Nanny holidays - what do people do?

[ScaryHairy]

Our nanny has used up 15 days' holiday (out of a total 20 days for which she is paid, in addition to paid bank holidays). 10 of those days were taken when we all went away and 5 were taken because she needed to go home last Christmas, and this visit extended into 2008.

Her contract says that she will take half of her holidays when we want, which obviously she has done.

I am now getting in a bit of a mess as we are booking more breaks (for which her services will not be required) and I am not sure how to handle them. I am sure she will want at least a few days off over Christmas, and my husband has booked holidays totalling 8 working days in the next few months.

What do other people do? When you go away and your nanny is not needed, does she take this as holiday? Do you pay her anyway - even though she isn't working - and not count it as holiday? I really want to be fair (I know she has bills to pay...), but equally I don't want to end up bankrupt!

Any thoughts appreciated.

Yes, if your holiday exceeds the number of days holiday she takes by your choice, then you have to pay her while you are away. You could ask her to come and do other household tasks while you are away if you wish, because technically she should be available to work.
You should make sure that you are both clear about when the leave year begins and ends - so she has to take the 10 days of her choice within each leave year.
as far as I can see, she has another 5 days in this leave year that she can choose when she takes. She may agree to take those when you are away, but she's not required to.
hth

I'd see it as an opportunity for her to come in and spring clean the bedrooms & toys & perhaps cooks some meals for the freezer. I would make it clear that just because you are away does not mean that she isn't working however if she wishes to take her leave then that is okay with you.

When you say 10 days were taken when you all went away, do you mean all on holiday WITH the nanny or she had a seperate holiday at the same time as you? If the former then it doesn't count as any holiday days for the nanny.

I would just ask her if she has decided when she would like to take her holidays that she has left (when do they run to?) so that you know what childcare needs you may have whilst she is away. If she has no particular time off needed she may be happy to take them alongside your hubbys time off.

nbee - we went away separately (i.e. she wasn't working). The holiday year is calendar year.

Clearly we're just going to have to sit down and have a chat about this and see where we end up. Technically, yes, she does have 5 days left that she can taken when she wants, and I guess because she has less holidays than me and my dh there was always going to be a time when we were away and she was "working". I shall come up with some alternative tasks for her while I am away if she doesn't want to take holidays.

I suspect she is going to want to keep some days back for Christmas, so I wouldn't be entirely surprised if she did not want to take all of this time as holidays now.

Thanks all.

sorry to but in, just something i would query... could you ask her to do other tasks while she is away even if those tasks are not in her contract. ie i am looin ata job where only extra task other than childcare is cooking for children. so could if i was in this situation would i have to do other tasks that i wasnt contracted to normaaly do? or would it be up to me?

I think that, to the extent that such tasks fall outside of her job description, I will have to agree them with my nanny. Having said that, if she does not want to take holiday then she should expect to be at work one way or another and any tasks that I do give her won't be outrageous in the context of her job. For example, I might have her give the baby's room a thorough clean, or sorting out too-small clothes. Other jobs would be "inoffensive" e.g. watering the garden, hoovering my car (which she uses), generally looking after the house in our absence.

if you decide to go away for more than the weeks stated in contract,then as she is avaible to work, you must pay her her fulltime wage

my family go away more than my 5 weeks paid holiday,but that just means I get extra time off paid

MB has never asked me to go in and clean playroom/cook etc when they go away, and tbh when they go away, I normally go away with mu hubby

yes its paid regardless as we are avaliable to work (and its not "our" fault that you dont need us)

and yes nanny id still entitled to chose the remainderof her days when she wants them

in my old job i got 10 weeks hold per year (3ish my choice, 2 theres, and the other 5 they gave me on top)

Current job i choose 3 weeks, they choose me 2 weeks
this year have chosen myself 4 weeks and a day

they have given me another 5ish weeks

Tasks would need to be as the terms of the existing contract. However you could mutually agree to amend the current contract, perhaps on a temporary basis (specify date period).

Yes, Nannynick, it will all need to be agreed since it's outside of the scope of the contract. But I think we'll just verbally agree tasks for the week we're away. Our nanny is pretty willing to help out (but then I am also pretty flexible with her - I think we're not bad to work for ) so I expect she will want to be helpful.

You'll usually find that the nanny won't mind a few extra duties while you are not there - it's a good trade off for finishing early (presuming you won't be finding 8 - 10 hrs of things for her to do!) and still being paid for the full day.

You could maybe ask her to take down the curtains in the childrens rooms - wash them if they are machine washable - or take them/collect them from the dry cleaners - and rehang them - maybe cleaning the windows while they are down. Sorting out toyboxes - sorting out the wardrobes. Sewing labels onto clothes ready for school (hate that job myself!) Baking some childrens meals to freeze. Sorting out the garden toys - giving them a good clean. I'm sure you can think of some more.

Some excellent ideas nbee. I will put some of those on the list. I doubt I will come up with more than about 10 hours of work in total though - not a bad trade off for 8 days off!!