Continuity of care is extremely important for children, which means that retaining your nanny should be high on your list of priorities after a move. And here’s a helpful hint: the best way to hold onto your nanny if you are moving farther away is to incentivize her. The two primary incentives you should offer are a raise and a stipend that covers her commute expenses.
At this point you may be protesting that you already pay your nanny too much or that you cannot afford to pay her more after shelling out for your own moving expenses. While your protests may be justified, be aware that your nanny is likely to quit when she hears you are moving farther away if you fail to make it worth her while to stay.
Good nannies are hard to find, and there is a strong demand for childcare in this modern era where dual income households are the norm. This means that a qualified and experienced nanny will have no trouble finding another job if she decides to quit working for you. The only way to retain your nanny in these conditions is to make sure that she is happy. And addition to treating her well, the best way to make her happy is to increase the amount of her take-home pay.
The Logic
If your nanny quits, you’ll need to invest much time and effort into recruiting and screening new candidates for the position. You will also need to train your new nanny, which will eat up more of your time and money as you orient her to the job and pay her for training days. If you use a nanny recruiting agency or an online referral site, you will also need to pay significant amounts of money for the agency’s services. Finally, if you fail to find a new nanny before your first day of work after relocation you will need to take sick days or hire temporary help to care for your children until you can hire a new care provider.
If you add up all of the time and money required to find a new nanny, you may discover that it will actually be cheaper to invest in keeping the nanny you already have.
The Raise
Offering your nanny a raise when you move to a home that is farther away lets her know how much your family values her services. Childcare providers work very hard to ensure that your children engage in activities that are age appropriate, educational and fun. This hard work often goes unnoticed because parents are typically at their respective jobs while the nanny works her magic. A raise is a tangible way to show your nanny that you appreciate her hard work and dedication to your family. It will make her feel respected and valued, and it will increase her devotion to your child.
Additionally, a raise will improve your nanny’s quality of life. If your childcare worker live better while working for you, it will increase her motivation to stay with your family instead of finding a new position that lets her stay closer to home. Realize that asking your nanny to work farther away poses a great inconvenience to her; a raise will help her to overlook this inconvenience and remain loyal to your family.
The exact amount of the raise you offer will vary according to your nanny’s current rate, her level of experience and the length of time she has worked for your family. However, something in the range of one to two dollars is a good starting place to begin your negotiation. Any less than that will likely seem insignificant to your nanny and will therefore fail to increase your chances of retaining her services after your move.
The Stipend
If you only offer your nanny a raise in her hourly wage, increased commuting expenses will probably eat up most of her increased profits. You should therefore offer her an additional travel stipend to cover her costs of commuting to your new home each day.
When considering how much of a stipend to offer, take these three key factors into consideration: mileage, total travel time and additional expenses.
Mileage – You should plan to pay a certain fixed amount for each mile driven by your nanny as she travels to and from work. This amount will be the same every day, so it should be easy to arrive at a fixed weekly or monthly mileage reimbursement for her.
Total Travel Time – Consider the amount of traffic that is typical during your nanny’s commute, and compensate her for the full length of time it takes her to commute in that amount of traffic. If she is stuck in gridlock every day for an hour, your nanny is bound to become irritated by the traffic unless she understands that she is being paid for each minute she spends getting to and from work.
Additional expenses – If there is a toll bridge on the way to your new home, be sure to include that cost in your nanny’s stipend. Additionally, if you move to an urban area that requires parking in a lot or in front of a meter, that expense should also be added to her stipend.
While it can seem daunting to come up with the money to offer your nanny a raise and a travel stipend, the question you really have to ask yourself is whether or not you are willing to risk losing your nanny after a move. If you are happy with her performance and do not want to lose her, incentivizing her is your best option even if it cuts into your family budget.
A well-paid nanny is likely to stay with your family for many years, which will provide the continuity of care your child needs to thrive. If you are moving farther away from your nanny, give her a salary increase that lets her know she would be wise to stick with you.