Contract question for nannies

[brightandcheery]

I have been badly burned by Contracts Of Employment before & have a few things in mind as to what should be included in them to protect us nannies as well as the families....if you have been caught unaware by any nasty clauses, can you please please send them my way?

How do I convince my employer to amend a clause from "reviewing a pay-rise with no commitment to increasing pay" to "reviewing to keep in line with cost of living" or something?

Also, do your families pay for your car to be washed if you use if for their schoolruns?

Thanks in advance - Merry Christmas!
xx

"reviewing to keep in line with cost of living"

Good luck with that one. That is a annual rise the way inflation is at the moment. Why not keep it a lot more simple and have it as an "annual pay review" that can then go up and down and you can discuss reasons for why it should go up or down.

Also, do your families pay for your car to be washed if you use if for their schoolruns?

No. Charge it at £0.40 per mile, that is supposed to cover running costs. If your running cost includes washing the outside, that's your choice.

If a baby vomits milk all over the back of the car... would you expect the parents to pay? It is a risk of using your own car for work, some parents may contribute towards cleanup cost of that one... others won't.

Trouble is, at the moment I am on the low-side of the average salary, am qualified in every area possible, have 20 years experience & have a proven track record of long-term commitment....& all the families I have worked for have thrown their refusal for not increasing my pay back at me by pointing out that the contract says there is no commitment on their part.

With regard to the car-washing, the parents have already put it in writing that the 10 & 12 year old children are to eat cake in my car on the schoolrun home....maybe get the little people to clean it up in this case?

Thanks for posting - much appreciated.

I share your pain but there is no commitment in contract to increase the salary. If they keep it the same every year, then eventually you will leave. That's the usual way to get a pay rise... threaten to leave. They then either offer to pay more, or let you walk.

I don't think it would be reasonable to contract for a pay rise every year... just for a pay review. Though nothing to stop either side renegotiating pay part way through a year... is there?

Yes, they are old enough to use a car-vac.

Don't recognise your username, are you quite new on here? I know I'm bad at matching names to faces but I tend to recognise forum posters names.

the parents have already put it in writing that the 10 & 12 year old children are to eat cake in my car on the schoolrun home.

I don't feel that is on. They should not be able to dictate what happens In Your Car. They might request that a snack is eaten on the way home from school, but putting it in writing and defining it as cake seems to me to be going a bit far. So certainly add a clause to that which makes the children responsible for the mess made - as given their age, it can be part of the chores.

I think it's a bit much for the bit about cake being eaten in the car! Agree with nannynick - add a clause as to the responsibility for cleaning, they certainly are old enough.

But re the payrise, what's the point of a review if there is automatically a payrise? Then it's not a review, is it? A payrise is not something that I would ever feel comfortable putting in a contract as a parent. As others have said, if you don't like the pay (or lack of payrise) then you will need to look elsewhere.

TBH by the sounds of it they aren't going to make ideal employers.

"Trouble is, at the moment I am on the low-side of the average salary, am qualified in every area possible, have 20 years experience & have a proven track record of long-term commitment....& all the families I have worked for have thrown their refusal for not increasing my pay back at me by pointing out that the contract says there is no commitment on their part."

It doesn't sound like this is the job for you. I know that jobs are hard to come by at the moment, but you will not be happy if you feel they are not paying what you are worth. With your qualifications & experience you should be on the high side of an average salary, not low. You mention your proven track record of long term commitment - I think you will have a dent in it if you take a low paying job 'cos I think you'd end up leaving.

Also, the 'cake in the car' Your car, your rules - but if the parents are putting something like that in the contract then they don't sound like the ideal family to work for!

i have pay rise in my contract, something along the lines of in line with cpi or something like that

if a baby was sick/spilt milk then yes i would charge my familys to have car cleaned - tho i get their car

tbh i rarely allow kids to eat in the car as makes a mess and i try to keep works car tidy and respect it as i would if mine iyswim

I would specify pay review rather than rise. I feel it's unfair to expect employers to provide a rise when they may not be getting one and even, in this climate, facing a cut.

The cake in car is outrageous though. They have a snack before they get in the car or after they get out. Eating in a moving vehicle is dangerous from a safety POV too (although they're unlikely to choke on cake at 10 and 12!). As you're unlikely to get any movement on this from the current parents I think it's more than fair to get them to clean the car after use.

I drive my car for work the children are not allowed to eat in the car certainly not cake which is so messy.also when Im driving along I dont want to be worried that the children will choke in the back seat.

Speaking as an employer I have a conceptual problem with automatic pay rises (same as contractual sick pay) and look poorly on a nanny that tries to insist on such a clause - I explain that employment, particularly as a nanny, is a two way process requiring mutual trust and give and take on both sides. At the review time, good performance will be rewarded with a pay rise which is likely to be considerably more than inflation. I am entrusting the nanny with the most precious thing: my children, she needs to put a bit of trust in me to treat her fairly.

In practice however it doesn't make a lot of difference. If my nanny is good, I give her a pay rise (usually 5-10%) both to reward her and to ensure that the grass on my side of the fence stays green. If she doesn't live up to expecations, she won't be around to get the contractual increase anyway.

Oh and I agree with others on the cake, if they are old enough to eat it in the car without concerns about choking, they are old enough to use a vacuum cleaner.

The cake thing is loopy to be honest - If they are that stupid in general I would be looking for another job asap

I think if you have reached a stage where every little detail is set out in the contract of employment (eg. the cake thing) then maybe it is time to part company.

There has to be give and take in any relationship including a nanny and employer one.

On the payrise issue - no way would I have an automatic payrise in my Nannys contract. I don't have one in mine so why should she?

And I would not offer a job to any Nanny who was too contractual - in my mind not a good omen for the relationship going forward.

Thankyou for the feedback - hugely appreciated to get outsiders points of view.

Cake: I know the parents will have no issue with me asking them to clean inside of the car so from now on....so be it assuming everyone agrees it is fair.

"Pay review" is the wording I will ask my employer to use going on your recommendations.

Thankyou!

As an employer, we have pay review in the contract, for a whole host of reasons we deliberately don't have an automatic pay incraese and would never agree to one. As someone said I above, I don't get that and neither will my nanny.