One girl is Mon- Fri, the other Fri, Sat and Sunday. Both since July 2020. Week day aide keeps hinting about a $500 Christmas tip. She is great with my mom but not sure about the amount. My brothers wanted to give more until she said that. Now they say just give her $500. The weekend aide is useless. How much am I supposed to give?
What exactly are these ladies doing? - I'm especially wondering how the weekend aide can be useless at it, I suppose, because I'm not at all sure what they would have to do all day.
What do you mean by "hinting" about a $500 tip?
Admittedly I'm coming at this from the angle of a public service provider who wouldn't - and is forbidden to anyway - accept gifts or hospitality of any sort from a client; so perhaps that's a bit more puritanical than is necessary in your mother's situation. But assuming these workers are adequately paid and therefore don't actually rely on additional money at Christmas, $500 seems a heck of a lot. What do you really want this tip to say to them?
They WILL compare notes. You are going to have to give them the same, or at least the same pro rata (so a squidge more for the Monday to Friday lady), or you certainly will cause bad feeling.
Are there many HHAs at work in your mother's neighbourhood? I'm also wondering if the hinty girl has been influenced by other HHAs in the area - maybe it's become the accepted norm in the local jobs market, or something like that.
The weekend aide should be let go if she's useless, never mind given a 'tip'. I'd give her the following tip: Do a better job as a caregiver to your clients and maybe THEN you will get a gratuity.
Are they private hires or agency? Most agencies have strict no-tip policies. BUT...there are ways to work around that. My client's family had 2 lawyers in it and they routinely tipped me out, monthly, as they felt (rightly so) that $9 an hour was offensive as a wage.
You're treading some deep waters. Even if you aren't a huge fan of the weekend CG, you better believe they will find out if the other CG gets a bigger tip and that could result in a real mess.
I'd say tip the same or not at all.