Expecting nanny to come in whilst they are on holiday

[pezza15]

My friend is a nanny and the parents are off on holiday in August for two weeks and have hinted that perhaps my friend should go to their house whilst they are away to “do a few bits” - meaning batch cooking etc.

Taking the piss or what???????

she takes her leave separate to theirs

In that case no, they are not remotely “taking the piss” by asking her to do her job- not sure how you could think otherwise?

Of course she should work if she’s being paid and not on annual leave. Why on earth wouldn’t she?

Shock horror employer expects employee to do work

If she isn't on annual leave then she will be expected to work. However that work should be in line with her normal duties so if as many nannies are she is only contracted to cook and clean for the children that should continue I think. So she should ensure the children's rooms are neat and tidy, that their clothes are cleaned and put away and that some meals are cooked for them and put in the freezer. I would also expect her to be spending time thinking of new activities to do with with the children when they return. As her employer I wouldn't mind if she wanted to do the planning sat in the garden enjoying the sun but her employers may feel differently.

Why wouldnt she? If you worked in a shop and your boss was away on holiday would you just down tools or get on with what you could do? Of course she should work the hours she is being paid to work. I cant believe anyone would think otherwise!

Former nanny here, this is pretty standard. My last family were fantastic and trusted me to manage my own workload when they were away. It was lovely waving them off on holiday and having some time to sort the playroom, go through the children’s clothes to weed out anything that was too small, sew anything that needed fixing, get prepped for the new school year, the list goes on! I would do shorter days sometimes but they were fine with that as they knew I wouldn’t take the mickey.

In that case then she should be working, so if that means batch cooking meals for the kids or clearing out their wardrobes or washing their clothes, then yes. She should be doing it.

Don't get me wrong, I think they will struggle to fill her time, and if she has no duties I absolutely think she should be allowed to leave the house and do what she likes, but batch cooking, making sure children's clothes are clean and ironed, sorting out rooms and diaries? Absolutely fair enough.

Of course it’s not taking the piss. If she doesn’t want to work then she takes her annual leave at the same time as the family.

So if she’s not on leave, WTAF is her problem with being asked to work for her salary?

I’m not sure I get this thread.

She gets paid holiday but surely if they are away she’s entitled to do her own thing - if it was me I’d be off sunning myself somewhere

And sorry yes she will be paid

Then she should be working. I'm not sure I'd be happy with that attitude if I was paying you.

If it is not her AL time, she should be working, yes. She should make her own list of tasks she'll plan to complete in an ideal world.

Er, so she's not on annual leave, and they're asking her to do light household duties related to childcare?

If my boss isn't in the office and i've not booked annual leave, i can't just go off and go "sunning myself" somewhere.

why on earth would anyone think that would be acceptable?!

She's not on annual leave so yes she should still be working/contributing in some way. Cooking/tidying kids stuff etc I doubt they expect her to find enough stuff to do to work full time hours but to expect to do nothing is taking the piss!

Why should she get 2 weeks extra free paid holiday? Are you the nanny rather than the friend? Either way, if she's paid to work those weeks she should work. It should be a fairly relaxed week with no kids to look after. She should count herself lucky!

I don’t know the legal position but if I were getting paid and if it weren’t my annual holiday I would expect to work my normal hours. Batch cooking, cleaning or whatever.

They aren’t remotely taking the piss. They are expecting her to turn up to work given she isn’t on annual leave. If my client is on leave I can still work, catch up with admin etc.
I’m surprised they are just hinting, if your friend doesn’t turn up she might get a rude surprise when they come back to find nothing done. It would be fair to consider it as her annual leave if you find she hasn’t been coming.

She won’t be on annual leave herself - she takes her leave separate to theirs.

Well, then she needs to be working. She should do whatever she can while they're not home.

Batch cooking, cleaning or whatever.

I wouldn't expect to be polishing their ornaments or scrubbing their loo, but tidying and vacuuming the kids' bedrooms, sure.

yabvu she is paid to work. So she should be doing whatever her employers require of her (within the scope of her responsibilities). Such as batch cooking, sorting through children's cloths, tidying children's rooms, sorting their toys, throwing out broken stuff sorting stuff for charity shop.

Blimey - they've only 'hinted' that the Nanny who is not on annual leave, and receiving payment for her continued employment should actually be doing some work -(and presumably not full hours - but presumably still being paid for full hours). The family could very well move to "hinting' Nanny needs to be finding a new job at this rate.

If they're paying her and she's not taking her annual leave then, yes, she should do as they ask.

So you're the nanny really aren't you?

Of course you should work when you are being paid to work!

She's being paid, she still has a job to do. It would be 'massively taking the piss' to expect to not have to work just because your boss is on holiday. She's a nanny not a childminder and she should know the difference.