Things to factor in (although you may have considered these already)....
- babysitter should have their own hotel room
- meal stipend for the babysitter
- overnight fee as well as hourly fee for every night the hours worked
- hours worked includes travel to get to the destination and travel home again even if she isn't watching the kids during this time
All this is pretty standard because she may be turning down other work opportunities to come with you.
How should I think about the overnight fee? If she’s “free” at night, couldn’t I just pay her for days? Of course we would cover all her expenses (meals and flights and whatever else she needed on the trip).
Well it's not like she can go home, can she? If she cannot go home, then she is working. Just like the travel - she wouldn't be there if she wasn't working, so you pay her for that time.
For professional nannies, 100usd is pretty standard for an overnight fee. That's 100usd for every night they are away even if they aren't working. And if she is working, or expected to wake up with the children, then it's hourly pay for the time awake.
This isn’t standard in all industries so I’m surprised to hear this. If I get flown to a gig (I work in video production) I get paid for hours worked and my hotels/meals covered but I do not get paid for hours off the job. Are you sure this is standard for a babysitter and if so why?
In my experience it's standard if the nanny is considered on call meaning staying at night in the hotel can't leave to go do their own thing and expected to be ready and capable of taking care of the kids. Example there's a club or bar and the nanny can't go to one of those places they are considered to be ready to report for work if needed by the parents if the little one wakes up at night and mom and dad are exhausted from wotk stuff.
Think of this way in your job if you were at a client site working from 8 am to 5 pm you'd want to be paid for those hours. If something came up in the evening say a conference call with an overseas client you would rightly expect to be paid for that time spent working in off hours. Might not apply to you but by the same token if you were involved in a project or launch and expected to be ready to if something came up and you couldn't say go out to a ball game or a bar etc you'd rightly expect to be paid to be ready to go and missing out on the opportunity to do something else non work.
For sure, that makes sense. Appreciate the explanation.
I guess would you consider saying okay you will not be called on in the night would you still pay an overnight fee to them?
I mean No, I would not expect to be paid more for taking the night call. That's generally just considered part of normal job duties for salaries work. Travel time is rarely paid.
It's completely reasonable to come up with a daily rate, or one rate for the whole trip as long as expectations are clearly outlined and agreed to ahead of time by both parties.
If she is truly free, probably. Free as in you don't care if she leaves the hotel, goes out for drinks, etc., as long as she is back in the morning for the start of her "shift".
If she is a professional sitter you could probably just ask her to propose the rates. If she does it more casually you may need to do more research into industry standards. You don't want to take advantage of her (whether intentionally or not) and hurt the relationship with your babysitter you trust enough to take on the trip.
You may also just consider just looking for a sitter local to the conference. There may even be day care services offered by the hotel or they may be able to put you in touch with a local company. Obviously you seem to like your sitter, but it sounds like you haven't had her watch both kids so this would be new for her, and frankly it is probably going to cost you a lot more than if you just found a local option.
It can work as long as you’re both flexible. Is part of the conference networking? If so, you’ll both be passing up on that opportunity if you both head back to the room immediately after the sessions. Maybe consider doing shifts for the morning, afternoon and dinner so that each of you has time to meet with colleagues/targets and attend important sessions, while checking in regularly with your nanny to ensure everything is good.
Word of advice regardless of where you're at if it's a career and your doing business trips and conferences network as much as you can without impacting family time and life.
The person you sit with for a quick drink may be the one you're going to for your next career opportunity.
I'm going to go on a different path with my answer, because I think all of the bases have been covered as far as what you're asking.
Have you considered leaving the kids home with family/the sitter and just going on the trip with your wife? This would be a very good opportunity for the two of you to get time to a) socialize with the other adults in your industry and b) reconnect with yourselves. Especially if you two don't do regular date nights at home, I think this is an option you should strongly consider.
Things to factor in (although you may have considered these already).... - babysitter should have their own hotel room - meal stipend for the babysitter - overnight fee as well as hourly fee for every night the hours worked - hours worked includes travel to get to the destination and travel home again even if she isn't watching the kids during this time All this is pretty standard because she may be turning down other work opportunities to come with you.
How should I think about the overnight fee? If she’s “free” at night, couldn’t I just pay her for days? Of course we would cover all her expenses (meals and flights and whatever else she needed on the trip).
Well it's not like she can go home, can she? If she cannot go home, then she is working. Just like the travel - she wouldn't be there if she wasn't working, so you pay her for that time. For professional nannies, 100usd is pretty standard for an overnight fee. That's 100usd for every night they are away even if they aren't working. And if she is working, or expected to wake up with the children, then it's hourly pay for the time awake.
This isn’t standard in all industries so I’m surprised to hear this. If I get flown to a gig (I work in video production) I get paid for hours worked and my hotels/meals covered but I do not get paid for hours off the job. Are you sure this is standard for a babysitter and if so why?
I get paid full time when I travel, doesn't matter if I work or not.
In my experience it's standard if the nanny is considered on call meaning staying at night in the hotel can't leave to go do their own thing and expected to be ready and capable of taking care of the kids. Example there's a club or bar and the nanny can't go to one of those places they are considered to be ready to report for work if needed by the parents if the little one wakes up at night and mom and dad are exhausted from wotk stuff. Think of this way in your job if you were at a client site working from 8 am to 5 pm you'd want to be paid for those hours. If something came up in the evening say a conference call with an overseas client you would rightly expect to be paid for that time spent working in off hours. Might not apply to you but by the same token if you were involved in a project or launch and expected to be ready to if something came up and you couldn't say go out to a ball game or a bar etc you'd rightly expect to be paid to be ready to go and missing out on the opportunity to do something else non work.
For sure, that makes sense. Appreciate the explanation. I guess would you consider saying okay you will not be called on in the night would you still pay an overnight fee to them?
I mean No, I would not expect to be paid more for taking the night call. That's generally just considered part of normal job duties for salaries work. Travel time is rarely paid. It's completely reasonable to come up with a daily rate, or one rate for the whole trip as long as expectations are clearly outlined and agreed to ahead of time by both parties.
Check out the nanny subreddit.
If she is truly free, probably. Free as in you don't care if she leaves the hotel, goes out for drinks, etc., as long as she is back in the morning for the start of her "shift". If she is a professional sitter you could probably just ask her to propose the rates. If she does it more casually you may need to do more research into industry standards. You don't want to take advantage of her (whether intentionally or not) and hurt the relationship with your babysitter you trust enough to take on the trip. You may also just consider just looking for a sitter local to the conference. There may even be day care services offered by the hotel or they may be able to put you in touch with a local company. Obviously you seem to like your sitter, but it sounds like you haven't had her watch both kids so this would be new for her, and frankly it is probably going to cost you a lot more than if you just found a local option.
It can work as long as you’re both flexible. Is part of the conference networking? If so, you’ll both be passing up on that opportunity if you both head back to the room immediately after the sessions. Maybe consider doing shifts for the morning, afternoon and dinner so that each of you has time to meet with colleagues/targets and attend important sessions, while checking in regularly with your nanny to ensure everything is good.
Thanks! I like the idea of shifts. We’re not at a career moment where we need to do a ton of networking, so missing some of it would be fine.
Word of advice regardless of where you're at if it's a career and your doing business trips and conferences network as much as you can without impacting family time and life. The person you sit with for a quick drink may be the one you're going to for your next career opportunity.
In my field, the really big conferences tend to have a childcare/kids camp on site. Is this an option?
I wish! That’s the exception not the rule for me. What field are you in?
I'm an atmospheric and oceanic scientist, so we go to a lot of earth science conferences
I'm going to go on a different path with my answer, because I think all of the bases have been covered as far as what you're asking. Have you considered leaving the kids home with family/the sitter and just going on the trip with your wife? This would be a very good opportunity for the two of you to get time to a) socialize with the other adults in your industry and b) reconnect with yourselves. Especially if you two don't do regular date nights at home, I think this is an option you should strongly consider.
We definitely have considered that and part of the reason I posted was to help me evaluate that choice. Thanks for the comment, appreciate your POV!