Advice please... Complicated one

[nannyof3]

Hi everyone..

A complicated one for you all.. Bare with me...

I am currently a nanny to 2x5yo and a 3yo, two families..
The 5yo has a baby brother who i plan to look after when he is 6 months old.

While the 3yo starts nursery for 3 hours a day..

So in the mornings between 7.30-9 i will have four children, instead of three

Between 9-12 i will have one child which was the same as before.

Between 12-3 i will have two children instead of one

And between 3 and 6.30 i will have four children instead of 3..

School holidays i will have 4 children instead of 3 all day 7.30-6.30...

Life will be alot different for me and the 3 older children because activities will have to be adapted and i wont be able to spend so much time with them as i will have a 6 month old baby to look after...

So my question to u is..
. Would u as a parent expect to pay me the same or give me a payrise...

Would you as a nanny expect to be paid more???

Thank you for reading this

I would expect to be paid more.

Nope. Nannies do not get paid more for more children. You are expected to do your best in the hours you are paid for.

The only change in expectations is that the older children may get less attention than previously but that is something for the mums to expect. Changing the schedule of activities is pretty much to be expected, too.

TBH I am quite surprised at the expectation that you should be paid more. I can imagine that during the holidays it might be more stressful, sure, but with nanny work there are always ebbs and flows in the demand as children graduate to nurseries, schools, activities, etc. Would you expect a drop in salary if one of your charges starts school?

Whilst a pay rise might be nice, I certainly wouldn't expect one especially in this economic climate. I assume you're paid a higher hourly rate as a nanny share anyway? And as Squiffy says, you wouldn't expect a drop in pay when the older ones are at school/nursery etc.

Stillsquiffy...... Im not expecting anything... This is why im asking !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think the "instead of" is irrelevant as that is now your new duties as a baby has been born but yes, you should get paid a bit more because of the new baby as you will still be on call for all 4 children all the time.

I think it depends on what you're being paid already. If it's at the top end of the scale then I'd say no you don't get a pay rise. If what you're being paid isn't towards the higher end of the scale then I'd ask for a pay rise.

Nannies don't get paid per child, but it seems fair to me to increase pay when duties/work load increases. When a child goes to school the nanny is often asked to do other things to fill in the time so wouldn't take a pay cut as the work load remains the same (often more household stuff then childcare). If the children were at school and I was not asked to do anything else, I would expect to be asked to take a pay cut.

But if you get more because of baby don't expect an increase after 12 months. (I got a 12 monthly rise)

As an employer I would expect to pay slightly more for 4 children vs 3.

I would imagine that a payrise should be at least discussed as your workload will have increased.
I am currently employed in administration whilst I sort out my childcare diploma and my pay rose when my workload was added to.
A Nanny job should be like any other - and with most other jobs if your workload significantly increased your pay would be assessed in this regard.
This would most likely be judged by a change in your original job description - as your original job description was the care of three children then this would count as a change.
Similarly, if one of the children started school, i would expect an increase in other duties to fill that time or else perhaps a decrease in pay.
This is my personal opion, of course, combined with my work experience in other sectors.
But a fair discussion with the parents should sort this out, just go in with fair expectations from them and their financial situation.

Think of it like this - if they were choosing alternative childcare, eg. nursery school, they wouldn't expect the nursery to take on the "extra workload" of another child for free.

As a nanny I would expect to be paid the same. Duties may change a bit, activities allowance may change. I would expect the parents would review the percentage split, as family A currently has 2 children and family B have 1 and that will change to family B having 2.

There would also be some practical things that would change... baby equipment for example. Travel arrangements would be something that could change a lot, as if you use your car for work, can you fit 4 children in the appropriate car seats in your vehicle? Would a child need to sit in the front passenger seat - if so, how are they selected?

The location at which childcare is provided may change... for example it may be easier to provide it all from the babies home.

I've been in situations where I've been taking care of one child and then been left with both of someone's children. I wasn't paid more but it didn't matter too much since I was doing the same number of hours. I would have liked to have been told beforehand, though, as you said, daily activities were quite different as one child was a baby (the one I usually took care of) and the other was four (decided against sending him to nursery on the days I was there as it was easier for her).

I paid my nanny a little more when I went back to work after mat leave and she had an extra child. She now has 3 under 5. Not a lot more, a token amount. It is a harder job with more kids but I was lucky and could afford it. I guess the question is more complicated as you are looking after 2 families? If so do you have to think proportionately I.e the family with the extra child pays more which in a nanny share am not sure they would be willing to do. Are the two 5 yr olds twins? If so does that family pay the same as the other?