Taking your nanny on holiday etiquette??

What do you see as being the benefits of your nanny coming on holiday with you?
What do you see as being negative points?
One negative is that, in my view, it doesn't count as holiday time for the nanny, so uses none of the 5.6 weeks holiday entitlement.
A positive is that you have a babysitter for a few evenings whom the children already know.

I travel with my family. I refuse to share with the DC's unless there is no room (they have forgotten once or twice). I work my normal hours and do the washing, etc as per normal. If we are away for the weekend I either charge weekend rates if I work. If they do not need my then they send me home (flight is cheaper then weekend pay) or pay for a train fare and hostel somewhere so I can get away for the weekend. Works well for all of us.

We did this once and found it was not worth it. We hired a cottage, nanny had her own room and we paid her her normal rate. Obviously we paid all expenses.

Apart from the one day she had the kids while we went hiking, she did not really do much at all. The kids would want to be with us the entire time anyway and the worst bit was when toddler DS came down with a nasty cold and I had to stay with him at the cottage while nanny went sightseeing with my DH and friends.

In the end she was very grateful for a lovely holiday and I felt somewhat resentful.

Yes, she should fly with you! You could base it on the hours she works normally. So say she works a 10 hour day Mon-Fri and based on a weeks holiday. You could give her a couple of days completely to herself. Then expect her to work her 10 hours for the other 5 days. So maybe this could be she does 5 hours one morning, then 5 hours in the evenings, so you can go out. Or a whole 10 hour day but has the evening off. I don't think your children need to necessarily go into her room, she's entitled to her privacy, but if she had her own apartment, yes. Depends on the accommodation your staying in! Hope this helps!

Oh, forgot to mention. If a nanny really goes beyond the call of duty in helping out when on holiday then we give them a cash bonus to thank them when the holiday finishes (we don't advertise it upfront) - normally equal to half a week's pay. For example, had one nanny who used to get up before us, get breakfast ready and then whisk the kids away first thing, telling us to just get back to bed and chill. Definately worth a cash bonus when you get that.

We take nannies with us. They always have their own room (we did once ask two nannies to share a room when we were on a two family holiday). We expect them to muck in with us and do anything we ask, with the proviso that they have at least 2 complete days to themselves. We also stipulate that they babysit for 3 nights, have 2 nights off and 2 nights where they join us for dinner. In reality we hardly ever use the babysitting thing. On the days off we usually give the nanny some spending money - enough for dinner and a couple of drinks, cab, etc, the actual amount varies dependnign on where we are.

And of course they are needed on the plane- that is the most stressful time. We tend to have one person lug all the hand luggage/buggy stuff, with the other two adults concentrating on the kids. It varies as to who does what (depends on the mood of the kids more than anything).

I'd expect her to fly with you (the other nanny sounds a right princess) and generally muck in during the day. When I nannied and went on holiday with the family I had all the kids in my room!!! and only got a break when I went for dinner in the evenings by myself - wasn;t much fun! I didn't last long after that.....anyway, why not discuss this with your nanny, and make sure she has some free time to herself and isn't on duty 24/7.