Tips to help nurseries retain staff and keep them motivated

It is crucial that nurseries have committed childcare practitioners who are motivated and enjoy their jobs as this will ensure good staff retention and will impact on the children’s development and wellbeing.

Credit: Tommies Childcare

Tommies Childcare is a nursery provider that prioritises employee engagement and this has led to increased pay, extra holiday, staff welfare budgets, and an annual awards ball to recognise all employees.

It has eight nurseries in the West Midlands, Warwickshire and Derbyshire.

Here are some tips on how to make your nursery staff feel valued:

1. Have a Vision

Any successful organisation needs a clear vision that enables employees to fully understand where the company believes in, where it is positioned now, and where it hopes to be in the future. With our employees delivering our service on the frontline, it is imperative that they connect with the organisation and its values.

2. Communicate Effectively

Effective communication is vitally important in maintaining and developing employee engagement. All levels of management are responsible for ensuring that information regarding the organisation and our employees are accessible at every level. Here at Tommies Childcare, we support communication in various ways including, monthly managers meetings, quarterly emails sent to all employees from me, and opportunities for employees to voice their opinions through our quarterly listening lunch.

3. Value your People

Ultimately your employees need to feel valued within their teams and the wider organisation. This is something that we have been on a journey to support and enhance over the last few years. Tommies Childcare employees receive a range of employee benefits including additional annual leave, wellbeing hours and performance related pay. These are small steps in thanking our employees for the contribution they make to our organisation.

4. Provide Opportunities for Professional Development

This is particularly important in the childcare sector, with ever-changing legislation and requirements. Here at Tommies Childcare, we ensure that all employees have access to regular training that extends further than their mandatory training. We deliver our in-house training programme that supports development in areas identified across our teams.

5. Provide the Right Tools to do the Job

Ongoing investment in our nurseries is a huge part of maintaining quality for the children we care for; however, it also provides employees with a nice environment to work in. Our nursery managers have full control over their budgets to ensure that our employees have the right tools to fulfil their roles effectively.

6. Recognise your People

Recognition is an important aspect of our working life. Here at Tommies Childcare, we have understood the importance of recognising our employees for the service they deliver and the ongoing contribution they make to the wider organisation. Our benefits package has been designed with our employees' views in mind. We want to ensure that we recognise individuals in ways that they value. This begins as early as the interview stage where prospective applicants are asked what types of recognition are important to them.

7. Lead by Example

First and foremost, leaders of any organisation must embody the vision, beliefs and ethos of the company and we achieve this by leading by example in everything we do. Employees must be able to see those leading them as advocates of the company. Failing to lead by example can cause disengagement between employees and leaders.

Credit: Tommies Childcare

8. Invest in your Future Leaders

The best way to ensure long term sustainability and success of any business is to develop existing employees to become the next leaders. This is crucially important both for the individual and secondly for the organisation. The organisation has invested time developing and embodying culture across their teams and this makes existing employees a perfect choice for promotion; however, they need to have the skills to do so. Investing in these individuals through training, professional development opportunities and mentoring is something that should not be overlooked.

9. Give your Employees a say

Our employees are the people delivering our services on the front line and are often faced with the reality that is the ‘job’. They have extensive knowledge and hands-on experiences with policies, processes and all things Tommies Childcare. Therefore, it is important that they are given the opportunity to contribute. We facilitate this through our quarterly listening lunches which enable employees to discuss what’s working, what’s not and any changes that they would like to see.

10. Have Fun

Lastly, have fun. This really is an important aspect of employee engagement. If you love what you do it feels more than a job. We spend too much time in our workplaces not to enjoy what we do.

daynurseries.co.uk lists a wide range of jobs in the early years sector. To look for jobs click here

click here for more details or to contact Tommies Childcare