Our nanny wants to start a nanny share taking care for her grandchild
Our nanny might want to start taking care of her infant granddaughter together with our 15 month son. She is currently just watching our son and we initially spoke about a possible nanny share but had no luck finding a good fit. It has now been about 8 months and she stopped insisting on a nanny share. We think its because her daughter just had a baby and her maternity leave will be up in Sept. We would be hosting since we are not willing travel and her daughter's work is very close to our home. This seems to me like a nanny care situation. Would it be fair to start paying her at a split nanny share rate? instead of the single child rate that we pay her now? This is sort of complicated since she will be making the arrangement with her daughter and she might not want to charge her to care for her own grandchild. I don't think its fair to pay her a single child rate if her attention will now be split between two children. I am new to working with a nanny and I want to make sure its a fair situation given we will be hosting and she will be taking care of two children now. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
[moderator note] previous advice: "Nanny Bringing Her Own Child to Work"
Parent Replies
Our nanny hasn't brought her grandchild with her regularly (just on the rare occasion that she watched our daughter on a day when she doesn't typically work or our share family wasn't with us), but we treat it like a share situation and only pay her the share rate (which she was fine with and actually suggested herself).
It sounds like you're describing a share situation to me, and thus you would reasonably be expected to pay the rate for one child. The fact that your nanny might not charge her daughter isn't theoretically your responsibility to compensate for. That said, I imagine it might be worth it to you to pay a bit more than you would in a share where one child isn't a grandchild, if you really love your nanny.
This is definitely a nanny share situation. I had a nanny that took care of her own son and my son and I paid her nanny share rates. This was the situation from the begining, so we had an understanding from the get-go. It was $14/hour, a bit high as compared to what some pay, but worth it for the convenience since she lived a block away from me when we were in SF. I'd say that you're certainly within your right to discuss this with your nanny. There was a recent nanny survey done on BPN that has the average rates that people pay for nanny shares, and I'm sure you can find something reasonable that you can both agree on.
We had a nanny who brought her 2.5 year old son while watching our 6 month old. She charged nanny share rates. I'd be surprised if your nanny would be able to find a family that would pay her a single kid rate while she brings her family along. It would be a bummer for her to lose the income, but that is a decision she'll have to make. Now, if you love, love, love your nanny and don't want to lose her, then that is something to consider when offering her a lower rate. But if she's been a nanny for a while, she should be aware she wouldn't be getting the same rate if she adds her daughter's child.