Nanny Podcast season 2 episode 7 “ending a job”
Welcome to this week’s episode of The Nanny Podcast, my name is Hanna Schaer from Riviera Nannies and I am your host. I am so happy you are here.
Today we are going to talk about ending a job. We get questions about this from nannies from time to time, often from nannies we haven’t placed.
This might sound strange, but how you will end your job has a lot to do with how you started it. Did you feel a good connection with the family? Did you feel like you had a good and honest line of communication?
Ok, so let’s break it down.
You want to end a job. There are lots of reasons why people want to end a job. Let’s say you have decided that you want to take your career in a different direction and you want to look for a job that is a better fit for you.
Of course it could also be that you want to earn more money, that you want to work different hours and you want your tasks to be different.
Then maybe you don’t want to end the job bur rather renegotiate the terms of the job.
Assume you have a good communication and relationship with your family. And you have a contract in place. The importance of a contract has so much nuance. It is an agreement between you and your employer, they know what they can expect from you, and you know what you can expect from them. You have agreed on terms and it is very important that you keep them. It is as important that you honor the salary you have agreed on and don’t go asking for more a few weeks into the job (the time for renegotiating the salary can be in your agreement too) as it is that your family doesn’t start asking you to do things you have not agreed to do, like tasks not related to the kids, unless you have renegotiated the terms of the new work. You see where I am going with this.
If all those things are in place, having a conversation around ending your job might be a difficult conversation from an emotional perspective, but with agreed terms for how long ahead of time you give notice and so on, there aren’t any surprises.
From the nannies who come to us for advice, I know that most people do not set themselves up this way.
This is why it is so important from the beginning that you work with families that share your values, that see your value and that you respect and who respect you.
So if you don’t have that relationship with your family today, there are steps to take. Have very clear agreements. Just as a very basic start, what are the hours you work? What do you get compensated for that time? What happens if you work more, how are you compensated then? What are your tasks? If they want to renegotiate the tasks, you have to bring it up, either say, I am not comfortable doing this task, I am hired to do xyz, or say, with the added work responsibility I would like to talk about how I will be further compensated.
So when you want to end a job, be courteous, be kind, be respectful. Know before hand what you want, so that if you end up in a situation of negotiation where the family might want to keep you with different terms, you know what you want and where your boundaries are. Allow for their feelings and reactions and remember that they have nothing to do with you, it is about how they are feeling. There might be a moment of panic, looking for a new nanny is hard and emotional. Maybe they feel overwhelmed. That is not on you, but you have the option of creating the space for them to end on good terms.
Speaking of ending on good terms, do it. You might need the references, but it is just good manners and good human behavior to try to not end relationships badly if you can help it.
Thank you so much for listening and spending some time with me today.
If you have any comments on today’s episode, if you would like to ask any questions or if you just want to say hi, you can always email me at [email protected] and put podcast in the subject line. I love hearing from you :)
Today’s episode is brought to you by Mamatoto, the place where mothers go for education, support and connection. It’s a great place to learn about prenatal nutrition, take courses to prepare for pregnancy and birth and find support into motherhood. Check them out at mamatoto.info
