Berkeley Parents Network: Nanny Vacations & Sick Pay

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Nanny Vacations & Sick Pay

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Nanny share rate when one family is on vacation?
Paying Nanny While Vacationing
Vacations and Part-time Nanny
Nanny Sick Leave
Paying Nanny who Travels with You
2003 BPN Nanny Survey
More Advice about Nanny Pay

Nanny share rate when one family is on vacation?

Jan 2006

We will be starting a part-time 2 days/week nanny-share with another family (their home) at the end of the month. Our nanny is terrific and each family has agreed to pay her $9/hour per child for the shared hours (each family has one toddler) so her take-home pay will be $18/hour for the shared hours. There are a few weeks in the upcoming months when we know one family will be on vacation and therefore only one child will be in the nanny- share for those days. My question is, does the family on vacation pay the full $9/hr rate even if their child is not participating in the nanny share that day/week, or a partial rate so that the nanny will earn at least a single-child rate for that day (say, $12hr)? Also, if this is the case I presume it would be the family on vacation that would pay the difference to the single child rate, not the family who still needs care (since it's not their ''fault'' the other family is on vacation?) I haven't been in a nanny-share before and wasn't sure what the norm is. Our nanny will be working for another family the other 3 days/wk. Thanks. nanny-share newbie

Your nanny should in NO way be financially set back because of your vacation plans. Her budget is undoubtedly tight and she is counting on a certain level of income. She is also taking care of your precious child(ren). DO NOT nickel and dime her. Sara

We have a two-day/week nanny share. Our agreement is that when one kid doesn't show up due to being sick or on vacation, they still pay their half of the hourly rate. We just figure it would be a little unfair to the nanny and the other family if one family ends up taking a bunch of vacations, it's not in their control. And with kids getting sick, everyone gets sick, so that should even out (in theory).

Also, you need to figure out what you do when the nanny is sick or on vacation. Does the nanny get paid then?

Ultimately, what you do is negotiable between you, the nanny and the other family. And write down whatever your agreement is in case people start to forget.

My daughter is in a nanny share, and our agreement is that we guarantee the nanny a certain number of hours per week whether we use them or not. So I pay the nanny when we're on vacation, when my daughter is home sick, etc. I might pay the nanny more if I use her for extra hours, but I would never pay her less than her guaranteed minimum amount.

I don't actually know if that is ''standard'', but it seems reasonable that the nanny's pay be consistent from week to week. But talk to the other parents, and the nanny, just to make certain everyone's on the same page. Carrie

We and our share family each pay our nanny $8/hr/child for regularly scheduled share hours, regardless of whether our child is there or not. This means if one family goes on vacation for a week, both families continue to pay her exactly the same as if both kids were there. This provides her a certain income every week that she can always count on getting. Michelle

I'm sure you will get many responses on this. When you are on vacation, you are still obligated to pay the nanny her full fee, just like you would a pre-school, private school, gym membership or anything else. The family going on vacation should pay as usual. Anon

In the two nanny share arrangements I have been in, both families commit to paying the full weekly amount regardless of time taken off. This includes a week off for the nanny during christmas, any national holidays and nanny sick days.

There were times it seemed a bit unfair, but it was ultimately worth it. As a result our nanny and both families never have the stress of having to pay more or get paid less because because one family is taking time off.

(If you think this is bad wait till you get to preschool where you pay for 2 weeks of christmas vacation and then an extra hourly rate if you need holiday care)

The nanny depends upon two families for her income. Therefore, if one family leaves the share (even for a day) they should be willing to provide their half to the nanny during their absence. If they like the nanny and the job she does for them, it is a small price to pay to secure her services. Are any other benefits provided? Paid vacation and sick days? If not, paying the nanny when their child is absent from the share situation is the least that should be done to show they care for their employee! If your paycheck stopped when your boss was ill or out of town how would that work for you? A nanny who knows

I have been in a share with a number of different families. We guarantee our nanny the share rate ($18) even when one or the other family is on vacation. So if my family went on vacation, we would still pay our $9 an hour (and if the other family went on vacation, they would still pay $9 an hour). This way no family is on the hook for another's vacation AND the nanny has a salary she can depend on. I think this is not an uncommon way to do things, and seems most fair to us and the families we have worked with. Treat your nanny well!

Pay her the full rate! Do you get vacation pay? Sick pay? Do you get partial pay when your boss is out? When your workload reduces? On slow days? She is giving her TIME and committment to both families. Why should she be cheated when a child is absent for ANY reason? As your children enter other care as they age - pre-school, after school care, day camps, etc. you'll find that you are paying for the privelege of holding that space. Yeah, it feels expensive, but isn't your time, experience, talent, skills worth $$ as well as those of the woman you hired to look after your child??? Member of a Village

The vacationing family should pay the nanny her usual rate while on vacation (e.g, you pay $9 and the other family pays $9). Nannys should be treated like any valued employee. Paying a nanny less when you go on vacation (or not paying her while she goes on vacation unless it exceeds some agreed-upon time) is unfair and we would complain if our employers did the same thing. I'm sure many nannys rely on the expected income and to reduce it when an employer goes on vacation may be a real burden even if they don't express it (they may just carry on the resentment, which is worse for the relationship). In a nanny share for almost 3 years

We have had a nanny share for three years, and this is our rule: The family going on vacation should 1) give proper notice, say two weeks. If you are allowing vacation accrual with your nanny than you might be able to continue to pay the normal rate depending on how much vacation your nanny has accrued. Otherwise, you would pay the one child rate, whatever was communicated or decided upon ($12 is what you had listed). Here is what the options could look like: 1) You pay the $12 one child rate while the other family is out. 2) You pay $9 the two child rate for the entire vacation because the other family is paying the nanny her vacation pay during their time away. Or 3) You pay $9 for a portion of the time the nanny has accrued, and $12 for the remaining time. It sounds like you may want to discuss this with the other family. We have always allowed one vacation day for every 6 weeks of work for our nanny. We also always ask her if she wants to take her vacation pay when we go on vacation, sometimes she doesn't sometimes she does. Hope this helps. Kathie

In our nanny share we always paid whether on vacation or not. Basically we committed to 52 weeks per year and gave our nanny 2-3 weeks paid vacation. All the families tried to schedule our vacations at the same time as the nanny's but if they didn't coincide we still paid. The nanny should not have to take a pay cut due to a family being out of town. keep your nanny happy

Here's what we have in our contract:

TIME OFF DURING PARENTS' VACATION AND TRAVEL: If the parents and children take vacation or travel during time that is not concurrent with the Childcare Provider's vacation, the Childcare Provider will be paid at the normal rate (as if both children were present) for the normal working days the family is gone.

This means the family that's on vacation pays what they would normally pay if their child was in care. In our situation, our Childcare Provider gets two weeks of paid vacation, so we try to all coordinate vacations, but understand that sometimes difficult to do.

Unless it was agreed to up front, you don't want your provider to lose pay because you are taking time away. It's just not fair. -Love my provider and want to keep her happy

Hello. Yes. Both families should pay for the hours that they have contracted or agreed upon with the nanny regardless if the child is present or not, ie vacation, sick, grandparents visit, doctor's appt., etc. Your nanny is counting on a certain number of hours and pay to live on. As is it not the other family's ''fault'' if one family goes on vacation, neither is it the nanny's ''fault'' - she should not have to lose pay because one family takes days off of the agreement. Your nanny loves, protects, nurtures, and teaches your child while you are away. Do what you can to show her that you respect her and value her as a member of your parenting team. Anon

Hi.. As a nanny who has worked in a number of shares I have always worked with a contract to cover situations like this. I would usually request that ( like a preschool) when one family is on vacation or has a sick child that they would still be responsible for payment in full for those hours since I need to be able to rely on a steady income and not have it fluctuate due to circumstances beyond my control ( we decided to stay home today etc...) I also would get paid for an agreed upon number of my own vacation and sick days- varying depending on the number of hours worked.

It really is invaluable to get all of this out on the table in written form before you start your relationship with the provider and the other family. Suprises can lead to resentment which can sour the relationship very quickly. Really good childcare providers treat their jobs a s a profession and should be offered the same benefits as people in ''regular'' jobs get...

A share is a wonderful way for the kids to develop a close relationship and have a ''best buddy'' while learning to negotiate and work things out through play. Good luck.... anonomous

Our nanny gets paid her full share salary when we are on vacation. A nanny has to rely on a steady income. In a daycare center you would also have to continue payments. Our nanny gets 3 weeks of paid vacation herself, but it doesn't matter if our and her vacation are at the same time for the payment.

The other family keeps paying their share. Of course they don't have to pick up the missing amount. Only paying a little bit more for one child like $12 instead of $9 would seriously impact her income. I would advise against it if you want to keep your nanny (happy). Also struggling with payments

Our nanny gets paid her full share salary when we are on vacation. A nanny has to rely on a steady income. In a daycare center you would also have to continue payments.

Our nanny gets 3 weeks of paid vacation herself, but it doesn't matter if our and her vacation are at the same time for the payment.

In our share situation, we continue to pay original rates when one family is on vacation. Our nanny continues to make her same salary regardless. In fact, if the other family wants to use her on a day that is usually ours, we still pay our full rate (14) and they pay their full rate (14) rather than anyone paying share rates (9) or coming up with a new scenario... the idea being that she has paid time off when we are away and if she chooses to work during that time, she would make additional money. Anonymous

Why should the nanny's salary go down because you are on vacation? I think that unless you negoticate with her otherwise before you hire her, you are responsible for paying her whether you are on vacation or not, at her normal (2-child) rate. That has certainly been how we have handled it in our nanny shares. -

You each pay the same amount you normally would, even when one family is on vacation. (Or one child is sick, or has a doctor's appointment, or for whatever other reason you don't use the childcare on a given day/time.)

After all, you don't stop paying your rent or your mortgage when you spend a week in a hotel on vacation. Your nanny is reserving certain days and times for you and deserves to be paid for it when you occasionally don't use it. It's not as if she can just go get another job for that day or week. I am sure there are people out there who don't pay their nannies when they're on vacation, but the small amount you'd save isn't worth the price of your good relationship with both the nanny and the other family in the share.

Your nanny may be able and willing, at least sometimes, to ''trade'' you for a different day or time than usual, if that is something you are interested in. We always paid ours extra for evening babysitting but sometimes asked ours to come a little earlier or stay a little later than usual, without paying more, and figured it all washed out with the times we had her come later or not at all, or leave early. Your nanny may not have that flexibility but if she does it can work out well and feel fair for everyone. Holly

Paying Nanny While Vacationing

My husband, daughter and I will be visiting relatives in Europe for the entire month of July. I'm wondering what the standard procedure is for paying a nanny during such an extended trip. I've given her more than a month's lead time, and made it clear that I would prefer she find short-term work, but if she cannot, is it standard practice to pay a childcare worker even when the child is away? Is this comparable to paying rent on your house while you're away from it, or is it an unusual request? I would appreciate hearing from parents who have been in this situation. What solutions did you work out? Thanks.

Although it is expensive, we have always paid our nanny while we are away. We try to treat our nanny as a professional and expect her to behave as one in return. That means we believe we should provide paid vacation time. We do, however, ask that that time be when we are also away. When our nanny has taken vacation while we were in town, it has been unpaid.

You only need to pay the Nanny while you are on vacation if you expect her to work for you again on your return. If you leave her for a month without any income, I would think she would look for another long-term job. One-month Nanny positions are not common.

Several years ago when my husband was doing his under grad work in NY state, we had a nanny. She did expect payment over the summer when we were not in need of her services. So I think this is fairly common. I guess perhaps she was more of an in home day care provider and was licensed so maybe this doesn't apply at all, but she did work out a special deal with us so we paid something like half time for the summer. Many years ago when I worked as a nanny, my family paid me "vacation pay" for the weeks that they were home with their child which I considered a gift at the time. In return since I was familiar with their home and cat, I would pick up mail and feed the cat at least every couple of days. Hope this helps.

I am a firm believer in compensating regular employees for days not worked if the change was due to your vacation schedule or illness. In some cases what I have done is worked out a deal with the babysitter or housecleaner that she or I could try to find someone else to employ them for the days that we were gone, in which case I was off the hook for paying. But if substitute work wasn't easily found, then I had to pay. Sure, you don't enjoy paying for work not done, but from the employee's perspective, they can't afford to lose income just because the employer is able to travel, gets sick, changes plans, etc. If you value and respect your employee, then this is a time for the Golden Rule...

Paying child care workers: I am not sure there is a norm, but here are some thoughts. We pay our nanny a salary, with paid legal holidays. We expect flexible hours for that, and do not generally keep track of weekly hours or pay more or less for more or less work (within reason). She is never stinting with time when we need it (and we try not to take advantage of that). In exchange for her flexibility, we pay 52 weeks a year, whether we need her or not. That seems only fair; if we expect her to give us full time work (whatever that means, as we need it), we also should pay her for full time work when we don't need it. She has bills to pay too, and if this is her full-time job, she needs to be able to rely on her income coming in. (It also seems fair to give a paid vacation; we all need one).

If she takes time off and we need to pay for alternate child care, however, we won't pay her for that time. If you have a pay-by-the-hour relationship (especially less than full time), and pay for every extra minute of work, the relationship may not require pay during vacation. But if your child care provider is good, you will get far more loyalty (and good care in the future) if you pay her for whatever income she can't make up during your absence. Money is always an issue, but we have found that being generous in benefits to child-care workers is worth the sacrifices it takes (if you can possibly make them): we have gotten great care, long-term commitments, and continuing friendship.

We always pay our nanny when we do not use her either for a day or an extended holiday on our part (three weeks). If there has been sufficient notice we have asked her to use that time as her vacation time, but otherwise we just pay her. We feel she has set aside her time for our employ and just because we don't use her, she has saved that time. She doesn't make huge amounts of money that she can afford not being paid. Finding part-time work is quite a burden. Our nanny is wonderful and we don't want to lose her.

What we've done is agree up front to 2 weeks paid vacation per year and required that these be taken when we are on vacation. Given a committed, wonderful nanny who worked for us full-time (no competing job (demands), we would, for the two weeks beyond that, pay her/him and ask her/him to make up the time on occasional weekend days and evening sitting for weeknight dates. I would hesitate to ask them to go for for a month or even 2 weeks without income based on my decision to take a long vacation.

My opinion is that if you are happy with your sitter and want to retain her/him, you should pay your sitter for the month you will be away. A quick poll among my friends who highly value their sitters is unanimous on this point of view. Perhaps your sitter can care for your plants or pets in your absence. If that doesn't justify the expense, then consider the inconvenience and emotional cost to you and your child(ren) of replacing your sitter. Most childcare workers cannot afford the loss of one month's income (in fact, few of us could afford not to get paid for a month!) and it would be extremely difficult to find a temporary job that coincided with the time period when your family will be gone, even with a lot of lead time. I say this because we have a part-time sitter and we have had to spend a lot of time and energy to find another family who could employ our sitter on the days she does not for for us, so that she would have 40 hours total (in order not to lose her another family offering full-time employment). When we go out of town for long weekends and don't need our sitter on her regularly scheduled days, we pay her. We also give our sitter 2 weeks paid vacation per year (one week around the Christmas holidays when we're on vacation, and one week off at another time that she chooses). Hope this helps.

My experiance has been that the nanny would be paid while you are gone. If she is your full-time nanny, she is probably relying on the income you pay her. I tried to put myselft in my nanny's shoes when a similar situation came up for us. If I worked in a small business, and the manager closed the business down for a month, how on earth would I come up with a comperable income during that time. Also, you might look at it this way, if she workedin a traditional job, even in a small business, she would be given vacation time every year. Everyone needs some downtime, even nannies......oh, one more thing, if you give her the opportunity to work for someone else she may decide to stay......

In my experience, the childcare provider is paid regardless of your vacation plans. She provides a service to you and has to eat and pay rent whether you are on vacation or not.

I'm not sure what standard practice is, however, my approach has always been to continue payment, for several reasons (not necessarily in this order). First, the loss of a month's salary to my child care worker was always more significant than the cost to me. Second, I wanted her to be generous with my child, so I was willing to be generous with my money. Third, I think a happy child care worker is a better child care worker. Fourth, if she accepts a "short-term" alternative, it could turn into a long-term situation, requiring me to find someone new (and stability was always an important factor to me). Fifth, I would think of it as her paid vacation, similar to the paid vacation I got at my job (and although it's a lot of time off for vacation, that was compensation for the fact that she didn't get to choose the time herself). And finally, I do think of it like rent or as a salaried position. If I got home an hour early, I wouldn't dock her an hour pay. She made a commitment to me, and wanted to treat her payment as a commitment to her.

I feel that absolutely you must pay her! Perhaps you could make a deal with her that it will also count as her vacation, so as not to pay her for any other vacation time during the year. If your child were at a center, you would have to pay. How would you feel to be laid off from work for a month w/o pay and then asked to come back? I know I would resent it and would look for another (permanent) position.

Your nanny is your employee and should get a paid vacation just like everyone else. If she works close to full time and has been with you more than one year, she should have two weeks paid. If she has been with you less than one year, then she should get something less (one week?). The difference between the length of your vacation and hers (the difference being two or three weeks) is the part you need to negotiate.

If you want to keep her, then the burden is on you to be flexible. Perhaps you can think of some projects around your house that she could do to fill up the two weeks in question (the other two weeks are her paid vaction). Or perhaps you could "lend" her to some friends. Or you could "donate" her time to a non-profit and take a tax break as an in-kind contribution. It would be a nice gesture to let her (him?) pick the non-profit. Some families take their nannies with them on vacation. Hope these suggestions help.

We have gone away quite a few times in the four months that we have employed our nanny and have always assumed that it is our responsibility to pay her for time that we choose to go away (our contract also allows her two weeks' paid vacation per year). We just had a problem, though, in which we came back a day earlier than expected from a vacation and asked her to come in (we had left it open about whether we'd need her that day). She did, but three days later, she told us -- at the *end* of the day -- that she would be taking the next day off to make up for the day we called her in, and she refused even to discuss it. We paid her, as usual, but now we find ourselves feeling angry and like we've been taken advantage of. Since Spanish is her first language, and we only speak English, it's hard to communicate, so we're wondering how in the world we should deal with this, both now and in the future. She's a wonderful nanny, and I would hate to have something like this ruin our relationship. Thank you.

I would like to say that as a babysitter myself its good to know that some people still care for this issue. I have been sitting for the last 2 years and during all this time the family that I was working with never paid me any vacations or holidays, and whenever they wanted to take any day off they never paid me anything. I speak spanish as well english and I'm a c.p.r, infection diseases and first aid certificated. I never complain but one day, she decided to put her son in a day child care so that he can learn to be with other kids and that was it. She found a place and she didn't care about what is going to happen to me. The reason I never said anything was because me and my family got so attached to the kid and for us $ wasn't the issue. I have 2 kid's of my own and I know how hard is to find a good babysitter. You know how she treats me every time her day care is closed? She is always calling me to help her pick her son up from his daycare and keep him with me until she finish working, and taking him to his home whenever she is ready. So you see how some people take advantage of people like me. We don't see kids as a business, we think of him as if he was our son too. That is why I'm really touched to see how some people like you still care for your baysitter. Thank you from the bottom of my heart from all the baysitters like me.

Vacations and Part-time Nanny

Does anyone have experience with going away on a trip, and how they handled it with a weekly sitter? We use a sitter part time, one day a week. I informed my sitter a few weeks ago that we would be gone one week, and thus not need her that one day we use her. ( I told her three weeks before our trip, as well). She just shared with me, that she always gets paid for a full days work whenever her families go away. We have a wonderful sitter, and she is an incredible caregiver, so I'm not quite sure what to do. I've offered to make up the work, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Has anyone else had a similar experience? I feel weird paying her for a full days work, when she didn't do any. At the same time, part time quality sitters are so hard to come by. Does anyone know if this is common practice? Thanks.

I don't know about common practice... Our family pays our sitter for each day that she is slated to work but does not because we either go on holiday or are sick. We also pay her for her sick days (she actually hasn't had any yet) and her holidays. And if I come home early, I pay her for the time she would have stayed, even if it is several extra hours. (As an aside, we give her a holiday bonus and present, plus treats such as symphony tickets, roses, candy, etc., although her favorite gifts are obviously always photos of our son, thus underscoring how wonderful she is!)

Yes, at first it seems like a lot to pay for nothing in exchange. I really struggled with childcare costs when we first started using a sitter when my son was an eight-month-old. But then I thought about how it isn't all for nothing. Since we ask her to come on specific days at certain times, she is actually an employee on retainer more than just a sitter who comes occasionally.

I also thought about how lost we would be without her, and that she deserved some stability in her payment since she brings so much stability to our lives! And I also thought about how important it is to me, both financially and as far as feeling appreciated, to have paid days off at my own job. And that she should certainly have that same treatment, because she is doing some really crucial work, and doing it well.

You'll need to make your own decision, of course, but if you think this may jeopardize your relationship with her, reconsider. Having a sitter you trust and that your child likes is golden and not always easy to find again. (I could tell you about that, too ... but won't!)

I think it depends on the agreement/contract that you have made with the sitter. My sitter charges by the week if you are full time and day by day if you are only occassional. My son has been going only 1 day a week (considered occassional) on a day one of the weekly kids doesn't come for the past year, so I have not been expected to pay for vacation, sick or holidays... but my sitter is being paid by the other families those days since they are on the weekly rate.

I don't really see a problem with the sitter being paid for holidays or days that I choose not to send my child. After all, I get sick and vacation and holiday pay for days that I don't work. I don't think that childcare workers are any less entitled to paid day's off, or should have to suffer fluctuations in their income just because I as a parent choose to keep my child home, or go on vacation, or whatever. I expect my sitter to be there so that I can go to work, and she expects me to bring my child so she can work...

Just went on two trips (1 week each) that I had planned even before I hired our nanny and we paid her time during both. I know your nanny comes only one day a week, but from all I can tell, it's worth paying her & keeping her happy if you like her. Most of the people I've spoken to told me to do whatever it takes to keep my nanny comfortable and happy or they'll use the time your away to look for another job. Good luck-

What we did with our sitter was try to find a replacement employment opportunity the period of lost income. To ensure her continued relationship with your family, it might be a nice concession to pay her half of her normal pay for the time you do not need her with the understanding that when she took HER vacation time, you would pay her either half or full wage. Hope this is useful.

OK, I just have to comment on these nanny questions... When my second child was born, the cost of daycare for two pre-schoolers exceeded my take-home pay, so I decided to quit my job and stay home. By taking care of another infant, and dropping daycare for my kids, I was able to break even. I cared for Brian for three years. I can tell you that it was the hardest job I have ever had. Although I became very attached to Brian, my initial motivation was *not* a love of other people's children - we needed the money! Taking care of Brian was how we paid the rent and bought the groceries. His mom and I drew up a contract, which included vacation and holidays. I had a regular income I could depend on, and she had a terrific babysitter.

Several people have questioned whether it is really necessary to pay the regular babysitter if for some reason they don't need them temporarily. I do not understand how a working parent, who is presumably in a superior financial position, can justify withholding the salary of her less-well-off babysitter whenever she likes. I would not want to work for somebody who'd do that and you probably wouldn't either. The fact that the nanny works for you only one day a week isn't relevant - it is a regular job for her and she depends on that income. If you don't pay her, she can't pay her bills. When you get to preschool, you will see that the rules are: you pay by the week/month/year whether your child will be coming or not. PG&E still wants the same amount of money regardless of how many kids show up!

To the mom who came back a day early and asked the nanny to come in that day - I think your nanny should be able to make personal plans for the days you are gone, and should not have to leave her own schedule up in the air pending your decision on a return date. You should give her definite dates she is off as much in advance as possible, and then stick to them. Maybe her surprise announcement of a day off was a not-so-subtle way of protesting your assumption that she'd leave her days open for you just in case you came back early.

Just to repeat what others have said - if you like your babysitter, and you want to keep her, then you need to treat her with the same respect and consideration you'd expect from your own employer. Ginger

Nanny Sick Leave

Feb 2002

What is a reasonable amount of annual sick leave to provide for a live-in nanny that works 20 hours/week? Evan

We give our nanny 2 prorated weeks of ''personal leave'' per year which she can take as sick time or vacation time. When she worked for us 2 days/wk, she earned 2 weeks at 2 days/wk or a total of 4 days/year (accrued at a rate of 1 day/3 mo.). After a year, we were using her 3 days/wk and increased her leave to 6 days/yr (it now accrues at 1 day/2 mo worked). We also gave her a raise after a year from $14/hr for two children (from two different families) to $15/hr.

We give our full-time nanny 5 sick days a year, but she hasn't ever used any. According to the nanny survey we did in this newsletter a few months ago (see http://parents.berkeley.edu), about 2/3 of respondents pay for nanny sick days -- 34% said they do not pay for nanny sick days, 38% said they pay 1-5 sick days, 21% said they pay for ''as many as needed'', and 7% pay for more than 6 days/year. So the equivalent of a week, in your case half a week, seems like a general guide. Ginger

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