A few weeks ago an early years candidate showed up a little late for an interview at a setting recently taken over by nursery group Children 1st. When the candidate finally arrived, she said she had been standing outside for a while, uncertain whether to go ahead because the setting had not yet been branded with its new identity. ‘I was worried this wasn’t actually a Children 1st nursery,’ she said. ‘I researched the training and career progression opportunities on the website, and it is specifically Children 1st I want to work for.’
Children 1st is aware of the need to attract the right candidate by making it clear what the group has to offer from the start. ‘We talk about progression in the interview, asking candidates their long-term plans,’ says Cathy Griffin, director at the nursery group. ‘We talk about the life they will have, how teams work together, the training opportunities, and the annual conferences where we all get together and share goals and award achievement.’
In a recruitment climate where five settings can be competing over one candidate – Ceeda estimates there were 24,600 vacancies across the sector in 2017 – it is vital that nurseries understand what makes someone choose one job over another. And according to the NDNA, staff turnover stands at 21 per cent.
It’s not just this country that has a problem – a survey of 1,200 early childhood educators in Australia found that one in five planned to leave their job within a year because of low pay, feeling undervalued and increasing time spent on paperwork.
Salary only?
Given the low pay of the sector in general, salary is a key driver when changing jobs. A Nursery Worldrecruitment survey from this year found that 69 per cent of respondents thought pay was a very important or essential factor when looking for a new job. However, it was not the most important factor: 85 per cent cited a nursery’s quality or reputation, 81 per cent cited job security, and 76 per cent talked about relationships with colleagues as being very important or essential. Career progression opportunities, training and benefits were also key factors.
Sophie Haylock, HR consultant at Early Years HR, agrees that developing positive relationships between staff member can be a key strategic move when it comes to recruitment and retention. ‘Managers could look into personality profiling, for example, to make sure the teams in each room get on with each other,’ she says.
With a nursery’s reputation scoring so highly with jobseekers, employers need to market themselves to potential and existing staff just as they do to parents, says Jacqui Burke, founder of business development organisation Flourishing People. ‘In the same way that we talk about a unique selling point, when you are selling yourself to staff, you have to think about your employee value proposition,’ she says. ‘Be very clear about what it is that sets you apart. It needs to include more than just the hard stuff – salary, holiday; talk about what kind of work environment it is, relationships between staff and parents. Talk to existing staff, find out what they like about working here, and include their comments in a document.’
Find your niche
Settings need to play to their strengths. ‘Very few sector organisations can claim to be “one of a kind”, but everyone has something particular to offer to new employees,’ says Emma Rooney, operations director at Childbase Partnership. ‘Analysing the competition, establishing what you do differently and promoting it is a start, but all activity has to be rooted in the values and vision of the organisation. In a highly competitive marketplace, a strong brand and reputation for excellence is invaluable – talented, skilled and ambitious people will seek out employers they respect.’
While larger nursery groups can sell themselves on the career progression opportunities offered, smaller settings can market their independence and flexibility, as well as their intimacy. ‘Just as some parents like a smaller setting; not everyone wants to work in a large environment where they might be overlooked or get lost,’ says Ms Burke.
Some settings stand out because of their ethos: Little Forest Folk, for example, is committed to offering fully outdoor nurseries. This can open up the recruitment pool, attracting those who have not worked with children before but are passionate about working outdoors, says Jemma Smith, HR guru at Little Forest Folk. ‘We then start them on that childcare career pathway,’ she says.
However, a particular ethos can also shrink the pool of candidates, she warns. ‘Our challenge is we can’t take anybody – they need to have a real passion for the outdoors or they are not going to fit in,’ she says. ‘Like everyone in the sector, we have a steady stream of vacancies.’
Promote ‘joy’
Thinking strategically means promoting the sector as a whole, as well as specific settings, and considering the language used in promotional material and at interview.
The Scottish government has launched a recruitment campaign aimed at those considering changing careers, promoting the ‘joy’ of working in childcare. In England, the Inspiring a Future in Childcare campaign, spearheaded by Tinies, uses similarly positive language. ‘We are currently focusing on schools and colleges, but later this year we will look at encouraging returners to work and those looking at a change of career,’ says Beverly Munden, franchise manager at Tinies.
Ms Munden urges nurseries to get involved with local schools and colleges in order to promote childcare as a sector. ‘At a recent ‘speed networking’ event we set out to challenge stereotypes around childcare, with about 30 volunteers, with a mix of ages and both male and female,’ she says. ‘We talked about different aspects of childcare – if you have business acumen, you could be a setting manager where you have to balance budgets. Millennials are looking for a job where they can make a difference, so we also stress how essential childcare is to the economy.’
If early years practitioners sign up to Inspiring a Future, they can be matched with schools looking for local employers to get involved with careers events, but more need to take that step. ‘It is going slowly, if I am honest,’ Ms Munden says. ‘Those in a childcare setting might not feel confident standing up and talking, but we are just talking about an hour a year to chat informally to a group of six or seven children. It is also a good staff development opportunity to promote the world of working in childcare.’
CASE STUDY:
Childbase Partnership
In the last quarter, Childbase Partnership had 145 more staff members starting employment than leaving: an achievement at a time when many settings are struggling to fill vacancies. The organisation has taken a strategic approach to recruitment and retention, with a focus on long-term organisational change.
‘Recruitment cannot be addressed in isolation,’ says operations director Emma Rooney. ‘In recognising the deepening crisis, we prioritised a review and development of all our recruitment and retention strategies. We are currently evaluating recruitment successes in the last year, but we can point to two major factors impacting the results.’
The first factor is the introduction this year of two ‘inset days’, when nurseries will close, enabling staff to receive training in a bespoke Teach to Reach programme. ‘Dedicated whole-team training positively impacts the consistency and quality of provision, and in following the example set by the education sector, we are recognising our colleagues as professional educators of the very young,’ says Ms Rooney.
The second is full employee ownership: last year, every employee became an owner of Childbase Partnership, sharing in the success of the organisation and getting involved in the decision-making process. As a result, every ‘employee owner’ contributing to the company’s success in the last financial year received up to £680 (based on hours worked) in January.
‘The culture of ownership, where employee well-being and empowerment is central to all areas of operation and decision-making, is unique in the sector and that’s attractive to candidates,’ says Ms Rooney. ‘The message is that while the work is demanding, all employees are partners in the business, and confident that their efforts will be recognised and rewarded and that their ideas and opinions matter.’
Childbase Partnership’s strategic approach to recruitment and retention also includes:
- Flexibility Contracts include part-time, compressed weeks, shifts and job share.
- Salary An above-inflation 3.7 per cent pay increase for nursery practitioners in November 2017. Childbase Partnership apprentices earn £5.55 an hour, above the Government’s recommended minimum rate of £3.70.
- Training Childbase has teamed up with Lifetime Training to deliver GCSE maths and English or functional skills alongside the Level 3 Diploma in Early Learning and Childcare. Last year there were also 195 training sessions covering 41 different topics.
- Investment in staff well-being This includes fresh fruit in every staff room, a well-being budget for teambuilding outside work, and ‘once in a lifetime experiences’ such as visits to Australia and Sweden.
- Benefits Such as half-price childcare for an employee’s own child or 20 per cent off for a grandchild; a private medical scheme; and the option to purchase and sell holiday entitlement.