When I started it was just one boy who was a newborn. My pay started at 450 per week.
After one year I got an annual raise and got 480.
The mom got pregnant after some months and when my next annual review rolled around she was about to give birth. So I got a big new baby raise. $600 per week!
That was one year ago. I had my annual review the other day and was told since child #1 was starting preschool in the fall I don't get any raise because he will be in someone else's care and I'll just have baby #2 to take care of. They want me to pick up other duties since I will have more time. They also want to add two extra hours per week and have that extra money be my raise. (No raise per hour. I'm currently at $17 and they want to keep it that way)
Here are my current duties:
Taking care of children (obviously)
Family laundry once a week (sometimes more)
Emptying dishwasher daily
Extreme flexibility (they are late constantly and always ask me to come early/stay late)
Taking care of dog
Picking up after children and meals
Taking children to appointments
I also potty trained their toddler on my own
Once child #1 goes to school they want me to do some other duties including:
Grocery shopping
Dry cleaning
Meal prep for parents for when they come home
basically, whatever they ask of me I'll do since I'll have time with just one baby.
Perks of job:
One week paid vacation
They pay taxes for me
I also get paid when they go on vacation and I get to stay home (although I do take care of their dog when they're gone)
So my question is- is no raise fair? I feel like regardless of whether or not child #1 goes to preschool I should be getting an annual hourly increase because of everything I do for them and how much time I invest with their family. I have never complained or called in sick once after three years. These people are very wealthy (combined they bring home about 800k a year) and I feel as if I'm being nickel and dimed. The contract says I'm eligible for a 3-5 percent raise annually. They complain about money and that's another reason they don't want to give me a raise. But it's hard to believe since they also want to send their toddler to a 25k a year preschool and they bought a million dollar house last year. And they want to skip my raise. I'm a little upset. Advice please?
11 comments:
Well, in a way, you are getting a raise. They're completely within their rights not to pay you more for only one child. If you think about what you made originally compared to now, you're lucky they don't lower your pay. Adding in some additional duties is normal if you want to make what you do. $17/ hour is a lot for one child. You're lucky and should consider yourself as such.
$17 is not low in many areas, even for one child. A week's paid vacation is also pretty standard, as is paid time off if they take off more than your paid week. (Also, if you're watching their dog you should ABSOLUTELY be getting paid for it.)
If your contract says you're eligible for a 3-5% raise, I feel like that's the end of the discussion.
If it says ELIGIBLE, then you're eligible... it's not a requirement. Again, you ARE getting a pay raise working only with one child.
Although one child is going to school, they're asking you to do the job of 3 people- nanny, housekeeper and petsitter, not to mention cooking for them. They should show their appreciation and just give you the raise. They can afford it, and it would keep you happy in your job. They sound selfish to me. Good luck!
How do you know they can afford it? What an odd thing to say. She watches their pet for them when they're out of town when she DOESN'T HAVE TO WORK. So take that out of the equation. They could just not pay her... when one of my charges went to preschool and the other was in elementary school, I was given extra duties instead of having my pay decreased. So, since she's only watching one child now, adding a few extra duties is fair. They could just reduce her pay. I don't think they sound selfish at all.
I agree with other commenters. I think you're pretty lucky that you got a few added duties instead of a pay cut because of them removing a child from your care. In my area $17 an hour for one child is pretty great even for a combo nanny/housekeeper. It's not about how well off they are - it's about the work you do and how much you deserve for that work and really you won't have nearly as much to do with just one young baby. If they really appreciated you yes they would've given you at least another $5 a week or something just to show that they really don't want to lose you but most parents are selfish. I think that was a really amazing raise when they had the second child and you need to take that into account more than the length of time you've been there - especially if that child will be gone all/most of the day.
Hi, I would start looking for something else. When I no longer feel appreciated and taken for granted then I move on.
I would tell them we need to negotiate because one you're working too much for $600 a week. Taking care of one kid and cleaning up after them is more than $600 a week. I'd tell them okay but I want by the hour instead of week so when they want more time it's paid correctly. Then I'd tell them it doubles when the child is home. Schools have holidays, kids get sick, there are issues where kids can't go to school. I'd also cut most of those chores and wouldn't agree to do them for a flat rate. I'd tell them no raise, no chores and if they say they'll find someone new I'd say good luck.
It sounds like you need to draft an addendum to your contract, *clearly* outlining the duties you both agree on and the compensation you are to receive for it/them. Job creep is commonplace for nannies, and requires vigilance to keep it at bay.
As far as working for them while they are vacationing by caring for the household pets? If you aren't free to accept other jobs without restrictions during their vacations then they are actually accepting work to their benefit from you - and they are legally obligated to pay you your regular salary according to FLSA (federal labor law). Unless your contract specifically states otherwise.
If you don't have a contract, you really should change that - immediately. The duties you describe are greater in scope than simply childcare with child-related housekeeping and transport (i.e., Nanny). Make an exhaustive list and sort it into columns, kids or parents. Perhaps seeing it all in black and white will help adjust the family's focus a bit. And yours.
Tweak your resume and interview for come and go work occasionally, too. If you do all that and are still under appreciated you will have a good barometer of what is available to you locally.
Try to remember: You are worth being respected, no matter what your salary amount.
Best of Luck!
Whether they make $60k a year or $800k a year doesn't impact the value of your work as an individual... the going rates of your own profession and experience do. Whether the school is free or $25,000 has no impact on your salary... your responsibilities and duties do. If anything, they could point out they need to spend a large chunk of their childcare budget on the older one and have much less to pay. Seems unfair to put that kind of personal factor on your job too, right?
Looking at the facts, you had a 6% raise after one year and a 25% raise for the second year.
Now your responsibilities are back to those before your big new-child increase because you have only one to care for. If it had been one child all along with generous 6% raises at the one, two, and NOW at the three year mark from $450, that would make your salary with a brand new raise at year three $536/wk. With two added hours at this new rate, your weekly would be $567.
$600 is still above this rate and added responsibilities make sense.
Errands you can run and make a learning experience for the little one seem a perfectly reasonable request. "Whatever they ask of me" does not. I would ask for clarity there.
If you do not want the added responsibility, I would suggest a pay cut commensurate with caring for one child, approximately $567.
I didn't realize this was from February. The post just says "Monday" at 6:57pm. That's something to look at, I spent a half hour writing a thoughtful response to someone who's long gone. My bad not investigating the comments a bit more, I made an assumption as blog posts are usually dated.
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