The ‘Partnership Reward Days’ initiative is based on contracted hours worked in the previous three months, with full-time staff eligible for up to five days of extra paid leave in each quarter and pro-rata allocations for others.
Staff are also able to sell some of their extra days if they prefer a cash reward.
There are over 2,300 staff working at the nursery group, which operates 44 settings across England.
It has been an employee-owned company since 2017.
Emma Rooney (right), chief executive of the Childbase Partnership, said the new plan follows feedback from colleagues meeting the demands of occupancy rates across the company which average nearly 87 per cent.
‘This is, quite simply, the right thing to do for colleagues who continue to rise magnificently in these challenging times, and a need to further improve their work-life balance as a result,’ she said.
‘Like the profit-sharing Partnership Dividend, everyone’s contribution is recognised with colleagues stepping up for team mates on maternity or sickness leave achieving the maximum “Extra Reward Days” to invest in themselves and re-energise.’
Perfect attendance in the previous quarter is rewarded with five ‘extra’ leave days for full-time staff in the following quarter, and pro-rata for others on, for example, part-time contracts.
Sickness days during the previous three months reduce the number of Partnership Reward Days (extra leave days) awarded to a colleague in the next quarter.
April Oliver, manager of Cedars Day Nursery in Bedfordshire said, ‘It will mean so much to me personally but for my team it’s going to be amazing as well. They can choose to use the extra days weekly to give them a shorter week, to collect their children from school, extend their holidays or simply get some downtime away from work.’
The nursery group said it has focussed post-pandemic on offering an extended range of support available for colleagues.
Last November, the company set out to help staff deal with soaring bills with tax-free bonuses of up to £3,000, and raised salaries by an average of 8 per cent.