Do you give your nanny any paid vacation or if you are a nanny did you get any paid vacation each year? If so, how much?
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We are paying our nanny her regular pay when we go on vacation. So she will get a paid week off this summer, but it's based on our schedule. I would probably give her more vacation time if she's asked for it.
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As a nanny, I currently get 80 hours of personal time (sick/vacation/whatever), all major holidays, plus whatever time they choose not to use me- though sometimes if they're away, I'll go get the mail & water the plants, but I'm sure if I told them I wasn't going to be around they wouldn't care if I asked the post office to hold the mail and put those watering bulb things in the plants. I usually end up with about 2 weeks off from them not using me and I avoid using my personal time to cash it out at the end of the year. I've also had them ask me to switch- so if the didn't use me one day, add an extra day the following week. I wouldn't make a habit of that, but I don't mind once in a while. I also go away with them when they need me to, I don't HAVE to, but I don't mind & it makes things easier for them. I get paid my regular rate those weeks & they cover all my expenses/food.
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I have had positions similar to Mrs. Bird, for me they were the more demanding, live-in positions. Many families will do two weeks paid one of their choice one of the nanny's choice plus 3-5 sick days. I would not hesitate to say something to the effect of paid vacation time starts after the three month point or something too. You don't want your own personal days eaten up by a flake and sometimes they slip through the most rigorous interview processes. You can also start with one week paid and offer another paid week or some personal days as a bonus later.
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Most of the positions that I have held gave 2 weeks of paid vacation, including up to 5 sick days.
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In our hood 2 weeks paid is standard. Then we give paid major holidays and 5 paid sick or personal days.
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Oh and vacation is one week their choosing and one week ours.
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Like everyone else, when we had a nanny, we did two weeks paid vacation and 5 paid sick days, along with 12 paid holidays.
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We are very relaxed and don't have a contract, but our nanny doesn't take advantage of us. Whenever she needs a day (which is almost never), or to leave early or whatever, we do everything possible to say yes. I work at a school so she also gets most school holidays (except summer). Including 1-2 weeks at Christmas, 1 week for Easter and sometimes 1 week around Thanksgiving.
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@sloaneandpuffy: I am nervous about being relaxed because we've already been burned once by a flaky person (who didn't seem flaky at all to begin with), so we want to get it right this time!
I am so much better about being a laid back person about these kinds of things... but I can't take chances with Mr. Jacks now starting work!
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@Mrs. Jacks: I agree. Get a contract for both your sakes!! It truly endures both your happiness!! I was so taken advantage of by a family I worked for and it was so hard, because I loved them, and tried talking with them about our problems - but it turned into "you said this when I got hired", "no I didn't" and no way to prove either. I ended up having to leave because I couldn't handle the 80 hour weeks when I was told it would only be 50 hours. And working EVERY Saturday from 7am-12am. PLUS being paid flat rate, so not extra $$ for extra hours.
BUT as for benefits: I got two weeks paid vaca, one week my choosing, one week theirs. A week of sick leave, car use, and health insurance.
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So it sounds like the consensus is 80 hrs paid leave, 40 hours sick leave, and major holidays that fall on weekdays. We are going to set a trigger so that she can't start taking the time off until 3 months, so that we can assess her commitment. This seems like a good time of year to start that because there are no major holidays coming up.
You all are amazing!
Now, did you go through a payroll service or get paid directly by the family? (We have to think about payroll tax and social security, which I've never handled before).
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@Mrs. Jacks: Definitely make sure to specify in the contract which holidays are covered! I've also learned that even when the days are specified in the contract, some people don't remember which holidays they can take off and I have to break that news to them... it's brutal, like I'm taking a holiday away all over again.
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@mrbee: Well, in the boiler plate contract that we used, there was a pretty rational way of doling out holidays. We spell out Christmas, New Years, 4th of July, Labor Day and Thanksgiving and then the rest of the time is "personal leave" to be decided at the Nanny's discretion.
I guess when I get to the end of all these decisions, I should write a nanny blog post!
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@Mrs. Jacks: It might also be helpful to have her specify upfront which holidays she'd want to take as personal leave. It's really helpful to be able to plan out when one of you needs to stay home from work.
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@Mrs. Jacks: i wrote a series on it here: http://www.hellobee.com/2012/01/19/the-nanny-offer/
and most definitely get a contract!
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@mrbee: Yeah, especially since my work schedule means lots of holiday work. This stuff all has to get hashed out!
@Mrs. Bee: I used your post as a template for things that I wrote in the contract
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I wish I was your nanny! I was nannying (very part time - 10-12 hours a week) for a family and the mom came home one day and said, "by the way girls, tomorrow is Jedeve's last day!" Umm...wtf?? "Oh yeah, did we not tell you? We decided we wanted more family time." This was after they told me they were looking for someone through July!!
If you ever plan on firing your nanny, don't do it through the kids!!
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@jedeve: That is bull&*((*! I would have been SOOO mad if I was you. I want to avoid anything that would be a surprise or disappointing to our nanny. If things don't work out, hopefully she'll have plenty of heads up as to why.
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@Mrs. Jacks: I didn't have the balls to tell them off (and the kids were there). I did tell them I'm still around and would be happy to have more hours if they change their mind. I also told them I was pregnant in hopes of guilting them into going on a few extra date nights!
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I was a nanny for a while and it was kind of terrible. She would forget to tell me her kids went on playdates, so I would be waiting for them and in a panic wondering where they were, then she would call and tell me where they were. And then I went on vacation, after letting her know before I started working for her and when I came back she said they didn't need a nanny anymore.
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just saw this thread - I've been a nanny for 4 years and don't get paid anything, except the hours I work! They are flexible if I need a day off, but if I'm not there, no pay.
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@Mrs. Jacks: We did all of the payroll taxes ourselves using Intuit's on line payroll service. It's $25/month, very easy to use, and has a direct deposit option, so you don't have to write/print checks:
https://www.paycycle.com/external/household/overview.jsp
And remember, California taxes are really complicated because of the extra employment department taxes, so if we can do it, so can you!
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@Honeybee: Thanks, I'm checking it out now!
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