Urgent! How much would you pay your nanny to look after your kids for a whole weekend (incl nights)???

Hello Strix!

Do you know how many posts I had to go through to work out who you were?!

How are you all? Well I hope. Enjoying the weather? I am, I'm on Guernsey for the summer, working part-time and loving spending the days on the beach before picking the kids up from school, could get used to this! (Not the lack of money though!)

Say hi to your gorgeous children from me.

xx

Hello Strix!

Do you know how many posts I had to go through to work out who you were?!

How are you all? Well I hope. Enjoying the weather? I am, I'm on Guernsey for the summer, working part-time and loving spending the days on the beach before picking the kids up from school, could get used to this! (Not the lack of money though!)

Say hi to your gorgeous children from me.

xx

I personally don't thnk things have gone wrong if you have to refer to contracts. It just means you've come up against something that was probably talked about at interview but never arisen or you want to check exactly what duties are because you think nanny isn't doing something she should/nanny thinks she's doing something she shouldn't.

Most contracts are far more comprehensive than the day to day reality of the job.

Sorry didn't make myself clear on that point. Time and half or double time is common in Australia (unless laws have changed). Hence why I asked if she was an aussie and might have been expecting it.

Although good point made by OP about having worked a Sunday and not asked for this amount on that occasion.

Doesn't work for teachers either.

Iheart, you have a very lucky Au-Pair.

"getting 1.5 rate on sundays (or more?) is pretty common for any job"

Not nannying AFAIA. A nanny generally doesn't work weekends and unlike eg. shop work, the need to work on the weekend doesn't arise very often.

It is up to the individual nanny to do that overtime or not and 1.5ph is not the norm.

Is she Australian?
Getting 1.5 rate on Sundays (or more?) is pretty common for any job.

We just had a night away and paid £150 to our live in aupair. I know it's not a comparison to a qualified Nanny but that rate suited us and our aupair.
Anymore and we would never ever get time away - worked out well as it was bank holiday weekend so she still got some time to herself.

I am completely with Nikita09 (and a lawyer aswell).

I also think that things have gone badly wrong if you need to keep referring back to the contract Nannynick. The relationship of nanny/employer should be completely open, honest and straightforward.

Avocadoes - you've learnt the hard way. ALWAYS agree the fee up front next time round. This time, you are perfectly within your rights to say that at no point did you agree 1.5x salary for Sunday and that you'll pay the amount on an hourly rate basis (which is much more than most nannies get). Maternity nurses get £135 per 24 hours!

HAve a full and frank discussion on Tuesday and if you both can't move on - i'd hunt for another nanny (awful I know, but you can't keep having issues like this).

Strix. I'm not working as have week off as dc on holiday with parents so I can have and offer wine at 9am

op - glad you have sorted it out. I'm a bit at her who have you asked comment!!

Bloody aps my arse. I'm a Qualified nanny with nearly 20yrs sole charge exp

wonder what her friends charge. May be worth asking their employers what they pay. £240 per day is very good money !!!

Hello Callaird!!!

Sorry mis-read re the au-pair

I'm a proffessional nanny with over 20yrs experience under my belt so am able to ask high rates and even I think she is way over the top..

I think she is very lucky!

I've been a sole-charge nanny for 24 years, have excellent references and have looked after children from newborn to 14 years, some with special needs.

I charge £200 for 24 hours proxy parenting!

Maybe I should up it.

I don't really consider weekend proxy parenting as work, I don't do any of my nursery duties, I just have fun with the children! I obviously care for them well and feed them, but we eat out, go to fun places, etc.

I am working this weekend, parents go away friday at 1pm, will be back on monday morning but going straight into work. I will get £220 per 24 hours and £15 per hour any extra hours, (I am working abroad for very generous employers!) and I know I will get a small gift from where they visit!

But I would not expect this, this is what they told me they would pay me, but if they came back and said next time it will be £200 per 24 hours, it would be fine as that is in my contract.

Agreed. If she refuses to do it next time, have someone else lined up who can do it and just say "that's fine, X will do it instead for the pay offered" so she realizes you don't depend on her and have to pay her ridiculous rate (which should be up to you, as her employer... she's not self employed).

So, next time, is she going to expect £10 per hours through the night? And are you going to pay it?

I would find someone else to do the overnights if I were in your position. This would probably annoy nanny. But, I have to look after my budget, just as she is looking after hers.

It does seem as though as though equillibriam has perhaps not been restored to the employer-employee relationshop. I guess time will tell.

Au-pairs getting that rate

Pass the jobs over to me, i'm sure I could find loads of au-pairs willing to work for that rate.

Good on you for sticking to your guns.

Too bad if she's not impressed. She can always refuse to do it next time although i'm sure she knows a good one when she sees it.

Ew. What a horrible attitude. And to say "oh did you ask X and Y because they are au pairs", implying that you don't know the difference.
She should know that she's getting a good rate and well above the odds. She's trying to pull one over on you.
Appalling behaviour.

I worked as a mother's help in the summers and on holidays while I was at university. The regular nanny (who had summers off, but popped in once in a while) once told me that she'd be asking for a (big) raise when she returned in the fall "because they can afford it and they love me and wouldn't ever want to lose me, so I know I'll get it" . I was really, really close with the mother but didn't say anything at the time. She confided in me a couple of weeks later that her nanny was demanding a pay rise of $150/week and that she didn't feel that this was right but she didn't want to upset the nanny because she was very good with her dc and so lovely...etc. they didn't want to lose her. I didn't say anything, of course.

Her friend was also over at this time and she told her that this was really not on and that the nanny would not leave them if they didn't adhere to her every demand or request. And if she did leave them for something like this, then it wouldn't be a loss, they could find someone just as good if not better.

She did listen to her friend. Offered nanny a sensible raise (nowhere near her demand) and, after threatening to leave, mother stood her ground, the nanny finally did accept it. I think she was treated well, paid well and realized that actually, she had a really good job. Hopefully she realized that she was as lucky to have them as they were to have her.

I'm watching this with interest.

FWIW I charge £10 per hour normal working hours, £8ph x 4 babysitting hours and £30 flat overnight fee.

To me any weekend work is outside my normal hours so if I wanted to be as greedy as the OP nanny i'd charge time and a half the whole weekend.

She is definitly trying to pull a fast one.

People like her give us nannies a bad name.

Why are you passing wine at 9:35 in the morning? The things I don't know about you!

good luck today

She is absolutely taking the piss. Not only on the time and a half malarchy, but also on getting her £10 per hour over night. Nannies I know get a set overnight fee ranging from £25 to £40 which takes them from normal clock off time to normal start time. The lower range are generally live in so less inconvenience.

You said a few posts down that "This incident does leave a bad taste in my mouth but that doesn't cancel out the fact that she is great with my kids and they love her."

I want to offer a word of caution this "bad taste". I had a nanny who attempted to pull a fast one on me, and it left a bad taste in my mouth which I never got over. She was good with the kids, they loved her, she loved them, but my working employer-employee relationship with her was damaged beyond repair. Even now it pisses me off.

While she worked for us, I changed jobs. I involved her in the whole process whilst I was interviewing. WE talked about how things might change. Travel was on the cards. And I obviously needed to know how she felt. WE had an agreed overnight rate already. But the amount of time travelling was likely to increase. So, after I got the job (and after she had resigned but still had a few months until she was actually leaving) she said she wanted more money for the overnight. She stood her ground. I said no. She argued hard. She got emotional. She cried. She threatened not to do the job. I remained calm but stood my ground and told her that part of the job was not on offer and she would need to all of it or none of it. In the end she accepted that she was not getting her demand. I was flabbergasted that someone who regarded themselves as a professional could resign and then demand more money to serve out the notice. I never got over it. If this issue is going to errode your working relationship with your nanny the same way it did to me with mine, then I would suggest considering plan B before you you fork out hundreds or thousands more for someone who may be leaving anyway (as she doesn't sound like she is very happy with her remuneration)...

Totally agree with StarExpat. She might be a great nanny (personally I think not with an attitude like hers) but she is NOT irreplaceable and she is taking huge advantage. I would suggest a contract review ASAP to put in writing the exact pay for situations like this. And if she doesn't like it, tough. What she is asking is extortionate money that even a highly experienced professional nanny would NOT ask for. Very cheeky IMO.

Also Avocadoes, I know this will sound harsh, but I don't have time at the moment to put it really nicely
Don't let on to this nanny that you are desperate to keep her or else she'll just continue with this sort of behaviour and other things will occur where she takes advantage of you. She needs to realize that she is can be replaced by someone who won't have such cheeky requests/demands.

But Riven that's for staff qualified to take care of SN children, surely?

Don't pay the 80 quid, OP. And good luck for today's chat.