Tell me about nanny incentives!

[wolfhound]

Hello all.

Looking for a new part-time nanny (current nanny leaving after 2 years). We really want someone who will stay at least as long again, preferably longer.

Does anyone have any experience of nanny 'incentive' schemes - like a bonus you pay after each year of employment, increasing year on year? What works and what doesn't?

Also, has anyone got any experience of anti-sick-leave incentives (like a bonus for not having more than a certain number of days off). Good idea? Or do they encourage very unwell nannies to struggle to work and infect children!

Any advice welcomed.

Do you mean something beyond the annual pay review?

Nannies probably already care for children whilst they (the nanny) is a little unwell. I'm probably not unusual in not taking sick leave very often. Nannies get things from the children, rather than infecting the children usually. It would depend on the illness - common cold everyone works through, don't they?

I currently have an incentive- ssp. I get 5 days fully paid sick leave per year, after that it would be ssp which if I recall is 2 days unpaid then a small amount of my salery. I can't afford unpaid days off so I drag myself into work! I've taken 3 days off this year, 2 of them because of things I caught off the children so losing pay because the kids gave me something (in my case, D+V) would put me off even taking the job.

A pay review is a good idea, call it a bonus or whatever. This is the first job I've ever had, before nannying and now, that I've ever had a pay review in my contract.

As Nick said, most nannies will work when sick and try to take very little time off as we know how it impacts on our employers. Having said that, you do get nannies that don't realise the implications and think nothing of taking time off for colds and minor bugs. So, when you check out the references, a question that should be asked is how much time off they have had for sickness.

A lot of nannies will have SSP only in their contract, in practise employers will often pay for some time off - so it is at your discretion. Like Scarf, I do have some days at full pay in my contract (which I requested) but have rarely needed to use any of them.

As to how to get someone that will stay for a while - a yearly bonus is a good idea, but look at the potential nannies past work history and avoid those that have lots of short term positions. We often have one or two due to various factors but if the nanny has lots of 3 - 9 month positions and no long term positions then they may not be the nanny for you.

Nannys generally get illnesses off the kids they look after so generally work when ill, just have quiet days where nanny and kids can just chill out on the sofa-I've had one day off sick in 5years.. any other time I've been unwell we've just chilled out and painted/played indoors

A bonus is an incentive for your nanny to stay, but being on time, treating your nanny well etc is a better incentive iygwim

A discretionary bonus is a good idea to keep an existing nanny happy but you don't want to be contractually tied in to a bonus entitlement so it is no use when recruiting.

IME nannies come in two kinds: the kind that will come in to work unless they have been hospitalised and the kind that will stay in bed with a hangover. You can't turn the latter into the former with a 'no sick' bonus.

If you can afford a bonus of £250 you can afford an extra £5 a week which is going to be a more attractive recruitment offer.

So I don't think this kind of thing is very helpful when recruiting, but does it help manage the relationship down the line?

Again I don't think so. The good nanny gets the bonus anyway because you want to keep her. Saving a bonus of a few £100 is no consolation to you if you have a sickie nanny, you need to get rid of her before the end of the year anyway.

Thank you everyone, for your replies. I think MrAnchovy has probably put it very well - a bonus won't turn the wrong person into the right person, it's about picking the right person in the first place.

The thing that's trickiest at the moment, I think, is that the nanny market is having a tough time - far more nannies than positions available (in our area at least). Theoretically, that should be good for the employer, but it's not, because it means that all the nannies looking for work are saying they're keen for our position, even when maybe they're not. We are only offering a part-time position (2 days a week) but we want to find someone who will stay in the position long term. I feel that lots of people are applying who really want a full-time position, and will leave when one comes up.

I don't really blame the nannies - everyone needs employment. But I want continuity for the kids. Our current nanny would love to stay if we could employ her full time, but that's not what we need. So it's tricky trying to work out (on top of all the other criteria) who is likely to be a long term prospect.

Perhaps having a contract with a long notice period on both sides (after the inital probationary period) is the answer? Gives security to both us and the nanny. So only people with long term intentions would want to enter the contract. But it might not be something they think through at the beginning - and the last thing I want is a disgruntled nanny tied into a 3 month notice period. It's all very tricky!

I don't think having a contract with a long notice period is the answer... 1 if you ask her to leave and don't want her sticking around to serve out the time you have to pay out a long notice period. and 2 notice periods don't really keep people in the job. professional good nannies do, others just walk not caring about the contract.

Thanks Chelsea. Yes, you are probably right. It all comes down to choosing the right person, really (and then some luck that their circumstances don't radically change). So difficult to tell during an interview if someone is that 'professional good nanny' in character, though of course talking to previous employers is a guide.