I pay my caretakers $25 an hour when I go back to my apartment for a long day in NY. There are two and they split the time. I haven't had a vacation in 6 years and want to attempt an overnight. I know when I interviewed someone last year (and I never used them) they said they'd charge $150 for an overnight. I don't know if my caretaker will expect me to pay her $25 an hour for an overnight. Should I offer her the $150?
You were paying way too much. He could have been medicated at night to prevent getting up or wandering.
What do the caregivers actually have to do for you? Do your care needs require them to be up all night? If such is the case then what you're paying them now ($25 an hour) is more than enough for a their services.
Are you a person who really just needs someone in your apartment at night so you're not alone? Or maybe they get up once or twice a night to assist you with toileting? If such is the case, then you basically should have a 'Sleep Duty' aide. You pay by the shift for the overnight (not an hourly) and you don't even have to pay minimum wage. Sleep Duty aides get paid like hairdressers and waitstaff in a restaurant. They are not paid minimum wage. This $150 a night is absolutely ridiculous for this kind of aide.
What you expect from your overnight aides is what determines what you pay them. You're paying privately so you have a lot of choices available to you. Put up a profile on a caregiver site like care.com and explain exactly what your needs are and state that the pay is negotiable. You will get a lot of responses and will find what you're looking for. Good luck.
So basically, as with the cost of anything, the price is what it is, and you as the consumer are left with two choices: pay or don't have the "item".
You surely can speak to the caregiver. But I don't know that your arguments would work, no matter; the price is what it is.
I did overnight aide work and also did 'Sleep Duty' aide as well. In a homecare setting night care is not harder than day work. In fact, it is usually easier because the care client goes to bed. Most of the time if they are a dementia wanderer, they're medicated at night. No aide is hired to follow a demented person around all night so they can wander. Most overnight homecare work is toileting a couple times, changing a diaper, or repositioning. There is no bathing, dressing, feeding, entertaining, and housekeeping involved like there is for the homecare day shift.
It really doesn't matter how many jobs the aide works, if they have children, or what their story is. The price is not the price when you're hiring and paying privately. The price is what you negotiate it to be. $150 a night is outrageous for a 'Sleep Duty' aide if that is what the OP is in need of. Even with the cost of everything today.
Being a homecare aide in a client's house in the overnight is very different than working in a hospital or a nusing home. You're dealing with one person not a whole floor.
If the caregiver is able to rest or even sleep a flat rate to equal minimum wage would be offered and negociate as needed if care is required.
If it's a 'Sleep Duty' aide position you don't even have to pay minimum wage. Sleep Duty aides are like hairdressers or waitstaff.
If you have hired them privately ask them what they would charge you for an overnight.
I also think the cost might depend on how much care you need.
Also figure in that you will be paying them for the travel, food, lodging as well as the hourly rate.
(By the way was that $150.00 per hour or was that for the night say from 7PM until 7 AM?)
There is absolutely no care from 9 at night until breakfast time around 8:30 in the morning.
I don't want to ask them because they don't know and will probably just say $25 an hour.
No the $150 was for overnight. 9p to 9a. That is what another caregiver I interviewed but didn't use was charging.
Thank you!
So the $150 you mentioned is actually right in line with what’s typical. I’d just have an open chat with your caregiver, maybe saying something like:
‘This is my first overnight break in years, and I’d like your help. I was thinking $150 for the 12 hours — does that sound fair to you?’
That way it’s clear, respectful, and you both know what to expect. And honestly — after 6 years without a vacation, you definitely deserve this time.
Wait, does she take a 12 hour sh!ts?