Your Nanny Evaluation, Explained: Preparing and Outcomes
If your employer has scheduled an annual review, that's a good sign — not a red flag. Families who skip this step tend to be the ones where pay quietly stalls and expectations quietly drift. A real evaluation means someone is paying attention to your work and, ideally, your paycheck.
Here's how to walk in prepared instead of anxious.
Why This Conversation Matters for You
An evaluation isn't just your employer checking a box. It's your one guaranteed moment each year to:
Get paid what the market says you're worth, not just what you were offered when you were hired.
Put your added responsibilities on record. If your role has quietly grown — more kids, more hours, more household tasks — this is where that gets recognized.
Address friction before it becomes resentment, on either side.
Confirm you're both still on the same page about expectations.
Going in with information changes the entire tone of the conversation, from "hoping they'll be generous" to "having a fact-based discussion."
How to Prepare Beforehand
1. Keep a running list all year, not just before the review. Note when you handled something above and beyond — a sick week, a school transition, a new baby added to your care, a skill you picked up (CPR renewal, a certification, sign language, a new language with the kids). Specifics carry far more weight than "I feel like I've worked hard this year."
2. Know your original job description — and how far you've grown past it. Compare what you were hired to do against what you're actually doing now. Extra siblings, extra hours, driving duties, meal prep, tutoring, pet care — all of it counts toward compensation, not just goodwill.
3. Know the actual industry numbers. Walking in with real benchmarks (below) means you're not guessing, and you're not just asking for "more." You're asking for what's standard.
4. Think through your own feedback for them. A review works both directions. Is pay arriving on time? Is notice given fairly for schedule changes? Is your time off respected? You're allowed to raise this too, professionally.
5. Practice saying the number out loud. Most people find the pay conversation the hardest part. Decide your ask ahead of time so you're not doing math on the spot.
What to Expect in the Room
A well-run review typically moves through:
Specific feedback on your work — both what's going well and any concerns.
A chance for you to respond and add context they might not have visibility into.
A revisit of your actual day-to-day duties versus your original job description.
A direct conversation about pay for the year ahead.
A written follow-up — even just an email — confirming the new rate, effective date, and any changes to your role.
If your employer skips straight to pay without any of the rest, that's fine too — just make sure the raise conversation still actually happens, in some form, once a year.
Industry Standards for Raises: Know Your Numbers
This is the information most nannies don't have, and it's the single biggest lever in this conversation. Across nanny agencies and household staffing professionals, the consistent benchmarks are:
Standard annual raise: 3–7% of your current pay. This is the baseline for a year of solid, reliable work with no major changes to your role.
Cost-of-living component: 2–4% of that range, meant to keep your real pay from shrinking against inflation year over year.
Merit component: 3–7%, layered on top for strong performance.
Expanded responsibilities or exceptional performance — a new baby added to your care, more hours, more household management — reasonably justifies pushing your total raise toward 8–10%.
For context: if you're currently earning $25/hour, a standard raise puts you between $25.75 and $26.75/hour. If your role has genuinely grown, $27–$27.50/hour is a fair and defensible ask, not an aggressive one.
A raise should happen every year. Going two or more years at a flat rate is below industry norms, even if you love the family and the job. It's fair to raise this directly and calmly: "I know it's been a couple of years since my last increase — can we talk about where my pay stands?"
Year-End Bonuses
Separate from your annual raise, a year-end or holiday bonus is standard in this industry — typically one to two weeks of your regular pay. This isn't guaranteed by law, but it is customary, and it's reasonable to expect if you don't already receive one.
Get the Outcome in Writing
However the conversation goes, ask for a short written confirmation afterward — a text or email is enough. It should note:
Your new hourly rate and when it starts
Any changes to your duties or hours
Anything you both agreed to revisit later
This protects you. Verbal agreements are easy to misremember months later; a written line isn't.
If the Numbers Don't Add Up
If your employer offers well below these benchmarks, or skips the raise conversation entirely year after year, that's worth naming directly rather than letting it slide. You don't need to be combative — a simple, factual approach works best: name the standard, name your added value, and ask what's realistic. If the answer is genuinely not workable, that's useful information about whether this is the right long-term fit.
The Bottom Line
An annual evaluation is one of the few structured moments where your work gets formally recognized and priced. Walking in with a record of what you've actually done, and a clear sense of what's standard, turns the conversation from something to dread into something you control.
Southern Coast Nannies supports nannies across the Wilmington area with placement, pay guidance, and career growth — not just families. If you have questions before your next review, reach out.