I am manager of a nursery where staff have 20 days plus bank holidays. I find this is not enough to maintain work/life balance when I have school-aged children. The Government changes, although an improvement, will still not be enough.
Staff in private day nurseries work very long hours, in our case 40 plus hours a week. Parents need the nursery to be open to cover their working hours. Having 28 days holiday, plus bank holidays, would increase staff productivity and motivation.
A report quoted in the same issue, under 'Politicians speak up for families', says, 'Employers must transform their company cultures to achieve a better work/life balance for their staff.' Where in the private day nursery sector do we address this for the staff who work long hours and have short holidays who are caring for the children of parents trying to achieve the work/life balance themselves?
My nursery employs 40 staff, mostly young with no children. It is difficult to retain older staff who have families, but these are the very people we need to encourage into the workplace to complement the younger generation of nursery nurses. Are there any 30- to 40-year-olds in the same boat?
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