Nanny Pay Question

Hi Everyone,

My husband and I are currently in the process of looking for a nanny, and one of the people we interviewed today asked if we would still pay her if we were home sick from work or didn't need her for the day and I wasn't sure what to say. Paying for a day here or there where we are sick (and would probably still want the help anyways) isn't a big deal, but then I started to think about what would happen for holidays (e.g. Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, etc) and when we go on vacation. It doesn't seem like we should pay for holidays or when we are out of town (assuming we gave the nanny notice), but I'm new to this so I'm not sure what the normal practice is. If you have a nanny, how do you handle these situations? Do you just pay the nanny regardless of whether she's there or not? Any comments would be helpful.

Thanks!

 

As a full time nanny, that is her job so yes she should be paid for holidays/unexpected days off just like you. Sick time and vacation time are negotiable but to get a good nanny you'll probably have to offer something. And HER vacation time won't necessarily line up with your's although that works out better for you obviously. I still work as a newborn nanny (yes with five kids of my own I still do it! It gives me a chance to help out new moms, get some baby cuddle time and some extra cash). My situation is different than a full time nanny. I get paid for actual man hours worked. But I go into it up front that way. When I nannied as my job and ran my home day care, I had sick days/vacation days/ and holiday pay worked into the contract.

 

We didn't have a nanny but we had an in home sitter who took 3 babies at a time. In our contract, she was paid for 2 weeks vacation and all federal holidays. She was not closed on a lot of them but since we are federal workers, our son was never there. I think it is standard to offer a nanny holidays off and vacation time. Also, some sick time for her is warranted.

 

We struggled with this too, and tried to take the perspective of what we'd pay for if the kids were in daycare. So, in the daycare my son attended, we did not get a pro-rated week if there was a holiday, so we decided we would pay her for all federal holidays (the days we ourselves get paid for if we have them off). We are also paying her for 5 sick days per year, and two weeks vacation - but one of those weeks has to be the week between Christmas and New Years because we'd be off that week anyway.

As far as days off when we take off, we are paying her for those because she would come otherwise and it's our choice not to have her there, if that makes sense. If the kids were in daycare, we'd also have to pay for days we chose to keep the kids home.

It's not the perfect solution, but we want her to feel comfortable in anticipating and knowing how much money she's going to get from month-to-month because she has her own bills to pay, etc. and I know it would bother me if my boss had the ability to call me on any given day, tell me not to come in and then pay me less for it.

 

This is the standard approach in my area, as well.

 

We had a nanny agreement so it was clearly stated how time off would work. I gave two paid weeks of vacation a year (10 days). One of those weeks were of our choosing and the other of the nanny's choosing. I also gave 5 paid sick/personal days. And I paid all the standard holidays if they fell on a normal working day, even though the nanny did not work on those days. This is pretty standard and will probably be expected by an experienced nanny. Also, if I took a day off and we did something with the kids, I'd pay her for that day even if I didn't need her to work.

When we had a nanny I worked from home, so it was a bit easier to manage her time off. We could also call on grandma or SIL to help out if nanny was sick. But I did have a nanny who burned through all her time off and was still calling in sick. I did not pay her when she had no days left, and I also eventually let her go and get someone else to watch them.

My preschool/daycare gets paid a set tuition amount per month. There's not a weekly pay pro-rated for holidays or anything like that. If we take a vacation during the school year we still pay for that daycare time even though the girls are not there. My daycare does give us up to two weeks of not having to pay in the summer, we just have to give at least 2 weeks notice and it must be a full week (we could not do a day here and a day there). I think this is pretty standard and the summer thing is generous.