I Think My Backbone Is Finally Here!

[Stepping]

So, after reading many posts on here about contracted hours I decided to switch over to set hours with all my parents in the new year.

Several of my parents have had a really hard time adjusting and are still dropping off at random times. I hadn't really tackled the issue because they were usually late drop offs which doesn't affect me as much as early drop offs.

Except for today: I had adjusted my assistants hours to reflect the contracted drop off times. She was due to arrive at 8.30 when I had 3 children under two present.

At 7.45 one parent walks in 15 minutes early. I express my surprise to see them but accept the child as he didn't take me over my limit.

At 7.50 another family walks in 40 minutes early! They have always been late, every day, without fail! And this one day, they come early. Grrrhhh! I immediately, told them I couldn't accept DCG until 8.30 and sent them away.

Dcd was hopping mad and told me to plan better in future! Dcm said she thought there was wiggle room in the contract and didn't think it would be a problem So I slapped an early fee on them and invoiced late fees to all my late pick ups this month.

I'm done with letting families walk all over me.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

That is crazy.

[providerandmomof4]

I love contracted hours! I switched over this new year too. I only have one dcg that I didnt switch because Ive had her since she was a few months old and when I signed them I knew dcm would have a varied schedule. This really bites when she stays til 530, since all of my othets leave by 430. But...its usually only a few times a week. Congrats though! Great job letting dcp know what is expected...stick to it and they'll get it.

[MotherNature]

Who shows up nearly an hour early & then gets mad at YOU? Rude!

[CraftyMom]

happyfacegood for you!happyface

[Patches]

Who shows up nearly an hour early & then gets mad at YOU? Rude!

This actually happened to me. The family I recently termed. They showed up ay my door at 7 am and weren't scheduled until 8. My assistant was scheduled at 8 and they would put me over ratio so I turned DCD away at the door and told them to come back at 8. Wouldn't you know, about 17 seconds after DCD leaves DCM calls chewing me out because now she has to leave work and DCD is going to be late. She was mad! And then she still tried to drop them back off 15 minutes early

[CraftyMama]

It's great to have control of your business! Good job!:hug:

[jokalima]

How do contracted hours work exactly? And do they afect the weekley fee? Like for example, less hours less pay? Or it stays the same no matter how many hours?

[Cat Herder]

I'm done with letting families walk all over me.

Good for you for not backing down.

They will get it soon enough and the new clients won't have a chance to challenge you.

[Stepping]

How do contracted hours work exactly? And do they afect the weekley fee? Like for example, less hours less pay? Or it stays the same no matter how many hours?

My parents pay the same. They pick their own hours (within reason) so if they want to take the full 10 hours they can. It's their choice to take less but I don't charge less if they do.

[cheerfuldom]

I am continually shocked at how rude parents are. They show up early with no notice and expect you to be able to plan for that? wth!

I insist parents give me a consistent drop off time, no early than 730. I am fine with varied drop off as long as each individual family is consistent. I then charge by the pickup time. The early you pickup in the day, the less your weekly fee.

You can also do contracted time where you are open for business x time to z time but the parents can use no more than 10 (or however long you choose) hours within the business hours. so each family gets the same amount of total hours for the same fee but no family is there open to close.

Within that concept, you can also do staggered pick up fees where the parents pick a consistent pickup time and the early in the day, the more of a discount they get. So an 8 hour family would be paying less than a 10 hour family but both families would still be within your business hours and the discount for the 8 hour family would be enough of an incentive for the parents to pickup early but not enough to kill your income. like a $5 fee for every 30 minutes after 3 or something like that. More work for you to explain to the parents and keep track of but again, another incentive to keep parents from using 12 hours a day every day when they really could be easily using only 8 hours.

[MarinaVanessa]

How do contracted hours work exactly? And do they afect the weekley fee? Like for example, less hours less pay? Or it stays the same no matter how many hours?

For me I have a set FT rate that covers 4 or 5 days per week and up to 50 hours a day. All FT clients pay this fee no matter what their schedule is and whether they attend or not. If one client is FT and comes 4 days from 8-5 and another client comes 5 days from 7-5 they each have to follow their schedules and pay their rate. No dropping off early or picking up late unless they want to pay.

My PT clients each pay based on how many hours they need and how many days per week. They also have contracted hours and pay the same rate each week. I'm not opened based onmy business hours, I'm opened based on my clients scheduled hours. That's how scheduled hours work.

[CraftyMom]

For me I have a set FT rate that covers 4 or 5 days per week and up to 50 hours a day. All FT clients pay this fee no matter what their schedule is and whether they attend or not. If one client is FT and comes 4 days from 8-5 and another client comes 5 days from 7-5 they each have to follow their schedules and pay their rate. No dropping off early or picking up late unless they want to pay.

My PT clients each pay based on how many hours they need and how many days per week. They also have contracted hours and pay the same rate each week. I'm not opened based onmy business hours, I'm opened based on my clients scheduled hours. That's how scheduled hours work.

I love the idea of contracted hours. I think this would help in the area of not knowing when to expect parents which is annoying. If they know there will be a late fee they are more likely to come at the right time.

For example this parent who comes at 3:40 every day occasionally doesn't come until 4:10 or later when I have the child ready and waiting. A simple text would go a long way. I never say anything because it's within my hours of operation but I don't like it. This is just one instance, other parents do the same and it seems to be getting worse, probably because I allow it.

How do I go about putting this in action?

Has anybody ever said anything about paying the same as someone who is there more hours?

[MarinaVanessa]

I love the idea of contracted hours. I think this would help in the area of not knowing when to expect parents which is annoying. If they know there will be a late fee they are more likely to come at the right time.

For example this parent who comes at 3:40 every day occasionally doesn't come until 4:10 or later when I have the child ready and waiting. A simple text would go a long way. I never say anything because it's within my hours of operation but I don't like it. This is just one instance, other parents do the same and it seems to be getting worse, probably because I allow it.

How do I go about putting this in action?

Has anybody ever said anything about paying the same as someone who is there more hours?

You can just write up a notice that give them a heads up that you will be changing from "business hours" to "contracted hours" and explain that each client's needs will be assessed and a new contract with a set schedule will be created for them. Give a deadline of the signing of this contract (the end of the two weeks). In your new contract explain how if they drop off early they pay extra (and specify how much), if they pick up late they pay extra etc. I would give them a copy of your new contract to read along with the notice so they get a chance to think about it. If it looks like you'll be losing some clients because of this change you can offer to not implement this change "just for them" and look for a replacement. Start new clients on your new contract.

[nanglgrl]

None of my clients know how much anyone else pays, it's none if their business. I do contracted hours, my operating hours are 7:30-3:45 with no drop offs after 9am and no pick ups from 12:45-2:45. I would consider staying open until 5:30pm or being open before 7:30 am but the charge would be about $35 more a week (for either earlier or later, more for both) and every time I tell potential clients that they find a way to pick by 3:45pm. It's actually quite interesting to me how many parents can find a way to pick up early when it costs more. One of my clients picks up at 12:45, she pays the same as my 3:45 pick ups, another doesn't arrive until 9 am and picks up at 3 pm, they pay the same as someone here from 7:30-3:45. It all depends on what works for you but this has done wonders for me. We play and learn in the morning, they eat lunch, they nap, they go home. When I have appointments 99% of the time I can schedule them after 4, my own school age children rarely see the daycare kids so they don't have to deal with the noise and sharing as much.