Tracking nanny hours and pay

Nanny work is real employment — in the U.S., household employees are covered by federal wage law, families are required to keep time records, and in a dispute the burden of proof sits with the family. In practice, though, the person best positioned to keep a precise, daily record of hours is the nanny. A clean log protects both sides: the family pays what the record shows, and you can show your work when a week looks off.

What makes nanny hours genuinely tricky

• The schedule moves. A date night runs long, a parent’s flight is delayed, school lets out early. The recorded hours have to be the actual hours, not the planned ones — that’s the entire point of the record.
• Overtime applies. Live-out household employees are generally owed 1.5× after 40 hours in a week under federal law, and some states go further. Families don’t always know this; your record should compute it rather than depend on anyone remembering.
• Expenses ride along. Groceries picked up, activity fees, mileage — small amounts that vanish unless they’re logged on the day they happened, attached to the day they happened.
• More than one family. A nanny share, or two part-time families, means two rates, two schedules, two timesheets — hours that must never blur together.

A weekly rhythm that prevents disputes

Record daily, send weekly. Log start and end times as they happen; at the end of the pay period, send the family a timesheet that shows each day, the hours, the rate — with overtime broken out on its own line — and the total. A family that receives a clear, professional document every week has nothing to reconstruct, nothing to negotiate, and a payment amount they can approve in a minute. Most pay disputes are not bad faith; they’re two people with two different vague recollections. The timesheet replaces both.

Using Valio as your nanny time tracker

• One tap in when you arrive, one tap out when you leave — or log the day afterwards in seconds when things were hectic. Clock-in reminders help the habit stick.
• Each family is its own job, with its own rate, its own overtime rules, and its own pay period — weekly, biweekly, or whatever you’ve agreed. Working a nanny share or two families, hours stay cleanly separated, with overtime counted per family or pooled, matching your actual arrangement.
• Notes, tips, and expenses on the day’s timeline — the reimbursement conversation becomes a line item, not a memory test.
• A timesheet the family can actually read: PDF with your name and contact details, every rate named and subtotaled, sent from the share sheet through Messages or email when the week closes.
• Your record stays yours. Valio keeps everything on your iPhone — no account, no cloud — and the exact punch times stay preserved under any rounding, which is exactly what you want if a dispute ever gets formal.

Household employment rules vary by state and country — this guide is general information, not legal or tax advice.