Need advice on nanny pay rise/bonus

[chandellina]

Hi, we have employed our wonderful nanny for 13 months, in a nanny share with another family. Our nanny previously indicated she would like a significant (20%!!) pay rise and I assumed she'd ask again when we hit the one-year mark but she has said nothing yet.

We are willing to give her a smaller pay rise (say, 5%) on our share of the salary but the other family have stated - to us, not her - that they are not in a position to give any kind of pay rise. It's possible they could consider it in January, but I'm not counting on them.

In the meantime, I was thinking about giving our nanny a cash bonus of a couple hundred quid or roundabouts, to let her know how happy we are and to basically side step the pay rise issue.

However, I think there's a good chance that could backfire and she will bring up the pay rise! Frankly I don't mind giving her both a bonus and a small pay rise, but I'm worried she will want a lot more money that we can't afford to pay with no contribution from the other family. (no judgements on that please - it is what it is and we are very happy with their participation in the share.)

any thoughts or advice?

Do you have separate contracts with the nanny? Is other family giving a bonus? Is this a fairly equal share or is one of you her primary employer?

we have separate contracts. The other family would not give a bonus. We share the nanny 55%/45%.

Hmm, I think I would give a little bit of each. A small bonus and more like a 3% raise. I'd negotiate the raise first. Then, if she walks, you can keep your bonus.

And as you will have just given her a raise, she will be unlikely to then ask for another one.

But, I wonder, is she going to walk anyway given that what she really wants is 20%... in nwhich case you will just be throwing money away.

i think she's actually happy in the job. I get no impression she will walk, despite her wishing for more money. It was her error not to negotiate a higher rate of pay upfront, but then there's a good chance the job would have fallen apart because of the other family's limitations, and the nanny was very keen for a job at that point.

not sure what to do. Since there's the chance the other family can contribute to a raise next year, maybe I just give the bonus now and say let's talk about pay rises in the new year?

I will also be giving her a xmas bonus.

I'd discuss a pay review with the nanny now (i think 5% is fine- 20% is highly unrealistic!) and if all goes well then tell her how much you appreciate her and give her a bonus (as much or little as you an afford)

As long as a nanny knows she is appreciated aand valued then half the battle is won!