Am I being unreasonable?

[ladyjulz]

My apologies in advance if this comes off as ranting/nonsensical, but its late and I'm stressed. To give you the basic background, I'm a nanny, I've been looking for a full time job, bit in the absence of that I was willing to take 2 part time jobs in order to make up my hours. I got offered a job for Mon + tues, then MIRACULOUSLY found another person for wed thurs fri. They seemed v interested but wanted flexibility on hours as they both work shifts. I said no problem as long as I knew in advance. They were keen for me to start ASAP, and mum emailed me the days for which they would definitely need childcare. However, when I received this, she had only listed 5 days for the rest of this month and 4 for the whole of April as definites. Confused, I rang her and she explained that having gone over their shifts, these were the only definites, but they were likely to need other days to free mum up. They then went on to say that they were wanting only really 2 days with 3 days occasionally but on the occasions where its only 2 days they wanted flexibility as to which 2 out of wed thurs Fri it was. I am now very frustrated as (obviously) I have to think about my own finances and well-being and if there's no consistency I'll be hard pressed to make up those lost hours elsewhere. So my question (finally) is this - is it unreasonable to expect them to pay me a set salary for 3 days per week (under the proviso that I'm available to them for those 3 days) rather than them paying me ad hoc? This would mean that if they decided they didn't need me on a certain day, that would be up to them and wouldnt affect my pay. I feel this isn't unreasonable as I like most people, like to know what my income is each month. I also think that if they want that level of flexibility, it comes with a price, as I shouldn't have to lose out financially every time they whimsically decide they don't need me. But I wanted to see what the general consensus was and if anyone had any experience of this? I would really appreciate a quick response as I'm supposed to be seeing them on Friday to talk this over!

yanbu at all

of course they should contract with you for 3 days

they can't have it both ways

i'm sure someone with wiser words will be along soon

good luck

cross post with natashabee in case she thinks i meant she wasn't wise

but i agree with her

Other childcarers/settings would charge for the 3 full days to ensure the child's place. Don't feel unreasonable. You are right to charge.

They are being really cheeky and hoping to get away with it I would think - if you agreed they would have the flexibility they need and only have to pay for "hours used". At the moment I would think you have a good chance of getting work Wed-Fri, but if you have to keep these days free so they can choose what they want, but you won't be sure it's enough hours, you won't be able to. I would offer them three definite days which they commit to paying for (with flexibility over hours) or walk away tbh.

My friend took a job like this, she ended up with no work for a month due to the way their shifts fell. I'm a cm and would definitely be charging them or at the very least charging a retainer for the days they don't use.

At the very least they should pay a retainer of, say, 50% on the days when you are not needed if you can afford that. But I do think they are trying it on. When you meet with them reiterate that you meant flexibility regarding the hours not the number of days.

i would ask to be paid for all 3 days. You could argue that if another job was offered for the full 3 days, you would not be in a financial position to refuse it, so they would be risking losing you at short notice if they didn't retain you. Then leave it up to them. You could offer to help them untill you found another role but on the understanding that you would only be able to do this on a one week notice basis.

No cms would charge them for the 3 days, uanbu.

I'm a nanny employer and would definitely expect to pay for the 3 days, I totally understand your position and think it is very reasonable. However I know lots of people wouldn't do that and expect you to live with an unsteady income (like booking a babysitter). If you insisted on it, you may well find that they are suddenly not interested in you. Still, I think such people don't really understand the nature of employing a nanny and may well turn out not to respect your other rights of employment too... I'd be surprised if "cash in hand" doesn't get mentioned, for instance. Hope the talk goes well.

I'm am so glad I posted this, thank you everyone for great advice and reassuring me I'm neither crazy nor unreasonable!
I now have a few more questions if that's ok?
1: would other forms of childcare still charge full price even when they're not being used?
2: if I am willing to negotiate on salary, iyho is it better to take a (slight) drop in salary generally (as was 1 suggestion) or charge them a retainer for the days I'm not required (as was also suggested)? (these were great suggestions of things I hadn't considered in my confusion)
3: I told them at the interview that if they required me to come outside normal working hours (i.e. come in particularly early or stay late in the evening, then the £/hr would be higher as they would be eating into my personal life. Should I stand by this?
Novstar: I think what you said about unstable income and lack of respect really gets to the heart of how I'm feeling - the question I have to ask myself is if they are willing to put me in that position of instability, without any concern for me as their employee, am I really interested in them?

YANBU to want to be paid the 3 days you are available to them.

YABU for not using paragraphs or line spacing or something!

tbh I'd just walk away, are you in an area with a lot of jobs? Do you think you could find another weds/thurs/fri job?

As a CM I would charge for the third day if the family wanted their child's place to be secure.

1: a nursery would charge for all 3 days whether used or not, most cmers would either charge in full or accept a retainer (as answered above).

2: if you are willing to negotiate on salary then you need to decide what is best for you financially.

3: if you are being paid an hourly rate, not a salary, you should be paid a higher rate for unsociable hours.

def need to charge for 3 days whether they use you or not, or you may find that some weeks they wont use you at all or just one day

yes all other forms of childcare would charge

Go ahead with your plan to ask to be paid for the 3 days, however for the luxury of the fact you're going to have at least a few if not several days paid to do nothing, I think it's quite cheeky of you to ask for a higher rate for hours outside the standard 8-6.

Nurseries will charge you whther you are there or not - and rightly so. Yes, I think you should charge a higher rate for unsociable hours.