Top Tips for Giving your Nanny a Holiday Bonus
What are parents doing in 2024?
This time of year, families ask themselves the age-old question, “What should we give our nanny for the holidays?” You’ve had a great year together, and you appreciate everything your caregiver has done for you and your kids, so it makes sense to let them know. What are other families gifting, what are nannies telling each other, and what does yours expect? It can be a tricky decision in an otherwise loving relationship.
Why give your nanny a year-end bonus?
You pay your nanny well and tell them all the time how much you appreciate their efforts, so is there a need to give your nanny a holiday or year-end bonus? The truth is, the convention is to give nannies and babysitters bonuses. Your nanny is a professional, and just like with other places of employment, a holiday bonus has come to be expected, maybe even counted on.
Numerous polls and studies show that when given a choice, nannies prefer a monetary bonus, and it is also the form most families choose to gift their caregivers.
A year-end or holiday bonus is a tangible way for you to show your appreciation and can even be seen as an investment for a continued working relationship.
How much should you bonus your nanny?
Most customary, especially in the larger cities, is to give a full-time or part-time nanny 1-2 weeks salary as a cash bonus.
This figure can also depend on how long a nanny has been with your family:
for a nanny of several years, it’s a wonderful expression of your appreciation and love for the nanny to bonus in the upper range and beyond, whereas
if a nanny just started with you in November, it may make more sense to give them a smaller token of your hope in the new working relationship.
For regular babysitters, consider giving the equivalent of a typical booking. If they are a steady Friday date-night sitter, for instance, you can bonus how much that shift would normally pay. If you work with a babysitter that you really like but only see once in a blue moon, it’s a lovely gesture to give them a gift card or smaller gift, just to let them know you appreciate them and hope to see them again in the future.
Remember – a gift or bonus is just as much an investment in the future as it is a bookend for the year that passed.
Highlight special circumstances
The last several years have been especially tough years for families trying to shore up childcare solutions in an uncertain and ever-changing set of circumstances. As essential workers, nannies and babysitters have stepped up to tremendous challenges as well. We know many of you have had to rework your day-to-day lives, and for many nannies, their jobs have changed significantly and required unprecedented flexibility and lifestyle adjustments. If you feel your nanny or sitter has gone out of their way to keep your family safe – perhaps by walking or biking to work instead of taking public transportation, or by canceling social gatherings or trips to accommodate your COVID-19 protocols, consider expressing your thankfulness for this with an extra bump.
The same can be noted in the opposite direction - if you have had a particularly successful year on the work front or in other ways had a positive year, let your caregiver know they were a vital part of everything coming together by sharing a bit of that success.
Does my nanny not want my holiday gift?
What if you want to give your nanny a gift card to their favorite store or hand-painted crafts from your kiddos? At the end of the day, the family-caregiver relationship is a special, loving relationship, and any sign that you and your kiddos have put thought and love into a gift will always be happily received. Just pair it with a cash bonus, and the holidays will be happy as can be!
Now that we have sorted all this out, one last reminder:
Monetary bonuses count as taxable income and should thus be included in tax calculations.
At the end of the day, a holiday/end-of-year bonus is not just a celebration of the holidays but a chance to acknowledge your nanny’s important role in your family. If you appreciate the work they do, how they’ve done it over the past year, and if you want to let them know that you see how committed they are to the wellbeing and growth of your children, this is a great way to show it. Turns out, sometimes the best gift, is also the easiest.
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