Nanny share question - how much hourly, on average?

nosoup4u

Hi all, we're in the process of finding a family for a nanny share, and I'm curious about how much nannies get paid in that situation. 

We live in a fairly HCOL area (large city), and have been paying her $15/hr for two kids (without a nanny share). Is it fair for her to expect $22/hr for 3 kids? That would still come out to be  about $7 per kid, which I think is reasonable, but I'm doing a sanity check on here. 

Thanks!

TheBorg7of9

That's way too much of a raise! I live in Chicago. We pay 11.50 for one kid, 13.50 for two and 15.50 for three. I believe each additional kid should be 2-3 dollars more.

TheBorg7of9

...To add...Our nanny makes 42k for watching three kids and I think she's very well paid. We also offer 2 weeks vacation, 5 sick days and all paid holidays. She'll be getting an Xmas bonus and 3 percent raises too.

nosoup4u

@TheBorg7of9‌ how many hours a week does she work? Ugh, this whole situation is going to give me ulcers!!

TheBorg7of9

She works 7:30 to 6. 5 days a week. For 1.5 hours each day she only has 2 kids, so it came out to 800 a week. Our family pays 567 a week before taxes and the other family the rest. We worked out a contract from the Internet with the neighbors before talking to the nanny. We hired a new nanny for this, so we didn't have to worry about her thinking her raise was too little. Did the nanny say she wanted 22 an hour? I would look for someone new. When I advertised on care.com with the salary and requirements, I got tons of responses and interviewed five nannies. We also pay on the books.

nosoup4u

No, she isn't demanding $22/hr, but she wants a weekly minimum to be able to afford to live in the city. I think her goal to work half days and make as much as she needs is unrealistic, hence the high hourly wage she would need. 

Do families ever negotiate hourly wages separately with nanny shares? I think if she wants to make more, she'll have to do that. Because paying $10-12/hr for one or two kids is on the low end around here, but she could charge us and the other family that much separately. Or she needs to suck it up and work a few full (8-9 hr) days a week (we only need her for 6 hrs a day, tops, which is part of the problem). 

Thanks!

alexpierce88

Our nanny has 4 other children (2 are part time) and we only pay her $20 a day! I am feeling pretty lucky after these posts! haha

TheBorg7of9

nosoup4u said:

No, she isn't demanding $22/hr, but she wants a weekly minimum to be able to afford to live in the city. I think her goal to work half days and make as much as she needs is unrealistic, hence the high hourly wage she would need. 

Do families ever negotiate hourly wages separately with nanny shares? I think if she wants to make more, she'll have to do that. Because paying $10-12/hr for one or two kids is on the low end around here, but she could charge us and the other family that much separately. Or she needs to suck it up and work a few full (8-9 hr) days a week (we only need her for 6 hrs a day, tops, which is part of the problem). 

Thanks!

If you paid her separately, what's the point of a nanny share?   We pay about 10.25 an hour for our two kids in the nanny share.  If we had our own nanny, it would be 13.50 or more an hour.

TheBorg7of9

alexpierce88 said:

Our nanny has 4 other children (2 are part time) and we only pay her $20 a day! I am feeling pretty lucky after these posts! haha

Wait.  How much is she making a day total?  Yes, My sister in Mississippi had a in home day care and charged $100 per week for each kid.  But here in Chicago, that would be unheard of.  You should be grateful!

Sept07b2b

Actually, paying separately is very common where I am.  If you wanted a nanny on your own for 1 child, it would be about $15/hr, so with a nanny share, each family pays about $9-$10/hour, so each family pays less than they would alone, and the nanny makes more total.  

I live in a HCOL area, and $22/hr for 3 kids is very reasonable.  There are many experienced nannies who require $22/hr for 2 kids.  That works out to $11/hr per family, which is, again, cheaper than you would have to pay for a nanny on your own.  

Just my two cents.  

TheBorg7of9

Sept07b2b said:

Actually, paying separately is very common where I am.  If you wanted a nanny on your own for 1 child, it would be about $15/hr, so with a nanny share, each family pays about $9-$10/hour, so each family pays less than they would alone, and the nanny makes more total.  

I live in a HCOL area, and $22/hr for 3 kids is very reasonable.  There are many experienced nannies who require $22/hr for 2 kids.  That works out to $11/hr per family, which is, again, cheaper than you would have to pay for a nanny on your own.  

Just my two cents.  

I thought she meant each family would pay the nanny as if it the nanny were only working for them. Like 12 buck an hour from each. Which would be crazy.

I also live in a high cost of living area. In Chicago. I know that some nannies would charge $20 an hour. But I don't think it is necessary to pay that much. As I said, I put an ad on Care.com for 15.50 an hour for three kids. And got lots of responses. There were many high-quality candidates who would work for that much. We ended up hiring one who has a college degree childhood development. And also experience working at daycare and experience as a nanny.

However, I think you're right it might be reasonable to pay $22 an hour for someone who had a ton of experience or something. But I am not going out of my way to pay that much when qualified people will do it for less. Also I think earning $42,000 a year is plenty. I never made that much with my college degree before I went to law school. Plus I am offering lots of paid vacation days and raises at the end of the year

snicksnack

I am not sure if I am reading this right do both families combined only need her for six hours a day? If so I don't think it is unreasonable for her to charge enough to make a full-time wage given it will be hard for her to find another family to supplement the other ten hours a week she would need to be paid for 40 hours. If that is not the case, I would have her charge an hourly rate for the three kids then for the other two hours the other family pays her normal rate for one child or she should charge a flat rate for the week and you guys can figure out how to split it. We were going to do something similar with my in-laws the nanny would have watched my kids for three days and her child for three days there was only one day of overlap so it got a little complicated.

nosoup4u

alexpierce88 said:

Our nanny has 4 other children (2 are part time) and we only pay her $20 a day! I am feeling pretty lucky after these posts! haha

Sorry, but this isn't cool. Is that her full-time job? How does someone live off that? 

TheBorg7of9

I'm sorry. What I'm trying to say is that 22 an hour is reasonable for three kids, but a 50% increase for adding one kid is not. Also, I think you can get a qualified and caring nanny for less. But a reasonable range for 3 kids could be 15-25.

nosoup4u

Finding someone to watch our kids for 30-35 hours (it's fluctuated over the past two years) was actually sort of hard. It's not a full-time job, but it's long enough hours that it's hard to have another job on the side (and in our nanny's case, her other job is auditioning and practicing drama/dance at night). I had a few nannies who I contacted tell me it wasn't enough hours to live on (even with the $15/hr wage). 

If we've already been paying her a set wage, I think it's within her rights to negotiate a separate wage with another family, (vs. if we were looking for a nanny with another family, we could set the hourly wage lower to begin with). 

nosoup4u

snicksnack said:

I am not sure if I am reading this right do both families combined only need her for six hours a day? If so I don't think it is unreasonable for her to charge enough to make a full-time wage given it will be hard for her to find another family to supplement the other ten hours a week she would need to be paid for 40 hours. If that is not the case, I would have her charge an hourly rate for the three kids then for the other two hours the other family pays her normal rate for one child or she should charge a flat rate for the week and you guys can figure out how to split it. We were going to do something similar with my in-laws the nanny would have watched my kids for three days and her child for three days there was only one day of overlap so it got a little complicated.

We only need her for six hours a day, and she would like to stay PT in the afternoons, if possible. 

nosoup4u

TheBorg7of9 said:

nosoup4u said:

No, she isn't demanding $22/hr, but she wants a weekly minimum to be able to afford to live in the city. I think her goal to work half days and make as much as she needs is unrealistic, hence the high hourly wage she would need. 

Do families ever negotiate hourly wages separately with nanny shares? I think if she wants to make more, she'll have to do that. Because paying $10-12/hr for one or two kids is on the low end around here, but she could charge us and the other family that much separately. Or she needs to suck it up and work a few full (8-9 hr) days a week (we only need her for 6 hrs a day, tops, which is part of the problem). 

Thanks!

If you paid her separately, what's the point of a nanny share?   We pay about 10.25 an hour for our two kids in the nanny share.  If we had our own nanny, it would be 13.50 or more an hour.

The point right now is being able to have someone watch my younger son PT - he's in preschool in the mornings. I'm okay with not paying significantly less if we go into a nanny share (sounds bad, but it's true!). 

Also, your nanny is working 50+ hrs a week, but is making about the same as mine. Argh, PT childcare is a freaking nightmare in the US. 

TheBorg7of9

nosoup4u said:

TheBorg7of9 said:

nosoup4u said:

No, she isn't demanding $22/hr, but she wants a weekly minimum to be able to afford to live in the city. I think her goal to work half days and make as much as she needs is unrealistic, hence the high hourly wage she would need. 

Do families ever negotiate hourly wages separately with nanny shares? I think if she wants to make more, she'll have to do that. Because paying $10-12/hr for one or two kids is on the low end around here, but she could charge us and the other family that much separately. Or she needs to suck it up and work a few full (8-9 hr) days a week (we only need her for 6 hrs a day, tops, which is part of the problem). 

Thanks!

If you paid her separately, what's the point of a nanny share?   We pay about 10.25 an hour for our two kids in the nanny share.  If we had our own nanny, it would be 13.50 or more an hour.

The point right now is being able to have someone watch my younger son PT - he's in preschool in the mornings. I'm okay with not paying significantly less if we go into a nanny share (sounds bad, but it's true!). 

Also, your nanny is working 50+ hrs a week, but is making about the same as mine. Argh, PT childcare is a freaking nightmare in the US. 

--------------------------------
The part time thing definitely complicates the situation. But I wanted to add that our oldest does go to preschool, but we did not lower our nanny's pay, even though the preschool is 250 a week. We think going to school is important at his age (2.5) and she also has to deal with the hassle of dropping him off and picking up three hours later with two other babies in tow.

alexpierce88

nosoup4u said:

alexpierce88 said:

Our nanny has 4 other children (2 are part time) and we only pay her $20 a day! I am feeling pretty lucky after these posts! haha

Sorry, but this isn't cool. Is that her full-time job? How does someone live off that? 

@nosoup4u What do you mean this isn't cool? Yes it is her full time job. She is retired and her husband is a contractor overseas so this really isn't how she 'lives'. She just enjoys doing it. She is wonderful!

alexpierce88

TheBorg7of9 said:

alexpierce88 said:

Our nanny has 4 other children (2 are part time) and we only pay her $20 a day! I am feeling pretty lucky after these posts! haha

Wait.  How much is she making a day total?  Yes, My sister in Mississippi had a in home day care and charged $100 per week for each kid.  But here in Chicago, that would be unheard of.  You should be grateful!

@TheBorg7of9 total she is making 100 a day when she has all 5. We are in Georgia so I am sure it is much different for us. We are extremely grateful!