new to the world of a nanny

[Peony]

I work part time, minimal hours so I've always gotten by by piecing together sitters with some family members thrown in. #4 is coming this summer, my sister is moving, Dh works long hours, and we knew we'd have to hire someone for more hours. I have a new sitter that I adore, she is excellent with the kids, and because I knew another family was considering hiring her full time, I had to move fast. Needless to say, it looks like she has agreed to nanny for us and now I am having to quickly figure out logistics!

We will be paying her for full time even though she won't be working that much, at least for now. She is going away for a week in May, is back a week, and then we are gone for two weeks. I was thinking of paying her for one week while we are gone, fair since she is just starting? I'm obviously desperate to keep her, good nannies are really hard to find here. 

She will drive one of our cars when driving kids around. We are making her an employee of Dh's company so taxes and all that stuff will be done correctly. Clear job guidelines don't really exist right now, she knows that it will be a little bit of everything over time, and has said she is fine with that. 

What else do I need to consider? Sick days, how do those work, a contract? Anyone want to fill me in? 

[Anna Phor]

You definitely need a contract that spells out sick days, vacation time, etc up front. That way everybody knows from the get-go what the expectations are and you will avoid any hurt feelings or drama. A good contract should protect everyone in the relationship.

Questions to think about:

How many vacation days per year? Paid or unpaid? How far in advance should she give notice if she wants to take vacation? 

What happens when you take vacation? (Our contract specifies that if possible, we will co-ordinate vacation times).

How many sick days per year? Paid sick leave is vital, IMO, for a nanny--if you impose a penalty for missing work when a nanny is sick, you will end up with a sick nanny coming to work.

What happens on days when you would normally need her but don't--e.g. grandma comes to town and wants to hang out with the kids? Do you make her use her vacation time? 

What holidays are included? Paid or unpaid?

How much notice is required if she wants to leave? How much notice must you give if you let her go (without cause)?

What is the salary? What extra compensation is required for overtime (e.g. late pickup)?

What are her duties? (Spell out what you expect in terms of cleaning up, prepping meals, planning activites)

Our contract also has a list of no-nos--e.g. no smoking at all in our home, no drinking whatsoever when on duty, no guests without prior approval from us. Most of these (all of them, in fact) are very common sense things that our nanny would never DREAM of doing, but we didn't know her well when we hired her.

Anyway, our contract has 10 days annual leave, 5 days sick leave, all federal holidays plus the day after t-giving as a paid holiday, and a clause that if we don't need her for whatever reason on a normal workday, she still gets paid. She gets overtime if we are more than 15 minutes late in increments of 1/4 hour. 

[lunarlady]

A contract is essential! We wrote one ourselves. It included everything the previous poster mentioned, as well as childcare issues (no CIO for the infant, no physical punishment of either child). It stated grounds for immediate termination, and spelled out specifically what holidays were paid and at what rate. We pay ours a flat rate for holidays or days that she is ready to work but we don't need her. We also give ours monthly petty cash to pay for activities for the kids, and the amount of that is in the contract. I think ours ended up 3 pages long, so it covers a lot! Our nanny gets 8 paid personal days per year and unlimited unpaid if she takes them during my school breaks. We couldn't afford a high hourly pay, so time off is one perk we could offer.