additional paid time off for herself (vacation or sick days?), and is offering to make up the time on the holidays. You are still getting a very good deal.

If you want to keep this nanny, I think you should agree. If you really can't afford her, then consider rethinking your job description and looking for someone cheaper. She sounds like someone who would not have trouble finding a good job elsewhere.

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you scrimping to get by, as much as she is? Or not so much?