Nanny share when one family is away for 2 months
Hi,
I would love some input from families who have done a nannyshares before as I am trying to better understand best practices around when one family travels or is out of town for an extended period of time. Here is my situation... My daughter is in a nannyshare with one other child. We will be away for 2 months this summer and I understand it is my responsibility to pay my portion of the share while I am away. Though, if I find another child to take my daughter's spot over the summer - does that money go to pay my part of the share OR is it an additional child/income for the nanny? In other words, do I still need to pay to "hold my spot" if we have another child taking her spot over the summer. I know this is about the arrangement one makes with their nanny so I am just trying to understand what is commonplace as this is my first nannyshare and my nanny insists that we pay while we are away even though I found a replacement. I would love to hear how others have handled this situation in the past. Thanks so much!
Parent Replies
Although this is not exactly the same, when we were faced with a 2 - 3 month interruption, we had an honest and open conversation with the share family and nanny that we would try our best to find a new share partner for that time but any gap or interruption or if we are not successful in finding a substitute share family, we would make sure that the nanny is made whole and the share family does not incur additional burden. So, I think it's fair that it's not an additional income for the nanny.
This is something to discuss directly with your nanny. We never had a break quite that long, but when one family was away for 3+ weeks we sometimes found another child who needed care to pay that family's share, and the nanny agreed to that arrangement. There isn't much benefit to finding a replacement child if you would have to pay anyway--that doesn't make a lot of sense (and effectively turns this into a three-child share, since if you're paying to hold the spot, that means you could at least in theory drop your child back into the share at any point--the other family may not be down for three, and you would need to renegotiate a different three-child rate). Our contract specified rates for the number of children but did not note which children, though, and on occasion with one of our children's shares, we swapped out the other family's older child for the second share baby when our family was away (again, with the nanny's consent). What your contract says (assuming you have one) will be important here. Your other option would be to give notice to leave the share, have your replacement family join, and then--if there is still an open spot when you return--request to rejoin the share. But that is much messier and you risk not having childcare if the other family decides to stay or if the share family and nanny decide to go another route. I would not personally want to/be able to pay for two months of unneeded care, though. You could potentially split the difference and tell your nanny you are unable to pay while you are away and and have found a replacement for that time to cover the second spot, but if they aren't open to that, you will need to leave the share (and then be willing to follow through). But again--check your contract for how much notice you need to give, since it may be too late to benefit much from doing that.
Hi its been 5 years since i dealt with this but i was the main employer of the nanny and had an amazing sharemate who didnt need the share over two summers. I always found someone, not the family who was leaving since it was a clarified from the beginning this was the situation. We found families both times we needed to to fill the summer months, once a visiting professor, another time just waiting for a preschool to start
We wrote into our contract that if we found a summer replacement they would be responsible for our share of the nanny's hours and pay while we are on summer vacation and if we could not find a replacement that we would continue paying our share. So, for our arrangement, it is not additional income for the nanny.
To me it really sounds like you shouldn’t have to pay for that time…will the family joining short term be paying the same as you would? If not it makes sense to me that you would make up the difference but no not that you would pay your full amount while another family is also paying that full amount too. Perhaps try having a discussion with your nanny to find out why she feels that is needed? Maybe it is just worry that she won’t be compensated what she needs to be and if you assure her she will be that will help.
I have one nanny share experience. The starting point is that you are responsible to cover your cost and unless the contact talks about the right to put in a replacement, you are stuck. Appreciate that it can be hard for the nanny to accommodate a new child into a routine. In my share, I had a friend that needed some coverage while the other family was on vacation and I negotiated a 50/50 split with both vacationing family and the nanny : vacationing family got half their usual rate covered and the nanny got the other 50 percent (i.e., an “extra” 25% on her usual pay). I think it is worth offering the nanny something extra to take on a replacement child. It will still be a better financial outcome for you.