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Read the press release here.

SURVEY: UWS Nannies Get More Vacation Time Than the Average American

By Emily Frost | March 18, 2016 8:38am
 Parents gave Metrocards, vacation time, sick time and money for incidentals, but the majority did not provide health insurance, the results showed.
Nanny Survey Results
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UPPER WEST SIDE — Nannies in the neighborhood are getting more time off than many working Americans, according to a DNAinfo survey of local parents. 

We asked Upper West Siders through our nanny survey to share not only what they pay their nannies, but also what ancillary benefits they provide — from health insurance to days off to food.

On average, American workers get 10 vacation days a year, according to 2015 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

But 50 percent of the 151 respondents to a question about vacation time said they gave their nannies 10 or more days off a year, in addition to any time given for federal holidays or sick days. 

In terms of federal holidays, a third of 157 respondents said they gave at least six federal holidays off, while 42 percent gave 10 federal holidays off.

For sick leave, 55 percent of the 139 respondents reported giving their nannies two to five days off, while 33 percent give five to 10 days and 11 percent gave 10 or more days. 

The 155 respondents to the question of whether nannies must sync up their vacation time with the family's were split almost evenly: 53 percent said that their vacations didn't have to be taken at the same time, while 47 percent said coordinating was a requirement. 

Yearly bonuses were a common practice among the 156 parents who answered that question, with 51 percent giving one week's pay and 31 percent giving two weeks' pay as a bonus. Nine percent of respondents said they gave no bonus. 

 

However, the overwhelming majority of parents are not providing their nannies with health insurance, the survey results showed. Of the 160 respondents to that question, 96 percent said they did not provide health insurance.

The 4 percent of parents who said they did provide health insurance noted that it cost them between $3,000 and $20,000 a year. One parent responded that he or she gave the nanny $200 a month toward health care costs. 

Lunch money was not a popular perk among survey respondents, with just 6 percent of the 146 people who responded providing it to their nannies. 

However, 69 percent of those respondents give cash for things like museum tickets, with 61 percent providing their nannies with a monthly MetroCard to use.

Sixty-two percent of parents said they stocked their refrigerators with food for their nannies.

As of Thursday, 164 people had responded to the survey, with nearly 90 percent of those identifying as living on the Upper West Side or Morningside Heights. 

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