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Original poster

Nanny consistently calling in sick

41 replies

NamedyChangedy · 16/01/2017 12:13

I've reached the end of my tether with our relatively new nanny - she started in October and since mid-November has been late or called in sick over 10 times. Today was her fifth day off sick this year(!), with different ailments every time.

I'm self-employed and this is now starting to directly impact my ability to earn an income, as I've had to cancel several client meetings / calls, had to pay to change flights etc, and worked late into the night to make the time up. It's knackering and stressful, wondering if she'll come in before I go to bed every night.

I'm looking at her contract and we've just gone past the point where she rolls onto a month's notice.

I'd like to handle this amicably, and ideally have her work some of her notice as it's a busy time for me and I know it won't be quick or easy to find a replacement.

Does anyone have experience of nannies working throughout their notice period? Realistically, she'll be even less engaged than she has been so far so she may not come in at all. Do I have to resign myself to paying her to not work for a full month?

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wizzywig · 21/01/2017 17:46

Oh OP, at this time you need a 130% reliable nanny. Yr tumour looks so painful. I hope you get yr date soon. And ive been in yr situation. Thankfully it corrected itself as soon as i got a proper contract set up.

wannabestressfree · 21/01/2017 08:24

Thanks for the nice comments and I really hope it works out for you. Some people are a bit 'sicky' I just think it needs to be put over that being ill (providing it's not serious) is fine at work and sadly part of life.

Original poster
NamedyChangedy · 20/01/2017 13:53

Sorry all, missed the latest lot of responses.

As I understand it, with SSP she'd have to have taken 4 days in a row off, but she tends not to do that. I need to do a bit more research into it.

MumBongo I don't actually believe that happened!! Grin

Wannabe you poor poor thing - you're doing well just getting up in the morning with everything you have on! Flowers

No real update, I'm afraid - she was very apologetic when she got back and has perked up today and yesterday. We had a chat but without any particular outcome; she says that she's just a very 'sickly' person and catches every bug going. I explained that the nature of my job meant that I do need consistent cover, and even though my hours might seem unpredictable, I am always working!

Hopefully that's a direct enough way of saying it to her. I also bought her a range of medications for her various ailments, so she can self-medicate when she does come in.

At the same time, we've been looking into other childcare options, but based on her relationship with the DCs (and we do like her too!), we'd really like this to work out. A full-time nanny will be our most convenient option for the next year, until DS2 is settled in Reception, but after that we'll look into childminders / after-school nannies if we can find someone to do that...

Thanks again, really appreciate the insights from you all...

OP posts:
PowerPantsRule · 20/01/2017 12:27

Insancerre - I run a small business too and staff absences were absolutely crippling us until we started paying SSP and then like a miracle, everyone was cured. Ottilie - it's great to be idealistic but the world is not like that. My business is staffed by teenagers and early twenties. Nowadays (I is old) I am afraid that very few of them have 'grafter' tattooed on their soul (but there are a few that do!) and if the sun is shining and they fancy a day in the park, or they were on the lash last night and feel a bit iffy, they will call in sick. And it builds resentment and a 'tit for tat' mentality among the staff that have to cover them, and they think they may as well do it too - and then the rot sets in....

PowerPantsRule · 20/01/2017 12:17

Namedy - she is royally taking the piss. I would feel the same as you - that the children would receive worse care as she knows she is leaving. I'd egt rid and find someone else ASAP.

sksinfood · 20/01/2017 07:18

Mum I do hope you get contacted by a future employer asking for a reference..and tell them this!

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 19/01/2017 23:51

**are not is

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 19/01/2017 23:50

Tbf kidney stones is just really bad luck and she needed to be scanned and in hospital and D and V- do you want her working with that?!

MumBongo · 19/01/2017 23:37

I think you've got to deal with this incredibly sensitively NameChanger, our last Nanny to umbridge with her dismissal and stitched a rainbow trout into every pair of curtains in the house. It smelt like a dockyard for over a month. Still, it did make watching loose women a 4D experience.

HyacinthsBucket · 19/01/2017 23:11

I've worked as a carer and our company rule was to stay at home if you had something contagious that could be passed onto a vulnerable client - anything else, suck it up, take painkillers and get to work even if it was just until cover was in place. Even if she felt unwell, she could show up and ask if she could just work the morning/spend the day quietly on the sofa!! If you need to speak to someone within their first few months of working for you, it's never going to improve and she clearly is happy to let you down.

MrsNuckyThompson · 19/01/2017 22:51

I'm an employment lawyer. I'd contact some
local agencies about getting a temp on stand by and then just terminate her. Pay her in lieu of notice. If you have a chat with her you risk her just calling in sick longer term to avoid dealing with you.

If someone is off with the same thing over and over you'd need to consider disability discrimination but these kinds of intermittent absence are rarely anything other than someone who is 'at it'.

A nanny is providing a personal service and you can't just cover them as you're an individual with only one employee.

Seriously, get rid now.

MadHattersWineParty · 19/01/2017 14:46

My gosh Shock

I really hope you can get it sorted and the surgery goes well. Going into work with all that to deal with is incredible. I reckon your school is lucky to have you as a teacher!Flowers

OP, did you speak to your nanny?

wannabestressfree · 19/01/2017 13:41

Ta da..... (sorry)

wannabestressfree · 19/01/2017 12:53

Its a GIST- under a stoma. Its the biggest they have dealt with hence me having to wait for surgery. They had to apply for funding and its been removed before and grown back.
I am really lucky with work and tbh I felt like a bit of an arse when I woke up this morning and thought about what I had written. We are all different and cope with things in different ways. I have been on 100mg of steroid a day and couldn't have surgery until I had come off them... I am now on 6mg. I lost my hair and ballooned. I will try and post a picture if you like......... you can literally see my bowel moving underneath the skin is that tight now...........I have to wear a big belt around it to keep it 'held'. I can't wait for it to go but the surgery is super risky unfortunately..... I don't have any choice though.

MadHattersWineParty · 18/01/2017 22:34

Woah- mind blown- they can get massive. That's awful Flowers

MadHattersWineParty · 18/01/2017 22:31

That is incredible, wannabe,- I think I read that the world's largest tumour was about 4stone so you're doing incredibly well to get into work with yours being so huge.

ImperialBlether · 18/01/2017 22:25

Wow, wannabestressfree, you must be a really strong woman. A tumour weighing nearly five stone? That sounds awful. Good for you for being at work so regularly - you put the nanny to shame.

wannabestressfree · 18/01/2017 22:08

God I feel lucky I get full pay as a teacher. Mind you I have crohns, two tumours (one weighing nearly five stone) and have a bag and I teach full time and have had no days off this academic year bar one for a ore surgical scan. I even arrange surgery for school hols.

insancerre · 18/01/2017 20:37

Well lucky you
We have ratios to maintain so we can't afford to cover people being off sick and pay them too
Or nursery fees would go through the roof and parents already complain fees are too high

OttilieKnackered · 18/01/2017 20:24

Insancerre - what about trusting them? Or treating them well so they have the goodwill when they feel a bit shit but could drag themselves in?

I've always worked in jobs with full pay for sick days. I've had three days off in seven years.

insancerre · 18/01/2017 20:16

On the ledge
I don't make the rules but if we paid sick pay how would we know people were genuinely ill?
They could say they had a sickness bug and get paid for it
Hardly an incentive to come to work
most nursery staff don't have 48 hours off for sickness bugs

MadHattersWineParty · 18/01/2017 19:36

She is absolutely in the wrong job if she takes off sick on a whim/is unreliable like this. This is what you are paying for! She clearly doesn't have a lot of respect for your job at all- she must know that if she cannot fulfill her role, you cannot fulfill yours.

Are you paying her OP? I don't get paid sick days as a nanny but it is at my employer's discretion- she did pay me when I was in hospital for four days but that's the only time in three years I've called to say I'm not coming in. Other times I've gone in, explained the situation and had a 'lazy day' or napped when my charge was at school and didn't do all my usual duties, but I was there. This is because a) I can't afford to lose a day's wages, and b) the reason my boss has a nanny is so she doesn't have to stress about last-minute childcare.

I'd be interested to hear what she had to say but you absolutely have to let her go if she can't be relied upon. Kidney stones are indeed terrible and another incident may just be bad luck but that many sick days in such a short time is ridiculous.

NewIdeasToday · 18/01/2017 19:32

You shouldn't have to explain to a Nanny that if she doesn't work, you can't. That's the whole point of her job. And as for taking the kids to school late...

Having a Nanny should help you to focus on work when you need to, knowing that your kids are well cared for. Your nanny sounds like she's just another problem for you to manage.

Wellmeetontheledge · 18/01/2017 19:28

For the nursery saying no sick pay etc, would you prefer people to come in with d&v and pass to the kids as they couldn't afford to have time off?

Goingtobeawesome · 18/01/2017 19:22

Sounds like she doesn't take YOUR job seriously never mind her own. I was a nanny or child carer for about ten years and had two days off sick. If I didn't go in, the parents couldn't. If they had lost their job, I'd have lost mine..