those with full time babysitters...

...we pay hourly. Is it customary to give paid days off -- like holidays, vacations, etc? How many vaca days do you give of their choosing?
TIA

Re: those with full time babysitters...

by full time babysitter, do you mean a nanny more or less? this is someone who comes to your home 40+ hours every week to watch your children?

those with full time babysitters...

Yes, 40 hours a week.

Re: those with full time babysitters...

We had that situation basically with our nanny.

We paid her for any days that we gave her off because we took off from work. In other words, she got full pay if we gave her a random Friday off b/c we were doing something special with DS. She was not paid, however, for holidays, like Xmas or New Year's. She did not get paid for vacation days that she wanted off. But this was all established before we hired her. Some nannies did expect paid time off, and then we would have offered 1 week paid of her choosing.

those with full time babysitters...

If you have a full-time nanny, take a look at the NY Domestic Worker's Bill of Rights......do a google search.

Re: those with full time babysitters...

I pay her whatever holidays I have off and 2 weeks vacation. In addition if I take extra days off and don't need her she gets paid. As well as a nice Christmas bonus. She has been with us over 7 years.

She picks one vacation time and we the other.

Message edited 1/29/2016 12:13:51 PM.

Re: those with full time babysitters...

In that case then yes, I think you should offer paid time off and vacations. The way we worked it out with our nanny was she had off the same federal holidays we did from our employers (paid) and she also got 2 weeks paid vacation each year. One week was of our choosing and one week was of her choosing. I think we also allotted 3 sick days, but she never took one. If there had been additional time off requested by her, then it would have been unpaid. We definitely took more time off and gave her that extra time off, but since it was our choosing she still got paid.

Re: those with full time babysitters...

All is how you negotiate it from the start.
You will have a budget. Do the calculations...
You will be able to offer more per hour if they don't get paid vacations.
My last 2 babysitters chose only to be paid per days worked.
Different people choose different things.
But yes, it is often customary to do holidays & paid vacation (usually 2 weeks).