New Nanny Starting... Settling in Period, Nanny Expenses & Scheduling

[meggleshs]

Afternoon - I am a first time nanny employer. 4 day / week nanny starting on Monday. We have a week 'overlap' and then I go back to work on 26-Jan, working from a home office at the bottom of garden. A few questions:

1- Settling in Period of a week... I was thinking of just doing our normal routine, taking Nanny & Kids to our normal playgroups, pre-school etc. Perhaps by the end of the week having her go to 1 or 2 things solo. Anything else specific I should do to help ease her transition?

2- Expenses. I was thinking of a kitty of £50. I was thinking of putting a small notebook in there where she could note expenses, date & why (ie car parking charges at the park, etc). Every week or so I'd top it up to the £50.

3- Scheduling. Should I ask the nanny to keep a diary? Noting requested holiday, playdates, schedules, etc? Should it be electronic (gmail calander) or paper?

4- Silly question - but if Nanny goes out with kiddos to a coffee shop for lunch, would you expect employer or nanny to pay for her own lunch / coffee? Once or twice a week. Seems petty, but just trying to think through things...

Thanks in advance!

1. sounds perfect even with 6 years experience I like to shadow parents for the first few days. And then letting her go solo at the end of the week.

2. the kitty sounds fine also ask her to keep recipts. I have a separate purse I keep money/Oyster card and recipts in.

3. we have a diary for dates it's eadisr to keep a book diary and have in the kitchen or other commen area where you can all note , play dates, classes and school notes ect. I write what the kids ate and any notes.

4. if I'm going to a play zone or play cafe or anything child related I will use kitty money for my coffee/tea/ lunch

If I'm choosing to go for Walk with baby and stop in a coffee place while she naps then I pay with my money. Or maybe before a class starts again it's my choice to stop there and I'll paye.

1- Settling in Period of a week... sounds ok though do let your nanny take over solo as soon as possible. Many nannies, especially those who have many years experience are happy to start from day 1.
Try out working from the office. Try out things such as how you would let the nanny know that you need to pop back to the house. Maybe a walkie-talkie in the kitchen.

2- Expenses. Do you really want everything logged? Can be useful to do that for a couple of weeks but once you get the general feel for what the typical weekly expenses are you could give a fixed budget. Then nanny can budget for activities that are more costly by saving money from the previous week (or following week).

3- Scheduling. Should I ask the nanny to keep a diary? Noting requested holiday, playdates, schedules, etc? Should it be electronic (gmail calander) or paper?

Google Calendar, one for each child works well. You, your partner and nanny should have read and write access to it. For events such as Birthday invitations where nanny does not know if you are at home that day (a party could be on a non-nanny working day) then they could email you the party invitation details so you can check if child is able to attend, RSVP to it and add to the calendar.

4- Silly question - but if Nanny goes out with kiddos to a coffee shop for lunch, would you expect employer or nanny to pay for her own lunch / coffee?

Employer pays but it has to be done sensibly. It comes out of the kitty, so with a fixed kitty amount there is automatically a limit to how often it can happen. They need to manage the budget so too much spent on food will mean less spend on activities.

If they are just passing Starbucks and fancy a coffee, then nanny should pay, as there is free coffee available from the home.

Expenses - you don't mention about car...

If nanny is using their own car, all work mileage should be logged with simple destination, start/end mileage, miles. They could then provide that info (destination and miles driven is sufficient) to you monthly for reimbursement - 45p per mile, any more than that is taxable.
You need to keep the records for end of year employers return (your payroll company will request details of total number of miles driven and amount paid).

Emailing a spreadsheet is an easy way for logs of this type to be done and means you can easily find the info when you need it for end of year return.

Thanks everyone!