Nanny's hours - seeming many views !

[dogdaysofsummer]

We have a lovely nanny for our 3DC, two of whom are in school. She does just under 12 hours a day four days a week. During Covid we reduced her hours in the evening as we are not commuting. We also normally reduce start time in the morning by half an hour in the holidays. We have of course kept paying her in full and the morning hours will revert to normal during school time.

We're wondering what to do about the evening hour ? We won't be in work for another couple of months at best and will likely end up with working patterns where one of us is working from home every day.

Options are to keep paying, but the cost to us is about £100 a week. Loss to her would be about £50 a week.

Ask her to work late one night a week so we can work late/ go out. But not sure that we would want to do that every week and it would mean a 14 hour day for her, which seems long.

Bank it and use it for babysitting once/twice a month.

What do you think ? What would you prefer if you were a nanny ?

Note she does get a break in the day as youngest reliably sleeps for 2 hours a day.

Ugh title should say seeking nanny views !

If she's happy, I'd bank it and use it for baby sitting once/twice a month!

I would avoid banking it. A lot of nannies do not like that. Though do talk to your nanny about the various options and include it as an option if you feel it could work for you and them.

Having a review of working hours is fine, you can reduce the hours by giving notice as per your contract.
So far changed to hours have been temporary and you have continued to pay in full. Now you are looking at a permanent change and looking at adjusting pay accordingly. Your nanny I hope would appreciate the situation you are in and thus would consider various options if they suited them.

In your discussion with your nanny it may help to show what the reduction in hours and pay actually means to their take home pay.
A £100 per week gross pay reduction does not mean their take home pay reduces by £100... not that simple in most cases.

Have you asked her what she would prefer?

Ask her what she’d prefer. I absolutely hate banking it and refuse to do it but she may not mind. And if she does agree then absolutely make sure you stick to the hours you’ve banked and if you go over then make sure you pay the extra.

Sit her down for a salary review and ask her

I never bank hours

Give her the option of finishing earlier and losing £

Or ask if she wants to bs once a week - but I’d uou don’t use it that week that’s it

I honestly cannot understand this mindset of banking hours so the nanny can work a weekend/evening and make up for it instead. If she wanted to work unsociable hours for same rate of pay then she'd search for additional babysitting jobs surely? Nannies want to workout their contracted hours and that's it- just like most people. Nannies almost always go above and beyond as it is without families thinking they have no personal life outside the family home as it is!

I don’t think you can bank those hours and use them when you fancy. I think give her the scenarios and see what she says.

What did you both agree to in the end ?

She doesn’t get a break in the day. Unless you allow her to leave the premises she is working.

@HOkieCOkie I was thinking that. If it’s a break you can do what you want. You have to stay with the baby during nap time and listen for issues!

Agree re the break. She is still in sole charge of your child. It is not a break.

I'd assume the op didn't mean she got a break in the day as an unpaid session or big relaxation, just to say it wasn't 12 hours without a chance to sit down.

I have a lunch break at work, it's 30 mins and not enough time to leave the premises, but it is a break. 20 mins is actually the legal requirement for a 12 hour shift, so 2 hours isn't bad during term time, even if it's sometimes interrupted by a wakeful baby.

Personally I think it's pretty bad form to reduce your nanny's hours if you're both being paid the same, unless you're in financial trouble.

1. Those of us lucky enough to have jobs should share our luck
2. There's a good chance your children will be at home on and off, and presumably her job was a lot harder than usual during lockdown but without a pay rise
3. If the moral arguments don't convince you, if her income drops she's more likely to take babysitting or other jobs with other families, which increases risk of you all getting sick either with covid itself or with a cough/fever that will make you have to isolate without her, get tests if available etc

Yes exactly that @OverTheRubicon , although on occasion she also goes out as I am obviously in the house.

I think we are going to reduce her hours, not what we wanted to do, but from the above it feels like we'll run into too many problems if we try and manage it another way.