Nursery Management: Recruitment - Working it out

In the current climate, the decision to recruit is a big one. While the sector has been reasonably resilient to the economic buffeting of recent years, staff wages remain its biggest overhead and the trend is for businesses to shed staff rather than take on more.

Worryingly, the National Day Nurseries Association's current business survey outlines that some nurseries are responding to staffing issues in a knee-jerk manner. They are not replacing those who leave or go on maternity leave, and are failing to take a planned approach to restructuring their teams.

But for successful nurseries - whether they be substantial groups or small settings - a strategic approach is key. It is these companies that keep the market moving by committing to healthy staffing levels, offering competitive salaries and providing opportunities for career development.

At the UK's biggest chain Busy Bees, for example, the existing 7,000 staffing level is optimised by keeping an up-to-date staffing plan covering all the allocated posts in the group. Human resources and training director Clare Phizacklea reports that staff turnover is currently low.

'The double dip recession has undoubtedly helped to keep turnover to a minimum as job security is an overwhelming priority for most of the UK's workforce,' she says.

But she is also keen to emphasise the company's incentivised approach to maintaining good staff. 'Busy Bees' commitment to conducting regular performance-based remuneration and pay reviews keeps staff motivated and loyal,' she says.

That there is some healthy movement in the market is testified by Sarah Steel, managing director of the Old Station Nursery group.

'We continue to get some good candidates applying for senior positions and some of the agencies have good people on their books,' she says.

At Acorn Childcare, managing director Zoe Raven reports that the organisation is almost always recruiting for qualified Level 3 practitioners.

'We have also recently recruited new managers and deputies,' she says. 'We are normally reluctant to take people on at a senior level from outside. The skills needed by a manager are not the same as those of an early years practitioner, and we have learned from our mistakes in appointing managers who are superb practitioners but are unable to lead a staff team and keep on top of the wider aspects of the manager's role.'

SALARY EXPECTATIONS

It is well documented that salaries across the board are not currently keeping up with the cost of living and wages in the relatively low-paid childcare sector are edging up at best. Current feedback suggests that existing staff are not pushing too hard for increases, although outside candidates may be more hopeful.

At Busy Bees, Ms Phizacklea feels that the expectations of her existing staff are realistic. 'I wouldn't say salary expectations are rising at the moment,' she says. 'We are not feeling that particular pressure because we are quite open with managers and expect them to communicate to their staff that we are only just coming out of recession and our focus will be on increasing occupancy and therefore securing jobs.'

At the 64-strong kidsunlimited, recruitment manager Holly Kent reports that salary expectations are rising in line with the cost of living. 'We reflect this by conducting an annual pay review for every employee,' she explains. 'In addition, we invest heavily in training and personal development.

'A well-equipped employee has a better "job fit", which provides greater satisfaction for them. We monitor this satisfaction by conducting an employee survey.'

GETTING THE BEST FIT

Ms Steel is also seeing salary expectations rise, but she feels that this is not always matched by an improved level of capability, and candidates are not always applying for a job that is right for them.

'Sometimes it doesn't come to light until several weeks or months into their employment,' she says. 'We had an incident last year where a manager interviewed really well and took the position. We waited three months for them to serve notice, then they only did a month in the role and decided it really wasn't for them. This is obviously not ideal.

'People need to be honest with themselves about what they are looking for from a position and consider travel times, travel costs, family commitments and the need to lead and manage, especially if they have not been in such a position before.'

At Acorn Childcare, Ms Raven has learned from experience to make sure the candidate understands what kind of nurseries the company operates.

'In the past we have made mistakes with senior appointments, when we have explained that we expect all our senior staff to have a significant hands-on role,' she says. 'We don't have large nurseries, and if necessary will employ part-time administrators to ensure that our managers are in the rooms, not stuck in the office.

Sometimes candidates will say they're happy with a hands-on role, and it's only after you've taken them on that you discover they prefer to stay in the office all day, which is not how we work.'

It can be challenging to recruit practitioners with the right knowledge and attitude, according to Andrew Clifford, managing director of First Class Childcare. 'This is one of the reasons we have committed to our apprenticeships and the opportunity to develop our own staff through the correct training,' he says.

'I hope some of the moves to beef up the child development elements of the Level 3 workforce qualifications will help, but this will obviously take time to filter through the system.'

He adds, 'We often comment that we would rather recruit a less experienced but enthusiastic practitioner who has a passion - someone we can train and develop to our standards - as opposed to a practitioner who has been poorly trained.'

When it comes to recruiting senior staff, Ms Steel believes the sector is quite right to expect more of candidates, particularly in terms of continuing professional development. But it may be disappointed.

'In my experience, some people still don't see the benefits of continuous professional development,' she says. 'A Level 3 should be a starting point, not a finishing point, and just having experience on top of a Level 3 is not enough to stay ahead of the game.'

GRADUATE VALUE

Whether graduates are employed as EYPs or Early Years Teachers - depending on how the Government's proposed reforms pan out - there is still an aspiration among employers to attract them into the sector, although this continues to be tempered with an awareness that a degree is not the be-all and end-all.

A commitment to graduate-led practice has certainly helped the 12-strong Surreyand Sussex-based chain Caring Daycare to raise its game. Over the past eight years it has focused on recruiting graduates, and in the 2012 issue of the Nursery Chains supplement it entered the quality league table in second place, with six of its nurseries rated outstanding and six rated good.

Operations director Natalie Maguire says, 'Our philosophy to have a graduate-led approach is in turn attracting high-quality practitioners to our settings. With the company's ethos of training and development, practitioners feel they are joining a company that supports their career path, and this gives us good retention.'

Caring Daycare says it aims for an 80 per cent skills mix of practitioner Level 3 or above and looks for practitioners who have solid childcare experience. 'We are aware that the recruitment model we use is more expensive, but understand that to deliver a quality service the costs will be higher,' Ms Maguire says.

But not all nurseries are quite so focused on bringing in graduates, and a problem that has dogged Early Years Professional Status in particular is that relatively few jobs advertise for the status.

At the Old Station Nursery, for example, Ms Steel says she has seen a few EYP applicants recently but does not advertise specifically for it. 'As for qualified teacher status (QTS), I've never had an applicant with this qualification. I'd rather have a really competent individual than it be essential that they have EYPS,' she says.

For Busy Bees, the uncertainty surrounding the future of EYPS in the light of the Government's new proposals for workforce reform is a consideration.

'It is not that easy to recruit specifically for an EYP, and currently this is not a priority as we are now not sure whether having an EYP in-post will be a requirement for 2015,' says Ms Phizacklea. 'We do have some sites that have employed qualified teachers but we feel that the training and support we give every member of staff, not just the qualified teachers, means that they are able to deliver good-quality childcare that meets the EYFS and Busy Bees' own requirements.'

In kidsunlimited's experience, graduates often need support to confidently take the reins of practice. 'We've found some graduates have lacked practical experience, so we now offer a bespoke induction programme and in-house development training as part of starting a new role with the company,' says Ms Kent.

While Ms Raven values the knowledge of her more highly qualified staff, she says, 'EYPS and QTS are great, but a degree isn't an indication of whether the candidate will notice a runny nose and deal with it appropriately. Working with children needs unlimited energy, patience and unstinting enthusiasm.'

Clearly, getting the right mix of staff is all about a carefully planned approach - and sustaining that even when times are tough.

NEW ROLES

Not all nurseries are cutting down on the roles on offer to staff, and some are even creating new ones.

At First Class Childcare, which has nine nurseries, the role of training and development manager has recently been created to work across the group.

Director Andrew Clifford says, 'This was partly in light of local authority changes, but was also an opportunity to develop a comprehensive range of in-house training using the excellent skills and knowledge gained by our senior team over the past three years during the course of their BA Early Years and EYP programmes.

'In fact, we recruited one of our existing nursery managers to this post for an initial 12 months on completion of her BA as she wishes to work in early years lecturing in the long term and is now completing her PGCE. We had some excellent external candidates for this role, both BA and EYP qualified, and also from LA teams too.'

At Acorn Childcare, a new general assistant role has been created at some of the nurseries. Zoe Raven says, 'This person takes on some of the housekeeping duties and we also now have teatime assistants who are 16- to 17-year-olds who are not counted in ratios but who help to clear up after tea and provide an extra pair of hands. They often play with the children while staff are giving feedback to parents at the end of the day.'

FURTHER INFORMATION

Report on the NDNA Business Performace Survey 2012 at www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/1166447.