Difficulties of pregnant nannies and returning to work.....experience or advice welcome

[foxinsocks]

we've been employers of nannies for years. Have never had one leave us other than for pregnancy reasons :)

the nanny we have now is pregnant again. She has been with us for years. She had baby number 1 with us.

When she had baby number 1, she indicated she was 99% sure she wouldn't return but she didn't want to write her resignation letter till after she had had the baby (I think she was worried it would impact her maternity pay which it wouldn't have done).

We therefore hired another nanny full time when she went on maternity leave.

Then she decided she wanted to come back, which of course she was entitled to do, and we had to make the nanny we had hired redundant and she was absolutely devastated. The children also found the change over very difficult having JUST got used to the new lady.

Now, pregnant with baby 2, she is again making noises about being 99% certain she won't return.

Except I have a dilemma....

if I employ a temp nanny, it is more expensive and it also means the temp nanny will start looking for another job months before our job terminates which means if the pregnant nanny has the baby and then decides she won't come back, the temp nanny will almost certainly have another job so we'll have to find another one (which is disruptive for everyone)

if I employ someone else full time, I may be faced with making them redundant again and I will have to be honest in the interview and say it might not be permanent

is there any way around this? I know the nanny doesn't have to tell me now and i know it is hard to tell what you will feel like but I am finding this utterly impossible to resolve (in terms of finding cover!).

(wasn't strictly redundancy - we just terminated her contract - am just using that word as she was redundant to needs iyswim)

I don't think there is anyway around it.

Does the nanny want to bring their 2nd child to work with them when they return? If so, maybe denying them that would encourage them to consider if they would really be coming back to work.

thanks nannynick

no I think you are right. I thought about this last time you'll probably remember

of course, I don't want to force her hand at all. She is perfectly entitled not to make her decision now.

But I'm thinking of my dcs too and how difficult it is when there's all this change iyswim

I think she won't come back this time. Am contemplating an au pair for 6 months (dcs well old enough) but our house is absolutely tiny so it will be a real strain on all of us but it might be a way of just regarding 6 months as something experimental until a decision has been made.

A 6 month au pair experiment sounds the way to go but tbh if you say she can't bring both DCs with her (and you should be honest sbout that because she may need to find childcare) she probably wouldn't come back.

Could you chat with the nanny and explain how difficult it was last time for the children. This may appeal to her compassionate side, especially if she understands that her maternity pay won?t be impacted.

We have just placed a temp to perm nanny with a family in a similar situation. They are hiring her on a fixed term contract with the possibility of it becoming permanent ? they will discuss and agree whether a permanent contract is to go ahead at the point when they hear from their existing nanny 1 month before she is due to return to work (an agreement they have with their existing nanny and the temp nanny). Also, the salary for the temp is at a similar rate to that of their existing nanny!!

It?s a tricky situation to juggle!

Good luck
Sally

The only other thing to add is that you will have to pay for accrued holiday if she doesn't decide now wnd then resigns at end of maternity leave. There is no way round this but I think it just adds weight to having an honest discussion now about her coming back so she can decide what she wants. Nanny trees idea sounds good one if you want to avoid the issues you had last time