Management Queries - When it’s too late

Q.Many of our staff are parents themselves and we want to be able to support work/life balance, but a member of staff keeps being late on her early start days, blaming her young child. It is frustrating other team members who are having to cover for her so that we are in ratio. How do we best address this?

Shanna Revill, manager, Trinity Child Care

‘This is something that pops up in a lot of settings. We try to support staff who are parents as much as possible by being flexible with their hours. In this case, we might offer that parent a later start time. But we would prefer them to keep working the same number of hours and would ask them to end the day later. This way it won’t impact their salary or any benefits claims.

‘I would also check-in with that parent to make sure that they are OK. If being late has become a habit, maybe there is a deeper issue we can help with. For example, perhaps they need better childcare. We might be able to offer their child a space at our nursery. We also do school runs as part of our breakfast and after-school clubs, so we could help with that.

‘I can appreciate that other team members have become frustrated with this situation. Reassuring them that management will support ratios in the morning while waiting for that staff member to come in will help.

‘We check in with our staff every month during training sessions. Possibly they will feel it’s unfair this parent has been able to change her work pattern to accommodate her family needs. We make it clear that parenthood is also a job, and it’s difficult to balance work and life. We try to encourage staff to be mindful about what their colleagues might be going through. If they are staff members who don’t have children, but may do in the future, you could suggest that they might be in the same position themselves one day.’

Brid Stenson, owner, Rainbow Day Nursery

‘Staff arriving late definitely has a negative impact on everyone in the setting. It means team members are tutting and getting stressed right at the start of the day.

‘If a member of the team is consistently late, we would begin by talking to them. People’s circumstances change, so we would speak to them about what difficulties they are facing in the morning. We would negotiate with them and consider changing their shift pattern, to avoid them causing disruption for everybody else. Perhaps they can start half an hour later, at a time when it’s realistic for them to get to work.

‘We don’t necessarily like to reduce working hours, as we like staff to work 40 hours a week consistently. But if there is a good reason for it, such as issues in the family, or perhaps their partner has changed their shift patterns, we could look at doing that for a short period of time.

‘I would also speak to other staff members to ask them for their ideas on how to remedy the problem. Listening to them will help to reduce their stress levels. I would point out to the team that this individual isn’t incapable of doing her job, she is just letting people down in the morning.’

Conor Williams, training lead and former nursery manager, Little Forest Folk

‘This kind of issue can impact us more than other nurseries because we provide outdoor education. In the morning we have to get children ready and on to a bus to get to the outdoor space. If that is delayed because a staff member is late, children are left waiting.

‘In this scenario, I would have a conversation with this person and try to find out what is causing the issue. The best solution would be to take that person off the early shift, even if just for a fixed period of time. In my experience, staff generally like an early shift because you get to finish earlier, so hopefully other members of the team will be happy to swap.

‘If the staff member is unable to change shifts, then in effect they are not able to meet the requirements of their job. As a manager, I need to come up with alternative solutions. If we were able to offer them, for example, a later start two or three days a week, that staff member has to be able to make up the hours elsewhere. But if none of these suggestions will work for them, they will need to suggest an alternative, because their actions are having a negative impact on the team and children.

‘In the childcare profession, it is really valuable to have staff with children. Often they can relate to other parents and their situations better, perhaps, than staff who do not. Although it can be challenging to accommodate their needs, the positives they bring to the role really outweigh the negatives.’