For those of you with nannies

Are you supposed to automatically give a pay raise after a year? What did you do? We love our nanny and want to keep her. We pay $14 an hour for a 40 hour week. I would love to give her $15 but we are already so stretched, it's so much money. This is my first nanny (and employee) so I have no idea of the protocol.

Thanks.

 

I was a nanny, I didn't get a raise every year. If you really feel you need to, you could always go up 25 or 50 cents but personally I wouldn't worry about it much.

My boss would give me nice Christmas presents (sort of an instead of raise) and I always had a week off between Christmas and New Year's (she took that week off every year, I worked for them for 4 yrs and then almost a year when they were moving cross-country I moved with them) I usually got a gift and a full weeks pay. When the family went to Hawaii, I was suppose to go with them at first was the talk. Ended up not going and the boss gave me the week off with pay (I lived at their house so had it to myself for a week, it was great)

 

We've had the same nanny since I went back to work when the girls were 12 weeks. If memory serves me correctly we only started her out at $8 an hour and we moved that up, primarily for ease of paying her, to just a flat $75 per day regardless of when my husband gets home, we didn't do anything official with telling her it was a raise or anything, it just sort of happened within the first 3 months or so. She has anywhere from a 7-8hr day (and only comes 2 days a week). We've also given her a 2 weeks pay christmas bonus each year. And this week since we are coming up on her anniversary with us, we gave her a $10 per week increase for being so great with the girls etc. and told her it was a raise and that we think she's great, etc. and she was so gracious about it. This has been our first employee too, so we are going by the seat of our pants on this kind of stuff too. At $14/hr for the week, to jump it to $15 seems like a lot, can you give her a bonus instead. $1/hr at $40/week would be $2080 over a years time, maybe give her a bonus of a lesser amount than the 2 grand instead and that might be easier on your pocket book?

 

After I worked with my families for 1 year I got a raise from both of them. Since then (have been working with them for 3 years) one of them has continued to give me a slight raise each year, and the other gives me a bonus on the anniversary. However we are not talking huge amounts; the raise works out to £20 more each month with working 30hours/week, and the bonus is about a days pay. I am happy to get that, I think it's just a gesture to show that you're valued, the first year was a total surprise for me because I wasn't expecting anything.

If giving her a raise would make your finances stretched then I would just give a bonus of whatever you can afford/are comfortable with.

 

we have one but don't pay her as much as you do.
We started her at $10/hour and I worked her so hard for a few months last year after my tummy tuck so I upped her to $11/hour w/o her asking.
At her one yera mark this year, I did it again, now she's at $12/hour.
We just LOVE her so I try and take care of her before she has to ask.

If a raise isn't reasonable for you right now, what about a bonus?
I do this sometimes if she's been extra flexible or if the boys have been really bad! LOL!

 

Totally agree with others that there is no set protocol and you should do what you can afford. A bonus with an explanation of your satisfaction and desire to keep working with her may be fine. Of course it probably makes sense to ask if the current rate is acceptable to her or if she has any concerns.

If cash might be awkward, perhaps you could do something like a gift of frequent flyer miles (I had a bunch before I the kids), paid time off with a spa treatment, pre-paid gas card for personal use, etc. Whatever you think she'd appreciate.

In DC the nanny market is ridiculously competitive, so we give our nanny annual raises, a bonus and constantly praise her to others and herself.

Excellent nannies seem to be special people that see beyond money and are truly gifted at working with the most important things in life, your kids.

Hope things work out - she sounds great!

 

I pay mine a set amount weekly. It happens to be DH's niece, who didn't have much experience when we hired her. So I started her at $275/week, and after 3 months I gave her a $20/week raise to $295 (still very cheap). I plan on giving her a yearly raise of $10-$20.

If you can't jump a whole dollar/hour up, why not $0.25/hour?

 

where I live it's customary to give a raise and bonus (1 week pay) every year. That said, if I was paying $14/hour, I'd probably only raise a $.25/hour. We gave about 5% raise $30/week.

 

I was in the same boat - absolutely love my nanny but couldn't afford $1 hour raise, so I just did 50 cents. I think even 25 cents would be better than not giving anything. I get a 4% increase each year, which always seems like a tiny amount, but it ends up adding up - and helps keep up with a higher cost of living.

Best,
Mia