Hello, I have a question about raises. I just recently celebrated my 2nd anniversary with my family, I take care of one 2 year old boy and work 55 hrs per week. I didn't receive a raise last year but I received a weekly gas stipend. I just found out that my new raise is only increasing my salary 25 cents per hour. Which is a .018 percent increase. I wanted to do some research before I talked to them. I work incredibly hard for them and I'm always available for overtime hours. I would love to hear input from other nannies on this site. Thanks for your help!
Thursday
Nanny Pay Raise
Hello, I have a question about raises. I just recently celebrated my 2nd anniversary with my family, I take care of one 2 year old boy and work 55 hrs per week. I didn't receive a raise last year but I received a weekly gas stipend. I just found out that my new raise is only increasing my salary 25 cents per hour. Which is a .018 percent increase. I wanted to do some research before I talked to them. I work incredibly hard for them and I'm always available for overtime hours. I would love to hear input from other nannies on this site. Thanks for your help!
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That is not a normal pay raise from my experience. The other nannies I know get a yearly raise of around 2%. Considering this is your second year with them and your first raise I would have a discussion with them. I receive a 2% pay increase every year plus a year end bonus (I know that not every family gives out a bonus, I am fortunate). I am happy with this arrangement. This pay increase is reflective of my employers employment and helps with the rising cost of living. During the past couple of years of economic difficulty many people are not getting raises like they have in the past. We as nannies cannot expect to get large raises if our employers are not getting large raises. Still, I believe that unless your employers are going through severe finical hardship the raise you received is not reflective of two solid years employment.
Are you sure you don't mean it is a 1.8% raise?
It seems your prior salary was about $764 for 55 hours = $13.89/hr. If you were raised by .018% then your new salary would be $764.14 with a negligible increase in hourly rate. If you were raised by 1.8%, then your new salary would be $778 or $14.14/hr (roughly an additional .25/hr).
We give annual Cost of Living (COL) raises of 3-5% after doing some research on the national average. Other common numbers I have heard are $25/week extra for salaried employee or .50-$1/hr for pt nanny. $25/week is the most common increase I've seen and for nannies making the NYC avg of about $650 net that is a 3.8% increase. However, as a nanny's tenure with a family increases and she is making, say, $800 net, then that $25/week increase is only 3.1%.
Regardless, I do think your raise is a bit low. However, your starting net salary was also high-average especially for one child, though it sounds like you are outside NYC (where I am not an expert on salaries!). And especially considering you were hired after the recession started. I am not saying you don't deserve every penny. Just that perhaps your employers were new to employing 2 yrs ago and realize they offerred a high starting salary after getting to know the market better. Not the way I would handle it - I prefer to hire at a market salary and give bigger raises for good performance. But "new" employers (as I once was!) often feel they have made mistakes along the way and use poor techniques to correct them.
My guess, though I could be TOTALLY wrong (esp if you are in Bay Area or Boston, where salaries seem to be higher than NYC), is that they feel they have overpaid you from the start and are giving a small raise out of grudging obligation. Not a great plan, since it builds resentment. But you will need to decide if the job is truly above market and worth keeping or if the nickle-and-diming has eroded a good relationship. Either way, address it with them directly and professionally. GL!
That is low! I've always received at least $1/hour raise plus a bonus (and like Ms.Nanny said I know not everyone gets a bonus so I also feel lucky.) I would chat with other nannies in your area and see what seems to be a typical raise and I would definitely recommend sitting down and chatting with your family!
I just completed my first year with the family I am working for. I also work 55 hours per week and they have increased my salary by $1,800/year, which ended up being just shy of 4%. They also are paying an additional $50/month toward my health insurance. I believe what I received was above average, as I've typically received a 3% raise in my other positions, but I can say that what you received was low. Cost of living increase is typically 3% and anything above that I consider to be a merit based raise.
Gosh, I didn't get a raise at all this year. My first year anniversary I was given a raise of $25 more a week. This year (my second year anniversary) I got no raise at all. I didn't say anything because I didn't think a raise was mandatory so it would seem foolish of me to approach them about it. I really do need to get a backbone and ask for gas money now that I'm driving the kids around a bit, but that's another story. Anyone else not get a raise this year?
Question? Does anyone know that live out nannies are entitled by labor laws to be paid time and a half overtime for all hours worked over 40 hours per week? If you work 55 hours/week you are entitled to 15 hours time and a half pay, in addition to 40 hours straight pay. I don't think I have ever heard anyone mention that on this site. NYC Mom is calculating straight time for all 55 hours and saying you're being paid above market rate? According to labor laws you would be owed $868.12 per week, not $764.14, using her hourly rate figures. You are actually being cheated twice - once for OT and again for the raise. Why do we nannies not know and assert our rights? BTW, nannies are starting to learn the labor laws and suing their employers for back overtime pay - and winning.
With the price of gas (it's 4.09 per gallon where I live) it seems common sense to fill the nanny's gas tank up as needed during the week as well as compensate for wear and tear on her car. I do a considerable amount of driving for my boss and she hands me a $20 dollar bill whenever I ask for it or I write myself a check and use her signature stamp if she isn't around. Every penny you spend to do your job reduces your salary and just doesn't make sense.
Raises? My husband works for a government agency and his raise each year ends up being about $12 take home a week. It is usually a cause for celebration... we can hardly contain ourselves. When the time comes, I'm sure that my boss, while tight fisted, will base my raise on job performance and any new responsibilities I've taken on. I will ask for a dollar more an hour and get it.
The overtime issue is a no brainer! And, any family that can afford more than $700 a week for childcare does not have any money issues. A real raise that makes a difference to their nanny is in order.
Wow,
Yes, the OT issue has been discussed on here *many* times. Most ft nannies prefer to be paid a salary. Most on the books employers break it down to include the technical OT for legal purposes, but still pay a set salary. It would not be in most nannies' best interest to have it calculated hourly each week as there would be a big incentive for employers to reduce hours even by 5-10/week and that is a lot of money to potentially lose weekly.
For example, if you pay your nanny $715/week for a maximum of 50 hours, then for the paychecks you pay $13/hr x 40 hours = $520, plus $19.50/hr x 10 hours = $195. Total = $715. Any reliable nanny accounting service is well aware of this and computes it for you.
If you were not guaranteed this $715 salary and were simply paid hourly, all your employer would need to do is get home one hour early each day and your paycheck would be reduced by almost $100from $715 to $618. Thus, even with observing OT laws strictly, it still makes more sense for most ft nannies to take a set salary and work backward to the hourly rate as a disincentive to wage variability.
Finally, my original calculation was merely an example as I suspect OP's raise was 1.8% not .018%, which though still a bit low, is not outrageously low.
I am in NYC. After one year, I got a $8,000 raise, and then 6 months later they gave me an additional $15,000 raise. That was my 2 year raise, 6 months early. I am meant to work 50 hours a week but I literally just raise the kids by myself.
I do not agree that your starting salary of $13.89 was already high when you started. Caring for a two year old is a lot of work since you must prepare their meals for them (they eat often), change their diapers, bathe them and keep your eyes on them constantly. I think what you initially were making in the beginning was a fair rate considering that the child is so young. Anyway, your raise is very low to me. Unless as someone previously mentioned, if the family is struggling to make ends meet, I would suggest more. Also, make sure you are getting extra money for the extra 15 hrs you are working per wk. You are most definitely entitled to overtime pay and since you work so many hours per wk, I think you should get it.
As long as you show up on time, have not called in sick too much and their child loves you, I would not accept less than $16/Hr at this point.
For the nannies who are not getting gas money, I would also ask to be compensated for excessive wear and tear on your car. The tires, oil, etc..need to be changed more frequently as driving increases so make sure you do not get short-changed in this area. Gas money is not enough.
OP, I think a 1.8% raise is a bit low, but you need to consider, as nycmom said, whether you may have started out at a "high" rate. If you want to see exactly what your hourly rate and OT rate are, you can check out the calculators here:
https://www.4nannytaxes.com/calculator/register.cfm
And the International Nanny Association has a (totally unscientific) website where you can find the results of a national nanny salary survery: nanny.org
The thing for everyone to remember is that there IS NO NORM when it comes to nanny salaries. A nanny and a family choose to work together based on what the family offers in pay as compared to what the nanny believes she is worth and the local market has something to do with it as well.
nycmom,
The standard wording for nanny pay in contracts now has evolved to prevent salary slip while still basing nanny's pay on hourly rate and OT rate. It has to be done that way to be legal. Nannies get the security of being paid for all time they are available to a family, and the family gets the security of having covered their butts when it comes to any later dispute over OT pay.
An example:
"Employee Weekly compensation of $750.00 gross, based on an gross hourly wage of $12.00 and a 55 hour work week. Employee ****guaranteed minimum Weekly compensation**** of $750.00 gross. Weekly hours worked in excess of 40 per week to be compensated at $18.00 gross per hour"
Ack - the nanny.org website isn't totally unscientific, but the salary survey is.
I think it's officially past my bedtime!
How is preparing meals, even often, changing diapers, giving a bath and keeping a constant eye on a kid considered a lot of work for a nanny? What exactly are the "baseline" nanny duties, before it becomes so taxing? Simply showing up and breathing? Feeding, bathing, diapering and watching a kid are the absolute minimal duties expected of a nanny! Oh wait, maybe I'll tell my employer I'll accept XXX dollars as a minimum from now on because I walked down the hall, pulled out my own chair (OH MY), booted up my computer (so awesome - MB could never match this!), and then took my WELL EARNED BREAK BECAUSE EVERYONE KNOWS THAT IT IS GOOD FOR MY EMPLOYER IF I CAN TAKE A NICE BREAK AND NAP AND BE WELL RESTED FOR THE REST OF MY DAY.
Care.com also has a nanny calculator that considers zip code, years of experience, and number of children.
I agree with Tales about the way hourly rate and OT should be handled. I always tell my employers I need to be guaranteed a minimum number of hours. According to nannies.com, if the nanny is available for agreed upon hours and for some reason parents don't need nanny for all of those hours, nanny should still be paid. Only if nanny exhausts all of her vacation and sick days should she not be paid if she's not available.
We've got to learn these things as a group if we expect to be treated fairly.
LOL LemonadeRain! Darn those 2-year-olds who can't make their own food, change their own diapers, take baths without help, and stay safe without supervision!
Really fellow nannies? This job is HARD. If you didn't realize that going in, and you can't handle that fact, the solution isn't more money, it's finding another career.
Sheesh.
I still don't understand why everyone is expecting a raise every year. Is a yearly raise mandatory in this profession?
Chrissy, IMO a yearly raise lets a nanny know that the work she is doing is appreciated by her employers. Of course, it's not mandatory, and there is no "normal" raise, but just like any other job, I think the employee's expectation is that they will be rewarded somehow if they are doing a good job.
A raise is, again IMO, different from a bonus. Expecting a raise if you are performing well in your position is normal. Expecting a bonus is kind of...presumptuous.
I agree that a nanny's job is hard. Being a nanny is unique in that she carries many job responsibilities, but only gets to be called a nanny. Theoretically, she is a chauffeur, a nurse, a maid, a mentor, a dog walker, a cook, a laundress, a teacher, and a personal assistant. For someone performing all of these duties, it is truly a shame that she is to be called simply a "Nanny." In other job positions, people have the luxury of being able to add titles to their resumes for more clout. Not so in the nanny profession. Once you claim the nanny title, it is just assumed you will do everything else. People need to remember that it is not a nanny's job to pick up a loaf of bread at the store because you "forgot to" on the way home or load the dishes from your family dinner last night in the dishwasher while your charge naps for half an hour each day. A nanny provides childcare only.
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