What Are Standard Nanny Benefits?

What Benefits Do You Have?

Standard benefits to offer nannies include: paid vacation (two-weeks minimum); paid Federal holidays (at least six-days including New Years Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas); paid sick and personal days; and mileage (which is required by law). Visit www.irs.org for the current mileage rate. Also, standard benefits include maternity leave, (offer three-months non-paid maternity leave) and health insurance benefits.

Other benefits to offer nannies include: a mobile phone and cellular phone usage; a vehicle to drive for personal use; and apartment rent. If the nanny does not use the vacation, sick, or personal days then the nanny may cash them out at the end of the year.

Paid Holidays
Americans expect at least six paid holidays off (New Years Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) or extra bonus pay for working on a holiday.

Paid Vacation Time
Most nannies in America expect two-weeks paid vacation time during the year. Sometimes the two-weeks can be negotiated after six-months to one-year of employment.

Paid Sick Time
A sick nanny may share her germs with the children. It's best to negotiate some paid sick time for childcare providers in the work agreement.

Paid Personal Days
Along with sick days if a nanny must miss work for a doctor appointment or a death of a friend or family member it's best not to penalize her for having to miss work a few days each year.

Health Insurance
Health insurance premiums are non-taxable income! That's right, if your employer pays your health insurance premiums the cost of the health insurance is not taxed. In a poll about benefits by Be the Best Nanny Newsletter, 72 percent of nannies prefer to have health insurance coverage over all other benefits.

Use of Vehicle
At a minimum, parents should provide the nanny use of their car for work purposes or reimburse the employee gas mileage when using the nanny's car for work. Visit www.irs.org for the current mileage rate. But, also helping pay for the nanny's car insurance and maintenance of the nanny's car is a great help for nannies using their own vehicle for work. Allowing the nanny personal use of the parent's car is also a great benefit to offer nannies (and that is expected for au pairs).

Maternity Leave
Great employees should have a job to come back to after a typical three-month maternity leave.

Overtime Pay
Overtime rate shouldn't even be considered a perk but expected. Overtime rate is one and a half times the nanny's typical hourly rate.

Cell Phone
Cell phones are a necessity. Prior to cell phones parents typically paid for another phone line for their live-in nannies. A cell phone for use that is included in the family’s cell plan for the nanny is a nice perk.

Educational Benefits
Offering to pay for child development classes or to attend professional conferences and workshops related to childcare is a smart investment.

Professional Membership
Paying the membership fee for professional organizations for nannies is another small perk that nannies appreciate from their employers.