Ensuring employees feel heard and valued is a priority for Nurtured Childcare, which believes a fantastic company culture is what keeps people in the job.
To demonstrate it really cares about its staff, the nursery group of seven settings across the Midlands and Yorkshire offers all of its 150 employees paid breaks during the working day. It believes it is the only early years provider to offer this benefit.
‘We offer paid breaks because we understand that day-to-day, people are conscientious about their role and they want to get stuff done, so they don’t always want to leave with things incomplete. Sometimes that might mean they do a few minutes’ extra work. We feel that if we pay for their breaks, it shows as a company we really care about them and care that they have a rest’, explains operations director Rebecca Casserly.
‘There might be times when staff can’t leave for their break on time because some children aren’t settled, or something else happens where they have to stay a bit longer. We’ve found that having that flexibility also means staff are more likely to go above and beyond and that they are really invested in the business.
‘Being paid every day for your break, the money does really add up too, boosting employees’ wages.’
Despite this, Casserly says she doesn’t believe a high salary is the number-one thing that improves staff retention – it is the culture of the business. ‘If your salary isn’t the highest, but the culture is absolutely fantastic and you’re really happy where you are, that’s what keeps someone in the job. You can be paid really highly, but if the company you work for is unkind, which makes you not want to stay,’ she says.
To support the physical and mental health of its staff, the nursery group, which was founded three years ago, has mental health first-aiders in place and an employee rep at every setting who staff can speak to anonymously and in confidence about any issues or concerns they have.
‘In order for staff to do a good job, we have to care about their wellbeing. People always focus on emotional health, because it is so widely spoken about now, but it’s a whole package,’ says Casserly.
‘It’s your physical health, it’s how you feel about coming to work, whether you feel supported in having a bit of flexibility, and say, for example, working a four- or five-day week. We let people choose which one they want to do, because if they can keep on top of their home life, their family life, it means they’re more likely to be happier in work because their wellbeing is being looked after.’
The operations director says they encourage staff to be vulnerable and talk about any issues they are having so the group can provide support or just a listening ear. ‘Lots of people pretend they are ok when they aren’t’, she explains.
‘Nobody really says, “Actually, I’m feeling crappy.” I think the more you allow people to see you as a real person and your vulnerabilities, the more people feel ok opening up about stuff that’s going on for them. Sometimes people won’t tell you there’s something going on, whether it be underperformance or something else. We notice the changes in our team because we’ve developed a really strong relationship.
‘Sometimes you just need somebody to hear you. They don’t need a solution or advice. They don’t need you to say, “Oh, think of the positives.”
‘Some days you might feel overwhelmed, but nobody admits it. I’m currently experiencing perimenopause and it’s really hard. I’ve experienced symptoms people aren’t aware of, like my fingers aching, my hair not growing, crying at films that aren’t even sad, getting rushes of an overwhelming feeling.
‘Our chief executive, who is surrounded by women, gets it. We openly talk across the business about different people’s needs. We’ve been through the process of diagnosis for lots of people with autism, ADHD and perimenopause.
‘We’re not a medical professional, but there’s always going to be somebody else that’s been through something similar that might be able to help.’
Employee reps
The nursery group, which was founded in 2021, has employee reps at each setting to check in with staff. Any information they give is anonymous and is fed back to senior leaders.
‘There’s no blame culture,’ says Casserly. ‘We listen to the views of staff and see if we can put any strategies in place to solve them.’
The operations director says they can’t fix everything, but they can make small changes. For example, when it was really hot in the summer, the nursery group’s employees asked if they could wear Crocs, so the company uniform policy was amended.
Recruitment
The nursery group believes its good staff retention rate, which is at 96.6 per cent, is down to recruiting the right people for the business. It says it achieves this by implementing lots of different strategies, starting with compiling ‘quirky’ job adverts and setting candidates challenges to see how committed they are.
For example, candidates for a housekeeper role were tasked with researching and creating their own non-toxic, natural cleaning product, room freshener or laundry detergent – in line with Nurtured Childcare’s philosophy to only use environmentally friendly cleaning products.
‘If the fit isn’t right, you will invest a load of time and training into somebody, and that’s a really big expense to a business,’ explains Casserly.
‘If you can, hold out to find the right people, even though it’s really hard with the recruitment crisis; you find the right match, and you make sure they fully understand your business, and you fully understand them. That’s why we do lots of different interview strategies, from questions to presentations – for more senior positions. For a practitioner role, we get candidates to plan and implement an activity so we can see them engaging with the children.
‘You know how invested somebody is when it comes to taking part in an activity as you quickly see how much effort they’ve put in,’ Casserly says.
The operations director adds that their recruitment technique means they quickly see which candidates are treating the process as a ‘tick box exercise’ who likely won’t last in a role.
Getting to know staff
Getting to know new staff and building a good foundation for a relationship is also important to the nursery group in supporting its employees.
Casserly says new managers spend a day with her in the car, which she confesses might seem like ‘torture’ to some, driving to the group’s different settings.
‘Some of our sites are two hours away from each other so it presents a good opportunity to chat and develop a nice relationship while in the car,’ she explains.
How staff feel appreciated
Elizabeth Kemsley – recently promoted to area manager –says, ‘We benefit from the paid breaks as this gives us extra income on top of our wage, it means we get to work half an hour less a day, giving us a better work-life balance. It helps you feel your time is valued and that your break time is important to the company. Wellbeing is a huge focus. You know you have the support you need – mental health first-aiders, surveys, employee engagement reps.
‘We have so much opportunity to say how we feel and how the company intends to improve on any issues we raise. They even have a rating on their supervisions about current stress levels, from one to ten, so if people are feeling overwhelmed for whatever reason, personal or professionally, reasonable adjustments are made.’
Emma Belfield – recently promoted to manager – says, ‘It’s nice to feel appreciated and valued. It makes everyone in the nursery feel more positive. Action is taken where things are not working, which results in people feeling heard and understood. Management are proactive, they act upon things. Things like staff room wellbeing boxes are nice for staff if they need things during the day.’
