Wednesday

The Cost of the Fourth Child?

Hello, I have a question concerning salary. I currently nanny full time for 3 children and make 550 a week. The family is expecting their fourth child in June and I was wondering if I should expect a raise when she comes. I would love to here from both parents and nannies. Did you give/get a raise when a new addition was added to the family? If so, how much was it? Thank you very much!

4 comments:

nycmom said...

This is always complicated. I have always added roughly $1/hr or $50/week for an extra child, but that also includes the fact that each time one of my older kids would significantly increase their school hours. So the actual time my caregiver was with all of the kids was less than 25%. But I recognize that it is always extra work anyway. I have heard 0-$100/week or $1-2/hr raise commonly.

I think some raise is essential even if you are told you will NEVER be responsible for X child. Because it never works that way. What about holidays, sick days, food prep, etc? If employers ever say that, I would clearly put in writing my extra fees as a nanny for each increment of time (say every 1/4 of an hour) that I had ANY care of the un-included child.

Also, raise should start when the baby is born not when mom finishes maternity leave in my opinion.

It is hard to comment on your overall salary without knowing where you live, hours worked, duties, kids ages, benefits.

justaneastcoastnanny said...

Yes you should be compensated for the 4th child and as soon as baby is born.
4 kids is a lot of work especially when one is a newborn.

In my experience additional child raises run 1 to 3 additional dollars per hour.

I also do not reduce my salary when older kids go off to school.
In a few rare cases my salary has increased because additional duties arose from having child be transported to school.

Now it's my opinion you are being underpaid now as a fulltime nanny to 3 kids, but you are not going to remedy that with one raise.
Just get compensated for the new babe.

♥ Amy Darling ♥ said...

Hi OP:

Yes, I think it is a given for you to get a raise for an extra child. Esp. a newborn baby which is a TON of extra work. Multiple feedings, diaper changes along w/short naps and constant crying will tax you both mentally + physically.

You have a ton on your plate and I sincerely hope that you can handle it.

Make sure you get that raise!!~

SaShmy said...

I got a raise of a dollar more an hour when the baby was born, though I didn't have any real responsibility for her, other than maybe a combined total of 15 minutes a week. Ideally I think a two dollar an hour raise is fair, but with my job, I'm always paid for 42 hours a week, even though most weeks I only work about 36. I also think it was pretty generous to receive the raise when the baby was born, as opposed to waiting until I waiting until I had both kids together.