I am a nanny- advice please!

[T1tch85]

This might be a long one - sorry in advance!

I've been a nanny for 18 months, prior to that I was a nursery nurse for 8 years. This is the first family I've nannied for, and it's all gone pretty smoothly so far.
I work 45 hours per week, Mon to Thurs 8-6 and Fri 8-1 (although more often than not I stay on until 6 - paid over time or time off in lieu).

This will change in Sept as my 3 year old charge will start her funded 15hours at pre-school. I will still be doing 45 hours per week but it will be spread across the month - longer hours on a Monday, 2 nights babysitting a month, Fridays off, full time in school holidays.

The concern I have is what happens on a Friday if one of the children is off sick or the school calls and asks for the child to be collected. If I am expected to be on call, should I get a retainer for this? I think so, as I won't be able to do what I like with my day off, but how do I approach this with my family? What kind of retainer should I expect?

I get 20 days holiday and the 8 bank holidays: 10 days of my choice, and 10 days of their choice. The family are having 11 days holiday in the summer, as it's 1 day over my holiday allowance they've asked me to make up the hours. I think this is unfair, as it's not my fault I can't work on this day, it's their choice. Am I being unreasonable? How do I say this to them politely?

Thank you! Sorry for the essay.

Tell them you rang an agency for advice and they said you do not give up your holiday time because you are ready and willing to work but they could ask you to go to their house and do nursery duties .
Find out nurserys phone number and put it in your phone . do not answer your phone from mum boss or nursery on a Friday . There are many many reasons why you aren't contactable ie phone not charged ,left it at home and went out ,forgot it at a friends the night before,didn't hear it , dentist or doctors appointment. basically they want your services they pay . simple as that , Do it once and you set a presidence to always do it . Bol

With the Fridays I would assume they don't need you to be on call unless they've specified that they do. If they want you on call then they need to pay you for those hours.

The holiday thing sounds really tight tbh. I can't imagine my employers asking me to do that. It probably depends what's in your contract as to whether they can ask you to make up the time or not. They could ask you to still go into work the day they are away and do some tidying/sorting/batch cooking. You could offer that, but say you're not happy to make up the hours at other times.

Definitely put your foot down now over hours that are 'owed' What if they decide to take another holiday - say a week in October half term? That would be an awful lot of extra hours that you owe - quite a lot of babysitting or extra Fridays.

If your on call; ask to be paid as usual. I'd ask for full pay not a retainer. Maybe say you are considering looking for extra work on that day if your not needed by them, so will be unavailable. If they want you on Fridays in the holidays, but not term time at all, I'd say a retainer is fair. Maybe 50% pay. Explain that being available for them in the holidays, prevents you finding many one day nanny jobs that would require you year round.
Owing hours is a nightmare; don't agree to it! if they take additional holidays then you expect to be paid as usual, because you are still available. If they aren't happy with this I'd offer to go in as usual and do nursery duties.
There's not really an easy way to discuss these issues; just be friendly and polite, but firm. You are not being unreasonable asking for these things. Most nannies would ask the same. Good luck

How will 45 hours per week be split over a month? Is it say 45 x 52 / 12 = 195 hours per month?

If you have every Friday off during term time, then that I think is around 180 hours a year that you need to fit somewhere else.

If you are not working on a Friday, then you are not working. It is up to the parents to arrange for a sick child to be collected from pre-school if it occurs that day.

Why are you not needed to work on Friday's during term time? You were doing 8-1, pre-school I presume is something like 9-12. So presumably one of the parents is at home that day so can take to pre-school and collect from pre-school.

I get 20 days holiday and the 8 bank holidays: 10 days of my choice, and 10 days of their choice.

How is that phased in your contract?

An employer can dictate when you take holiday.
As you work a different number of hours on different days, you can't really calculate holiday as number of days... it should in my view be done in hours. Currently if you took a Thursday off, that is 10 hours. Whereas if you took a Friday off that is 5 hours.

The family are having 11 days holiday in the summer, as it's 1 day over my holiday allowance they've asked me to make up the hours.

They are going to be away for 11 working days... so that's a little over 2 weeks. Their choice to go away for that period, they can ask you to take your holiday at the same time, so I think your argument is that it is going to mean that you only get 9 days of your choice left this holiday year.

What happens at Xmas? I expect they may choose some more days, or you will choose not to work over the xmas-new year period.

I think this is unfair, as it's not my fault I can't work on this day, it's their choice. Am I being unreasonable?

If your contract specifies that they only get 10 days of their choice, then any days over that I feel they should be paying and not expecting you to do additional unpaid work.

If the contract says something different though, they can reasonably request that you take that time off as part of your holiday entitlement.

Would you have taken no time off at all over Summer if the family had not been going on holiday? I expect you may have requested some time off, so is it that unreasonable for all those 11 days to be considered their choice?

I do not like this choosing 10 days each thing... it does not work in my view. Ideally an employee should be able to choose some of the days they take as holiday, splitting 50/50 I feel is a recipe for disaster as you are finding out - there are problems if one side feels they have not been given their half of the choice days.

I have had 7 days off of my choice already, I have saved 3 days to have between Xmas and New Year, they okayed this.

I would not have chosen to have time off in the Summer holidays, but they have to work around the school holidays. It's not that those 11 days are their choice, that's no issue at all. It's that it's 1 day over my allowance and I have to make up those hours, that bothers me. It's not my fault they've got more holiday than me?

I don't see why you should make up the day... they know you have had 7 days off already and have 3 days booked. It is their choice to take 11 working days holiday.

Glad my boss is not as petty about things.

Could you keep the extra day as a lieu day? It may come in useful in the next few months. My nanny and I had a similar arrangement, I didn't mind her asking for an extra day or so of holiday one year, if she didn't mind making up extra days another year.

Yes, I agree you should make sure you are not available on a Friday if the phone rings from nursery. You either work on a day and get paid or you are not available.

I had a similar sounding job, worked mon-thurs. we spilt our holidays, 50/50.
But if they decided to take extra holiday they weren't happy to give me the time off, I went in and did batch cooking, toy clearing/sorting, children's clothes etc!
You really have to make it clear that its not that you don't want to work it's just tricky as no children to look after.
My boss suggested that in lieu of extra holidays I could baby sit on a sat. Night to make up hours!
glad I am now in a job where if they take extra holiday or come home earlier, they recognise this is their choice.
Be firm, good luck.

You are not being unreasonable. You shouldn't have to make up the hours from their holiday. It is hard but you shouldbe firm about this. Hopefully they will realise they have been unreasonable.

You can also discuss the Friday retainer issue. You certainly don't have to make yourself available. It really is up to you what you do with this.

Good luck.

The question is: do you like the job and want to keep it or do you not care either way? If you like it, have a chat with your employers, trying to find a solution that works for you al. Bear in mind people hire nannies for flexibility, reliability and trustworthiness.

If you do not care about this job, do as wakeupandsmell suggested. I can guarantee unhappy employers, souring relationships and a lacklustre reference.

Of course I like my job and want to keep it, I wouldn't do it otherwise. But sometimes I feel like I am taken advantage of because I am so flexible and reliable.

How could you add a day? Do they mean working a couple of extra hours for a few days?

Holiday they are giving is minimum entitlement, they can give you more. So as their choice to be away and if they do not want you going in and doing housework duties, then could they not give you the day off?

Ok, if you like the job, try to think about your employment as a whole package rather than a sum of "hours". It is what most professionals do and over time will distinguish your attitude from that of time-watching colleagues.
Ideally, your employers should do the same and, if they do, they should stop being petty and counting hours here and there.
Fwiiw, in my job (as well as in my role as employer) I tend to give as much flexibility and stability as I can, knowing I can then expect the same when I need it. Perhaps have a similar conversation with your employers, offering to do the babysitting they asked for? Who knows, you might want/need that sort of flexibility from them soon. It might also help to agree a fixed gross yearly salary in return for an average number of hours per week, with flexibility built in. Amongst people we know, the happiest and longest nanny-family relationships are on that basis. The penny-pinching clockwatchers (family or nanny) usually last less than 12 months.

I agree with SuiGeneris, works best when neither party clockwatch too much. Flexibility needs to work both ways, its a give/take situation and needs to even itself out over a year period.

If your employer is the sort to keep detailed timesheet and making sure they get every minute accounted for, then I don't know how you can change that. Perhaps talk to them about having a use it or lose it rule, so if they do not use say 80 hours in a 2 week period there is no carry over, they pay 80 even if they have used 78. If on the other hand you have worked over 40 hours in a week you need to try to take some off the following
week but not to keep carrying that over for many weeks.

Look at the big picture, are you enjoying the job generally? Do you really want to job hunt?