Question for Moms with Nannies

I pay mine a salary and wish that I paid her hourly. She's always coming out on the better end of the deal by leaving early (all the time) and still getting her full salary. I'm looking to hire a new one and I will definitely pay her hourly. I know they prefer a salary, but, unfortunately, there are nannies that will take advantage of that pay situation.

We have a live-out nanny. I live in Central FL, about 25mi from Daytona. What you pay depends a lot on where you live. I advertised for a part time nanny, 25hrs per week, $225 weekly (which works out to $9/hr). I was worried that I wouldn't get any responses, so I put in my ad that if she needed to, the nanny could bring one of her children with her, providing, of course, she was capable of handling both children competently (this may also be something you can do to maybe lower your cost some). I needn't have worried - I had too many responses to my ad to even call them all back - and many of them didn't even have a child they needed to bring, so it wasn't that part of my ad that got so many women to call.

After I hired someone, my husband had to go out of town to work, and since I also work full-time from home, I asked her to stay full-time, 40hrs/wk. I pay her the same hourly rate, but of course for the full week now, $360. We have a pretty good relationship (she's been with us about 5mos now), and she is very reliable, so I don't deduct if she needs to take her son to the Dr, for example. So I guess you could say, it's more of a salary arrangement.

Some things to talk about in advance (things I forgot to talk about, but we've worked them out): Whether she'll be paid for things like Dr's appts, holidays, or your vacation time, whether she will have any paid vacation. I do pay our nanny for holidays and give her them off if I have it off and paid, and when we took vacation to go see my husband who is still working out of town, I made a deal with her and gave her tasks to do around the house here for one week while I was gone, so she could still earn her salary, then gave her the second week off and paid also (as her vacation). But if you have someone less easygoing, and you don't iron out these subjects in advance, I can see how that might be an issue ("I didn't hire on to be a housekeeper!", KWIM?).

Of course, for a similar arrangement, it would have to be someone you really trust. I am lucky in that I can observe her personally and interacting with my daughter since I work here in the home, so I was more comfortable with trusting her since I'd been able to "see her in action" so-to-speak. Basically, I try to treat her how I like to be treated in a job, and it's paid off for us.

If you can, try to spend at least a week or two at home with her and your child so you can observe her and show her your routines. That will also ease the transition for your child.

Depending on your situation and where you live, you may want to do things like background checks, and drug screening (they have those kits at the drugstore). Sometimes you can even just ask at the interview if they're comfortable with those things, and judge if you even want to give it a shot based on their response.

Also, if you work (or your husband does), see if your company offers a dependant care reimbursement account - it's a great way to save on your payroll taxes for the money you pay the nanny (it's deducted pre-tax out of your paycheck). This also works for daycare facilities, too. I have a DCA, and I love it!

Good luck, and email me if you have any other questions.

I have recently hired a nanny and I pay her $10.00 per hour. Hope this helps!

Most people I know negotiate a weekly pay. You work out the days and the hours. You can offer additional money for extra services like extra night time or week end or cleaning or travel. Many people are glad to have steady jobs with good treatment. I think a daily rate is reasonable. You are willing to pay x amount a day for the service.

Hello G.,

My mother in law has been a live out nanny for a very long time and she gets paid hourly. I'm not sure how all the details are figured out, but they usually pay her for vacation days too if they leave they pay her. So typically she tries to coordinate her own vacation time when they go on vacation.

Good Luck,
V.

Hi G.,

I am a live-out nanny and in my experience the most common way we negotiated pay was for the first week or two was hourly just so we all could get a feel for eachother and have the child get used to being here and with me. If things didnt work out for whatever reason in those two weeks then no one felt cheated but afterwards when everyone was comfortable i would start on a weekly salary. If the mother dropped off and picked up her child then the salary would be less than if I did the picking up and dropping off also if i had another child there i know that the mothers would offer more according to the number of children. I hope that was helpful to you from a nanny's point...

Also, if you are looking for one i am currently available just message me.

~B.~

Hi, hourly works best for us and most people I know. Most nannies that I've spoken with prefer hourly (with a guarantee of a minimum amount of hours per day or week) in case of overtime. The nannies that I've spoken with that prefer weekly want to adhere to a strict set schedule of hours, charging you more if you exceed the daily or weekly limit. It can be quite costly if you're schedule is not super rigid.

G.- it depends
are the hours consistent
if it is 40 hours i would do a salary
C.
feel free to call me with any other questions
###-###-####
____@____.com

per hour is best only because if they ask for an hr here or there it will be difficult to know how much exactly

I worked as a nanny for a while and I was paid hourly. I found that neither party felt that they were short changed on a long or short week.

My name is S. Collins and i am a stay at home mom of 4 yr old twins. I have been a nanny and a preschool teacher for the past 12 yrs and am looking for work. I would love to help you out anyway i can. I usually agree on a weekly salary. I have a resume and references available upon request. I live in Brunswick. Feel free to contact me at ###-###-####. I look forward to speaking to you.

Well, I'm not a mom with a nanny, but I nannied full-time for a family for quite a while. I was paid weekly, not hourly. Some weeks I worked less, but some days I worked more, so it balanced out and was easier to keep track of.