Our nanny comes in ONE DAY A WEEK for 7 hours. It's a specific day of the week, and she keeps it just for us. We will not be needing her over our vacation, Thanksgiving, etc... She asked that we pay her for those days as well, even though I am telling her a month in advance and not canceling at the last minute. I thought "pay for putting me on hold" was the rule for full-time nannies, not for once-a-week ones. Should we pay her? Any COMPROMISE suggestions? I'd like to maintain a very friendly relationship with her.
No way. Pay her for what? does she want to work on t-giving? If you didn't tell her you don't need her for t-giving she would have told you she can't work. she's not full time. She's not entitled to extra pay.
I have a lady that comes and cleans once a week. I pay her for the days I cancel on her. She holds every Thursday for me that's my time slot. If she is able to pick up a temporary cleaning job on the day I canceled, then bonus for her. But I don't believe she has a waiting list on hand of people to fill in cancellations. She counts on the money she gets from me. If she cancels because she is sick or has a funeral than I don't pay her. I think this is only fair and how I would want to be treated.
Although I never considered myself a "nanny." I did watch two girls in my home from Friday night - Sunday afternoon. EVERY WEEK.
Their mother would cancel on me at the last minute, and never offered me a cent. And in the 3 years I watched them I NEVER once canceled on her.
She would throw me an extra $2o for Christmas. Thats it. Because of the business the family was in (owned a restaurant) I had the girls over all the holidays, and she never paid me any extra.
So, no ... I do not think you owe your babysitter anything.
I employ a full time Nanny so my situation is different. I do pay her for every week of the year, partly because we need her and because i get paid for every week if i stay within my corporate vacation plan and partly because i know she can't live without the income. That being said, i do have a written prearrangment with her, she gets 2 weeks of paid vacation that she can do what she wishes with. So if she were to come to me and say she wanted a month off, i would pay her for the first two weeks and the following 2 weeks would be unpaid. But if I said to her WE would be taking a month's vacation, i would pay her for the whole thing.
However she is a FT person and we have had her for 2 years and she seriously has asked for like less than 10 days off in that time.
But because your girl is PT, i don't think you owe her vaca time regardless of who decides to take the vaca. But she did ask, so it creates a confrontation to simply say no. So perhaps a compromise is in order? You can tell her that you won't need her every single week, and that you will pay her if you cancel less than a week in advance, and perhaps she can have 2 "freebies" a year? That way she could decide if she would want to be paid for the holiday, or choose her own day off.
When i used to work retail my PT employees would get some vaca pay, but were not guaranteed hours, and the arrangement was similar.
You may not owe her anything, but i see that your child is 5 months old and you may need this sitter for a while more. If you like her and want to keep her, try to find a way to meet in the middle. The last thing you want is to get compromised care because an employee is disgruntled. And a specific plan will keep the question from re-arising every holiday season. Because if you pay her TY she will expect it every year.
Good Luck!
She is your babysitter, not your nanny. Nanny to me conotes full-time in home care. I think its unreasonable for her to be asked to be paid when you don't need her...especially if you tell her in advance. Now as to how to deal with the situation, that is a toughie. You could pay her but then give her a very small Christmas bonus. Or you could just talk to her about it and tell her that you love having her and value her care but you have researched the issue and it would not be appropriate to pay her. Or, you could just bite the bullet and pay. Either way, it was not appropriate for her to ask to be paid for those days.
talk about awkward. I say no. You've given plenty of notice (and PT!) and unless you're willing to pay for every holiday off that happens too be on "your" day with her, then you'd be sending the wrong message if you did. I know you like her but this relationship is only just beginning. It's important to set the ground rules early.
I say this b/c as a mom & care-provider, I do not expect nor ask for money when the kids are not in my care regardless if I'm the one who needs the day off or them. If I had multiple LAST MINUTE cancellations, then I would have to reconsider.
Good luck with your talk if you haven't already had it ;-)
tell her no. this is crazy.. you are letting her know early enough and she only does it one day a week. tell her that you didn't bring it up in the beginning because it's only one day a week.. but if you let her know in advance then you won't be paying.. but tell her if you call her the night before because say your sick.. then you will pay her.. it's a compromise.. good luck.
If you don't currently have something in writing (contract) I would suggest doing so. To me, this isn't a "nanny" and as a part-time employee she wouldn't be entitled to paid vacation if she were working somewhere "official". You are giving her advanced notice and that's all you would need to do! Essentially, she is a per diem employee. Try googling that and see what comes up- you might get some good guidance!
