I’m hiring a babysitter to spend 3 hours a day, 3 days a week, caring for my 2 kids, ages 5 and 3. She’s making $10 per hour, the going rate around here. She is a young woman, a college student.
Are these payment outlines I wrote out for her reasonable?
Thanks!
-We will pay you $10 per hour.
For partial hours, we’ll pay in 15 minute increments = $2.5 per 15 minutes.
If the kids have a friend over to play at our house we’ll pay you an additional $5 per hour that the additional child is here. If one of the kids goes on a playdate we’ll still pay you the full $10 for the time you are here with whoever is left behind.
Except in case of illness please give at least 24 hours notice if you cannot work. We’ll give you at least 24 hours notice if we don’t need you on a day. If we have to cancel the same day we’ll pay you for that day’s 3 hours anyway.
Please be on time each day and we will be too. If you’ll be late please call to let us know as soon as you know you’ll be late – and we will too. If you are more than 30 minutes late with no notice we’d expect you to pay us back with 30 minutes of free care. If we are late with no notice we’ll pay you for the time you had to wait.
Is there anything that seems nutty - or anything important I forgot? I don’t want it to be a contract…just an understanding. Or is this over-the-top, and I should let it go unless a problem arises?
I’d put something in about her not having friends over, unless you don’t have an issue with that. Also as mentioned above, meals, phone, TV and internet.
I think you may want to consider paying a bit more if she’s going to have to stay later than expected (you get a flat, traffic’s bad, etc.) Since $10 is the going rate, she gains nothing by having to adjust her schedule if for some reason she has to stay longer. I think it’d show her that you’re going to make an effort to be on time, as you expect her to be. Even if it’s just an extra 50 cents per 15 minutes, I think it makes a statement.
When my current babysitter started, she told me that I had overpaid her for the past couple of weeks, because she didn’t realize I was rounding by 15 min increments. (but she makes $12/hr watching 13/9/8 year old boys for 4 days after school. Half hour increments would make me not be able to afford her)
If you intend the “late with no notice” on your part to be an extremely rare, unforeseen emergency only situation, I’d say that’s fair. However, the daycare and afterschool programs we’ve used have charged $1 per minute after the scheduled end-time to avoid the persistent problem of parents abusing the schedule to run a “quick” errand or two after work.
I’d take out the part where providing notice that either party will be late will absolve that party from financial responsibility. If she’s an hour late, she doesn’t get paid for that hour. If you’re an hour late, you pay her for an extra hour. Simpler that way. Otherwise, what you have is fine, but I’d add a no guests without prior permission clause as well.
My experience is in HR, not babysitting, so take this for what it’s worth. I think it all looks fine except the one passage above. I believe legally for someone caring for your kids in your home you can have essentially whatever terms and conditions you want (although IANAL). But in any other employment context, expecting an employee to work off the clock is a huge don’t. It just seems like something that could bite you in the butt, because you can’t make her work for free. The general principle in the workplace is pay for time worked, period, and punish tardiness with discipline up to and including termination. An unreliable employee is one you don’t want, not something that can be made up for later. If nothing else, you might be providing her a more realistic work situation if you handled it that way.
If I was reading this from a business point of view, I’d ask what you think ‘notice’ means. If they’re due at 5:30 and call you at 5:29 saying they won’t be there for two hours, there’s no penalty for them according to the contract. That could be a real burden for you.
Again, in the real world of babysitters, it’s not a big issue because if they pull that kind of thing more than once, then you get a different babysitter. If this was something more serious (like a service contract for a business) I’d recommend penalties for being late without at least 24 hours notice.
Okay - this was the phrase that jumped out at me because I could just hear someone saying: “You want a friend over? How about inviting ALL your friends over? Let’s have a party!”
And while your kids and their closest friends are tearing your house apart - she’s going “27 . . .28 . . .29. . .are you sure you don’t have any other friends you want to call? I could really use the extra $450”
As a babysitter, I think it looks good. I agree that, in writing or not, some guidelines re: food and computer, phone, etc. use would be useful as well.
ETA: Also, is she ever expected to take them anywhere (like the playdates) and in whose car with what carseat, etc.
Understood - but it also says “a” friend - and does not quantify if this is a friend per child, what happens with multiple friends, etc. I think a phrase would just clarify this section, like “if a play date occurs at our home” or something.
I was a professional nanny for 12 years with two different families. One family was in CA in the early 90s and the last one is in WI. And I worked there from 1996 to 2006. What you have outlined looks great to me.
I can’t believe how much the going rate is in some areas. I think it is still pretty much $5 an hour around here for an average babysitter.
Even after 10 years as a nanny, working 15 hours a day, two and sometimes 3 days a week, I was only making $12 an hour! And I didn’t live at the last place, or have a car to drive. I used my own. When gas prices soared, and I was driving 75 miles a day just to run the kids to their lessons(they did everything), and driving 50 miles round trip to my house, I decided it wasn’t worth it. I was spending about $25 bucks on gas a day right off the top of my wage, and putting a lot of miles on my Explorer.
So I guess, you may want to consider any driving she may do. Who will pay for that? I didn’t negotiate that part at all and regretted it.
And by all means get all that in writing and have her sign it. It isn’t strange at all, and can avoid a lot of problems in the future. I signed a little contract very much like that with the last job. It ended up protecting me even more than it did them. One great benefit I had, was that I was paid whenever they took a vacation. This was my full time job, so I told them if they took off more than a week or two a year, it would really hurt me financially. At first they only took a few weeks off a year, but then they got a cabin and were taking off an extra few weeks each year. I ended up getting as many as six weeks of paid vacation(theirs) and one of my own each year! That made up for not making all that much per hour.
I wish I lived near you, I would love a part-time job like that…sign me up!
That’s the thing that stuck out for me, too - if you’re an hourly employee and you’re late, you just don’t get paid for that time.
After watching Judge Judy, I’d say getting it all in writing is a great idea to cover everyone’s butt. One more thing I’d add is the pay periods - will you pay daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly? What day will you pay her on? I had a babysitting job as a high-schooler, and I was always forced to go begging for my money (with comments of, “So much?” Yeah, so much. I babysat 10 days out of the last 14.) It would be better if she knew what to expect and when. And pay by cheque, too - it looks so stupid on Judge Judy when people go to court with no financial records.
Not to be impolite, but there is a reason that your boys need a babysitter? At age nine, I was staying home by myself. At age thirteen, I WAS a babysitter, for children as young as preschool age. Perhaps three boys is critical mass?
My niece who’s 13 stays home alone by herself, but she rarely if ever watches her brother(9) and/or sister(6). This is mainly by her choice. She doesn’t like staying home if it’s dark out or for too long.
On the other hand, I’m only fifteen years older than her. When I was her age, I babysat for two kids up the street all the time and then walked home at night. The world hasn’t changed all that much, but we’re definitely different individuals.
There will be no driving by the babysitter, she rides her bike and doesn’t have a car.
I have a written list of house rules, a suggested schedule for the kids, instructions about doctors and medical info, our contact all that usual stuff… even what snacks are ok and not. That was a lot easier to work out in my mind than the business end of things.
Best part? She volunteered *volunteered *to do laundry if I need it. I think I might ask her to move in.
