HELP--Contracted Hours

[krosey5]

When I originally signed one of my DCFs, the DCM's work schedule was inconsistent. Which caused her pickups to be all over the place. I let her do a later pickup time (5:15PM) on the contract to prevent her paying a lot of OT fees. She would let me know (verbally) day to day what the pickup would be.

Now, her schedule has gotten worked out & she has a consistent schedule that switches every 3 mos. But for those 3 months she she knows what she works. She only needs one late night pickup of 5:15, but is still contracted every night until that time. The other nights are 4:15 & one night at 3:30. There have been a few occasions where DCM would text (mid afternoon--after lunch) to say that (on a 4:15 pickup night) she would not be there until 5:15. I told her that was fine & did not charge an OT fee. Assuming I couldn't because I still have her contracted until 5:15 EVEN THOUGH verbally she said she was picking up at 4:15 for that day.

I do like expecting to get off at 4:15 only to have to stay working until 5:15.

How would you work around a schedule like this with contracted hours. Would you switch up the contract every 3 months?

[2grls4us]

Could you revise your contract to reflect the changes every 3 months? Or ask her to give you a written schedule when it changes so you can plan your evenings. I only have a small in home group so I may approach differently, but I would maybe even just say this is what we agreed upon in the begining but if you are going to be running more than X minutes late I would appreciate you finding someone else for pick up.
I have one that waits until the last minute to pick up. She is usually pulling in the drive at 5:30 when I close. If I ever need to make appointments after 5 I have to call her and find out when she plans to pick up so I can work around her schedule.

I think anything over 15 minutes picking up past the "now" scheduled time is taking advantage of the situation. What if you would have an appointment or for some reason could not keep her child for an additional hour?

[MarinaVanessa]

Same as above.

I'd just tell her that random late pickups are not working for you and that you would like to keep those to a minimum and that you need a new contract with her work schedule every time that it changes. This way your current contract with her has her working schedule and if she needs extra time she can pay extra for it.

[daycare]

when I have a varying schedule here is what I do.

Your drop off time will be 745am and pick up at 5:00pm daily.

should you need to drop off or pick up at a later time on any given day, a full 24 hour request must be provided and confirmed with the provider. Please understand that the provider can not guarantee an immediate change of request in schedules.

I would also require her to notify me 14 days in advance of her schedule changes. So when the new 3 month mark is approaching, I would have her submit a new request for drop off and pick up. This way it gives me a heads up on how I will operate my business for the next 3 months.

I would also add wording to say that once each schedule has been received, agreed to and confirmed by the provider, that it will stay in effect until the next schedule has been received. Failure to submit the schedule 14 days in advance will result in the possibility of not being able to guarantee the new time request.

[krosey5]

Thank you, ladies!!

Could you revise your contract to reflect the changes every 3 months? Or ask her to give you a written schedule when it changes so you can plan your evenings. I only have a small in home group so I may approach differently, but I would maybe even just say this is what we agreed upon in the begining but if you are going to be running more than X minutes late I would appreciate you finding someone else for pick up.
I have one that waits until the last minute to pick up. She is usually pulling in the drive at 5:30 when I close. If I ever need to make appointments after 5 I have to call her and find out when she plans to pick up so I can work around her schedule.

I think anything over 15 minutes picking up past the "now" scheduled time is taking advantage of the situation. What if you would have an appointment or for some reason could not keep her child for an additional hour?

This actually did happen. I had plans & I was pretty upset when she text 3 hours before her scheduled pickup. I ended telling her that my last pickup for the day was xyz & that I had made plans accordingly. I told her that her child could stay until then, but she needed to have her child picked up by then. She apologized profusely & had DCC picked up when I asked, but I don't want to keep running into this situation.

when I have a varying schedule here is what I do.

Your drop off time will be 745am and pick up at 5:00pm daily.

should you need to drop off or pick up at a later time on any given day, a full 24 hour request must be provided and confirmed with the provider. Please understand that the provider can not guarantee an immediate change of request in schedules.

I would also require her to notify me 14 days in advance of her schedule changes. So when the new 3 month mark is approaching, I would have her submit a new request for drop off and pick up. This way it gives me a heads up on how I will operate my business for the next 3 months.

I would also add wording to say that once each schedule has been received, agreed to and confirmed by the provider, that it will stay in effect until the next schedule has been received. Failure to submit the schedule 14 days in advance will result in the possibility of not being able to guarantee the new time request.

Thank you!!