Our nanny of beloved nanny of 6 months just told us that she is expecting a child. We’re happy for her and want to keep her employed.
We have a one year old and a four year old. She’ll be bringing the baby to work with her. My son will be starting school in September, so she’ll only be watching our one year old and her baby for half of the day.
It doesn’t seem right to pay her less because we still expect the same quality of work and we know that she’ll continue to be great.
I wasn’t very clear. She’s still working a full day-- she will just be taking care of one of our kids for half of that day, though, since he will be at school.
If you’re happy with her as a nanny, and it sounds like you are, don’t cut her pay. You’re used to paying her the whole amount so it won’t hurt you to keep paying it. Also she’ll be there on days your boy is off school for vacation or if he’s sick. If you just keep paying her the same amount, you won’t have to adjust what you pay her for the school breaks and stuff.
Well if she’s working the whole day you should pay her the same. You could renegotiate if you want, but then she might go somewhere else if she gets paid less.
Am I the only one that thought this was going to be about a goat?
I can’t offer opinions about paying for child care, but I generally don’t pay goats that much more when they have kids… oh, sure… some extra minerals and a touch of higher quality hay… but other than that, they get the same amount of pay.
Yeah, if you’ve got a nanny you’re comfortable with and she’s still putting a full day keep her pay the same. And by reaching out to her you’ll cement her loyalty to you as well.
Agreed on pay her the same. There will be enough times where your older child is sick, or just plain not in school, that she won’t be doing a whole lot less work than she is now.
Things to think of logistically: When her own baby is sick, will you and she expect that she’ll bring the baby along to your place? When she has to take her own baby to the doctor, will she bring your own kid(s) along as well? I have never had any issues with our nanny taking our kids along on such outings, but it’s something to discuss with her.
When my kids got to be older and were in school a big chunk of the day, our nanny was effectively very part-time. We actually wound up continuing to pay her full time for a number of reasons. Firstly, she needed the income, and if we had cut it to be “hours worked only”, she’d have had to find something else - either for the earlier part of the day, or something else full-time (i.e. we’d have had to make other arrangements entirely). Second, this meant she was “on call” if the kids were sick. Thirdly, it meant she was covering for school breaks etc. as well.
You’re obviously a few years away from that being an issue (with your younger child being only 1 year old).
Do start planning - NOW - for how to cover while she’s on maternity leave. Even if she’s able to work until her water breaks and has a very easy labor / recovery, she’ll still need at least 4-6 weeks off. And if she winds up with any pregnancy complications, she may need more than that.
