Question

[London1988]

Hey. I have a question and wanted some advice. My husband and I have hired a nanny to look after our children. She gets 22.5 days plus bank holidays off. We have been quite generous with her (in terms of giving her more hours, dealing with emergency situations, etc) and she has been really good to us. We don't want to lose her.

However, We have run into a problem. We have told her that we will accommodate her holiday time where we can but sometimes we might have to say no. She did not like that and seems to think as long as she gives us notice, she can take time off whenever she wants (usually term time as it's cheaper) because she has given us notice to find alternative childcare.

I am studying at university (course has a lot of placements) and work in education so I do not get to choose my holiday time therefore my husband has to take time off as he has a choice when he takes his time off. Even he has some limitations due to his job.

She has already booked time off during term time that we have accommodated and will accommodate the holiday she wants to take next year (again in term time in the middle of my placement), which is fine.

We are worried that if we keep accommodating her, we will have to use all of my husband's holiday time which means we won't have holiday time together. We did include a clause in her contract saying that we may require her to take holiday of our choosing due to our school/work schedule.

I want to be reasonable as we want to keep her but stay fair to us at the same time. Any help would be much appreciated.

Tell her that this is applicable to every job where you're an employee and ultimately, she needs to get in the real world. Harsh, maybe, but what would happen if neither of you could cover, you'd have to pay double.

It may actually be helpful to state that these are your set family holiday period dates and she's required to base her holiday dates around these. Sadly, like teachers, being a nanny means for the most part accepting higher holiday costs as well.

Perfectly normal for an employer to say no to some holiday requests. Also normal for the employer to dictate when some holiday has to be taken.

Finding a balance can be tricky, ideally neither side should expect to get all the choice as to when holiday occurs. Often a split of 50/50 happens for days which can be chosen (so not counting the bank holidays in your case as those were deemed to be off by default in your agreement).

In a nanny situation, it is normally a 50/50 choice.
I think if you stick to 50/50 choice and make sure you do let her take her choice when she likes then it should be ok.

I thought it was common for nannies to get to choose 50% of holiday dates and the family chooses the other 50%. I always understood that If the family choose to go on holiday outside of their 50%. This is up to them but they could insist that the nanny turns in to work and does nursery related duties, eg, changing the dc beds, sorting out outgrown clothes, sorting through toys, batch cooking, getting activities ready for the dc for when they get back from holiday etc.

You need to have an honest conversation with her about this and remind her of the clause in your contract that says some holiday will be at your choosing. Obviously she may not like this and may choose to leave, but yanb in doing this and I doubt she will find a nanny employer willing to accommodate her request for Choosing all Holidays.

It’s usually 50/50 which works our usually 2 working weeks of nanny and 2 your choice but obv working out days and bh

Not surprised she wants term Homs. Flights and places much cheaper and less kids

We love them at work but nic3 to have a break on h9liday