Nanny calling out

Hello!

We have had our nanny for almost two years. We increased her from 3 days a week to 5 days a week in January.

She’s always had a penchant for calling out, but this summer it’s really racked up. She says she if suffering from migraines and other health issues. Since June alone, she’s called out 24 days.

We pay her a guaranteed weekly amount, provide 5 paid sick days, 3 paid personal days, and two weeks of paid vacation (and summer Fridays). Needless to say, she is well beyond that and we have begun reducing pay. My husband and I are over capacity with what we can manage. We are lucky that our parents have jumped in to help, but it’s unsustainable.

On a personal note, it’s hard to hear her talk about or post all of her weekend plans that she manages to keep and on the days she does come to work, she usually reports that she went out the night before or is going out to dinner that night.

I know she might be seriously suffering from migraines or have something else going on but the daily dread of checking my phone to see if she called out and the panicked phone call to my mom is getting to be too much.

She’s wonderful with our toddler and really has become a part of our family. How do we let her go while still keeping open a pathway to babysit “one-off” if she wants and have a relationship with our child? I’m at a loss and struggling to figure out how to have this conversation. I alternate between frustration, anger, and sadness/anxiety.

And advice is appreciated.