Opinion: To the point - What a performance
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Hard times call for new ways to motivate staff, says Alan Bentley.
Judging by the number of nursery operators contacting me about the recession, it would seem that a downturn is now being felt across the country. As we all know, nursery facilities rarely cover their expenses until around 65 per cent full, and any meaningful return on capital requires in excess of 75 per cent full-time equivalent. A downturn in occupancy is therefore worrying and painful.
At the Childcare Corporation we have been examining various routes available to us to limit the recession's detrimental effects. We will shortly be seeking to introduce 'performance management' into some nurseries - extracting the very best from staff by making them work super-efficiently as a team. Now is not the time to be offering large salary increases to motivate staff, but through performance management there is nothing to stop you sharing the financial rewards produced from a performance in excess of expectations with those who help produce it.
You need to start by producing a realistic business plan for the next six to 12 months for each nursery, taking into account the likely financial consequences caused by the recession. Then, share the information with senior nursery staff. In doing this you make them part of the solution, not the problem.
Encourage staff to form their own ideas on maximising the nursery's performance, such as attracting a new set of potential parents not previously identified, exploring new corporate customers, or slightly changing the opening hours.
The best results come about from engaging with as many employees as possible. You could start with greater empowerment of room leaders. Each room considers its own performance and how to improve matters, while the manager is left free to consider a more global position. Creating teams within teams maximises the value of a natural competitive spirit within the workforce, and employees are less likely to let down other members of their team.
Decide how you will reward employees for their extra effort. Your business plan will show what you believed would happen, so additional performance is clearly identifiable and can be shared as previously agreed. Frequent small bonus payment are often more productive than those paid every six months or annually.
- Alan Bentley is chairman of the Childcare Corporation
