tell me how you handle holidays with your nanny pls

[theory]

we're getting ready to employ a nanny (live out) for the first time, and I'm wondering about holidays - not the pay (I understand that we have to pay, although since we're going to have someone part-time, I haven't worked out how many days per year yet...) But my real question is how do you handle a nanny's holiday time practically ? Parents: Do you hire a temporary nanny when you regular one in away? Nannies: Do you tend to take your holidays when your employers take theirs?

We all take holiday at the same time. So if nanny gets 4 weeks plus bank holidays, she gets to select 2 weeks and we get to select 2 weeks. Your contract should stipulate a minimum period in advance when she (or you) can book holidays - you don't want her announcing on a Thursday that she wants 2 weeks off starting on Monday, for example. We have always said 1 month or more prior notice.

You might also want to specify that half her holiday has to be a complete week, if a series of single days off is going to be complex for you.

This won't work if you want to take a nanny on holiday with you. I've never wanted that, so someone else will need to help you with that.

my other tip is that if you or DH get more than 4 weeks holiday, that's useful to have in reserve, in case you need a day off when nanny is ill, or just want some "me" time. Also, giving nanny a day off in addition to her holiday is a great way of saying thanks to a good employee.

Agree with everything fridayschild says.

In addition,if nanny works part-time generally the holidays are determined by however many days per week she works for you, eg five day wk nanny getting 4wks hols amounts to 20days, 3 day week nanny gets 12days paid hols.

If you take a nanny on holiday with you that is your choice, these days do not get deducted from her holiday entitlement as more often than not you are taking her with you to help out, then she ends up working anyway.
HTH

legaly holiday entitlement goes up in april 2009 to 5.6 weeks (which can include bank hols)

it s currently 4.8 weeks i think

Thats interesting nannyL, didnt know about that.

My contract says 4 but I usually end up with at least 6 as parents get more.

my mb will either take time off when i am away or as I only work 3 days, and my mb can swap her days, sometimes i have taken a holiday with 3mths notice etc and then I will get my friends to cover the days as some of them work part time (and obv pay them as well as me)

nannies get at least 4 weeks notice and normally get to choose 2weeks each

never needed to get a temp in the 3 yearsthat I have been there

For calculating number of days annual holiday an employee gets... use BusinessLink: Holiday Calculator. It is important to use the correct starting date for the leave period, as the entitlement changes in April this year to 5.6 weeks (see here).

What happens with holidays when a nanny hands in notice?

If say nanny has accrued 7 days holiday, but the parents decided to go on holiday prior to notice being given - would this mean the nanny had effectively used up her holiday?

Up to each side to agree... but in the situation you describe, the nannies holiday to be used would need to be taken prior to the contract end date, so if the parents are going away... then the nanny would allocate those days as part of their remaining holiday.
I feel that once a nanny hands in their notice, they can't then request holiday... instead calculations are made to work out if they have taken sufficient holiday - and if not, then an agreement made that either they take some days off, or they get paid for those holidays not taken (may not be totally legal, but it is far more practical).

thanks nannynick

Some ways that parents cope with their nanny taking holiday:

Their partner covers some of the days... so mum goes to work, dad stays home and vice versa.
Grandparents (or other extended family members) come to visit.
If older children and during school holidays, the children may go to Cub Camp, Playscheme etc.
Restrict nanny to only being able to take holiday during certain times (Teachers for example may request that their nanny takes holiday during school holiday periods).

The legal holiday entitlement includes bank holidays i think?

thanks, everyone! very helpful

We take haoliday when the nanny takes holiday, and vice versa. I do ask the nanny to work with the school holidays. But in this country there are so many to choose from that that isn't really a problem. I like to arrange all of the holidays when we write the contract. I'm generally quite happy for her to choose them and my hols will follow hers. But, there are a couple of non-standard days that I insist on (Such as American thanksgiving and 4th of July).

I have a part time nanny and there is an extra complication to think about. If both I and the other family she works for require her to take holiday when we do then she never ends up with a full week... just something else to think about.

Though holiday arrangements when a nanny has multiple jobs, shouldn't make a difference to the employer - it's not their issue... it's the nannies. An employer of a part-time nanny may have no knowledge of what the nanny does on the other days.

I've never found it works that way at all when they say the employer selects two weeks and the nanny selects two weeks. In my experience whatever I choose is always inconvenient and we 'negotiate' which means boss gets her way which technically means she chooses all the holidays. Like AtheneNoctua's idea of having it all written in the contract. It's so much better for everybody when it's all upfront.
(Goes off to look at contract)

The options are:-

1. the 'I choose 2, you choose 2, set out in contract' method, or

2. the 'we are going on holiday and you can choose if you take vacation or not: if not, then the week's tasks will be X,Y and Z' method

We have done (2) a couple of times when we have taken a holiday at a time when we know the nanny is not going to have many holiday options herself (eg October half term). Nanny has spent time doing things like sorting out the DC's wardrobes and putting away winter stuff or stuff that doesn't fit, sorting out all the toys and putting them through dishwasher/washing machine, and even going through all the DVD's and listing which ones are scratched and need replacing. Plenty to fill a week every now and then (in fact I am quite envious of her, as would dearly love to have a whole week to do this type of stuff)....

Mind you, I did think maybe she'd got bored when I came home one week to find all the jigsaw puzzles sorted into two piles - she had gone through them all and checked which ones had pieces missing and which ones were intact

You periodically put all the toys through the diswasher / washing machine?

Reminds me of that other weird MNer, who irons her tea towels.

Incidentally, I did once have a nanny who resigned when I said no to her non-school holiday two week holiday request. She wanted to go to Morrocco with her Daddy. And my school holiday schedule didn't suit his work schedule so she resigned. And I remember thinking wouldn't it be sweet to be able to chuck in my job if it didn't suit myholiday schedule. Although she was already planning to leave a couple months later anyway and so just bumped it up a bit.

So, there is a risk that your nanny might uproot if she doesn't get the holiday she wants.