Being Underpaid As A Nanny

[Meow321]

Hi,
I will probably be including a lot of information in this post so you know exactly where I stand in relation to experience etc. so I'm sorry if it's lengthy.

I am a 21 year old who has 5 years experience in childcare. I have been working as a private nanny for a family with 5 children for 2 years now (ontop of working at before school care every morning). It is a 10-6 job, 5 days a week and I do literally all their house work and all cooking and shopping for the family. I also obviously care for the children, aged 3yrs to 14yrs. The parents expect to come home every day to a clean house with dinner on the table, all homework and assignments done, children bathed and ready for bed. In other words, I do just about everything in regards to caring for the children, as the parents are too busy :/
When I started working for the family they had me on $16 an hour and have since raised my hourly rate to $20.
I have first aid, asthma and anaphylaxis, am a certified supervisor and am currently studying a Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care.

Often the parents will go away for a few days or sometimes weeks and I will stay with the children full time until they return. During those stays I will only be paid for a 12 hour day. My problems with this is that the children are awake for more than 12 hours a day and almost every night atleast one of the children will come in and wake me at a silly hour due to being scared/sick/hot/bitten by a mosquito/wet the bed. I also am not allowed to have my boyfriend, whom I live with, stay over due to religious reasons, which I completely understand as it can set a bad standard for the children, however I feel that if I have to live under those rules for 24hrs out of a day I should be paid for 24hrs of a day.

I am employed casually by one of his businesses in an admin position (yes, I am aware this is illegal), as this means he can then take tax deductions from my pay.

My question to you guys is; do you believe that I am being underpaid both hourly and when they leave me full time with the children and only pay me half days. I don't know what I should expect as an hourly rate but due to the level of work I do, large amount of children in my care and my qualifications I feel that $20 is a bit unfair. I also have no idea if expecting to be paid for a full 24hr day is unreasonable, but at the moment I feel like it equates to me being paid only $10 an hour when they are away.

I feel I need to be more confident before I approach my boss about these issues I have as he is extremely pushy, overly assertive and will have no trouble convincing me I'm wrong even if I'm not.

Thank you so much, any input would be greatly appreciated as I feel quite lost with it all at the moment.

[Lorina]

Hi There,

I'm very sorry for my delayed reply... I've had an unforeseen family situation that I had to deal with this week and I wasn't able to get onto the forum...

I have never been a nanny so I'm not too sure of the going rates but I did come across a nanny agency which gives the rates for their nannies they send out to families. So, you could use this as a pay guide... If you have to do an overnight stay then you should charge more since you will have to look after their children throughout the night, which includes dealing with them when they wake up and checking up on them in the night as well...

Night Babysitter (after 6pm)- $20 per hour (up to two children, $2 per hour per additional child)
24 hour Nanny (up to two children over 2 years) $250-$350

Ref: Night Nannies Australia

Hope this helps,

,
Lorina

[Lorina]

Just wanted to add:

You could also have a bit of a search to find out what other agencies are charging families for their nannying services so you can work out what's the ideal amount you should be charging. You may have to come up with a compromise with this family... The bonus for you and something you can work with is that you have been with the family for 2 years so the children know you and you know the children and the family. If you were to leave it will be hard for the family to find someone else, having the children like them and the family gaining their trust...

,
Lorina