New nanny! Few questions, please help!

[oinkyoink]

Hello, we have just employed our first ever nanny and she is lovely and kids seem happy.
Questions...

1. I get home at 6pm each evening but she lingers on until 6.30pm or today 6.45pm. Do I pay her for that time or not? She is mostly chatting to me about their day and putting the odd last bowl in dishwasher etc... I find it slightly irritating as i want to spend a bit of time with my kids alone before they go to bed. What shoudl I do?
2. She works Tue-Thurs - how many paid hols is she entitled to?

Thanks a lot!!! New to this... :)

Have you specified her hours in her contract?

Same for holiday. She is legally entitled to 28 days pro-rata, this can include bank holidays. It should be in her contract, though, as well as how many days she chooses, how many days you choose and how much notice of holiday you need to give each other.

As a nanny I think it's nice to have a short handover chat when the parents come home.

Maybe you need to be a bit clearer with her about clocking off time and wanting to have time with your children, for example, to the kids - "come on, let's go read a story and we'll let nanny x get off home" say good bye and take them upstairs, or "don't worry about the dishwasher, I'll sort it out when the kids are in bed" (as long as she's not leaving you to clear up all the tea things)

I'd also specify what hours you want her to work and when it's ok for her to leave - I have worked for some families where my hours are until 7pm and they want you to stay till that time, even if the parents are home, so you end up rearranging toy boxes, tidying up shoes etc until official clock off time. Maybe she has worked for a family like that in the past.

She might be used to hand overs, which you should allow paid time for tbh. She may also think that you want to sort things out and a clean house when you get home before seeing the kids? If you haven't made it clear she may be waiting for a sign from you before leaving, as personally I'd expect to have a handover chat and wouldn't leave until we'd done that! If one of the parents is involved with the children during my working hours then I find something to do until it's time to clock off too.

It can be useful to have a period of time between you getting home and nanny leaving - what if you are delayed on your journey, having a 10-15 minute buffer may mean even with a delay you are not back late.

Your nanny has a start time and finish time agreed with you in advance, don't they? With out that your nanny does not know what they are working.

How far have you got with doing the formal contract/written statement? Usual working hours would be put in that, so would holidays.

Holidays is 5.6 weeks minimum. So 5.6 * 3 days = 16.8 days. It could be calculated in hours if that works better, such as when different hours are worked each day.

Wrote out long reply and lost signal. Grrrrr

Shorter version below

Weird that the nanny stays - generally once employers are home then the nanny goes asap but as others have said maybe she is used to staying till you say it's ok to go

Does contract say finish at 6 or 7?

Just say thanks for today/see you tomorrow: have a nice evening etc

Shouldn't you have agreed holiday and working hours before she started working for you?

Do you "let her go" when you get in - she might be unsure what you want her to do if you haven't been clear.

Part of your question is about pay, so I feel we need to know more about it, as if your agreement is that she works until 7pm then she may be unhappy leaving earlier if that means you dock pay. You would usually be paying for the contracted hours regardless of coming home early.

If she's paid to 6 and you want her to disappear then just say - great, I am sure you need to get back I'll see you tomorrow whilst you take children upstairs and close a door may be although you don't want to rude about it.

if you haven't agreed her hours give her a written contract tomorrow setting it out.

Most tend to rush out.

She works 3/5ths of the year. The minimum holiday is 25 days including back holidays I think from memory so 3/5ths of that. Look on the various Government websites which cover holidays and part time working. Check if you agreed more with her in a contract already of course.

We have a 10/15 min hand over period in the morning and anywhere between a 20/40 min hand over period in the evening - its nice to chat to her about the boys day and concerns either of us have. Often I'll let her go early (but pay her for her full hours) but the boys may ask her to play a game/watch tv with them and so she'll stay till 7 (her contracted hour).

You can also buy a notebook which stays on the kitchen table and helps your communication. She can write down little comments about the children's day, or ask questions, or remind you to add something on your shopping etc. and you can read it later. Or you can write any questions or instructions.