Here's How Much Brooklyn Parents Pay Their Nannies

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — How much should you pay your nanny? How much paid vacation should they get? Which holidays should they get off?

Those are some of the questions that every parent likely grapples with at some point while trying to balance their work life while raising a kid (or kids).

Park Slope Parents, a group made up of mothers and fathers from Brooklyn's stroller capital and the surrounding area, regularly takes a survey of nanny compensation and just released the 2017 version of the poll.

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The parents said they pay their nannies an average of $17.05 an hour to look after one child, a nearly $2-per-hour increase from 2015, the last time the survey was taken. Parents with two kids paid their nanny an average of $18.33 an hour, up $1.89 from two years ago.

"It’s the largest increase we’ve seen of any of the surveys we’ve done since 2008," Susan Fox, the founder of Park Slope Parents, told Patch. "We think some of that might be because of the increase in minimum wage. My reaction is a little mixed. I'm very happy to know that nannies are getting paid more, but it’s tough to afford any childcare in America, let alone New York City."

Part-time nannies made more per hour than full-time ones.

Nannies working 10 to 20 hours per week were paid about $18.30 an hour, while nannies who worked more than 50 hours a week got $17.90 an hour.

The average nanny gets 14 days of paid time off per year, which includes vacation, sick and personal days; nannies take an average of 21 days off a year including holidays.

Fox also said she was encouraged that the number of people paying their nanny "on the books" was increasing, though 60 percent of people surveyed still said they pay them completely off the books. And 55 percent of parents said they set written expectations through a "work agreement."

"The biggest things that we are happy about are the number of people using a nanny 'work agreement' has gone up steadily since 2008," Fox said. "And that’s something that we think is a best practice."

The group surveyed 870 parents from Brooklyn during March and April of 2017. Thirty-three percent of the respondents came from Park Slope, 10 percent came from Prospect Heights and the rest came from other areas of Brooklyn.

Members of Park Slope Parents made up 65 percent of the respondents.

Some other findings of the survey include:

• Nearly six in 10 parents give their nanny the ability to schedule their own vacation time.
• 74 percent of nannies who worked for more than a year got a raise.
• 93 percent of parents gave their nanny a bonus if he or she worked for more than 12 months.
• 86 percent give their nannies a full day’s pay if dismissed early.
• 76 percent have an "open kitchen" policy with their nannies.
• 64 percent pay cab fare home after dark or late hours.
• 55 percent pay for a MetroCard or travel subsidy.
• 52 percent give their nannies access to home computer/internet access.
• 48 percent provide nannies an "allowance" to spend as they wish when with the children. This allowance ranges between $15- $30 per week.

As for advice Fox would give parents looking to hire a nanny for the first time?

"Discuss all holidays up front. Trust your gut," she said. "If you don’t feel confident in this person, that generally does not go away. People need to appreciate the work that their nannies are doing and show that appreciation so that they have a better appreciation with their nanny."

Click here to read the full survey. And click here for more resources from Park Slope Parents about hiring nannies.

Image: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan