nursery open christmas eve

[bananaandcustard]

I work in a nursery and last year a parent was late picking up on Christmas eve. We shut at 6.15pm
Am I being unreasonable to remind parents to be on time ?

remembermewhen good for you never being late... I work 20 mins drive away and officially finish an hour before pick up time. So in theory there is plenty of time but things can and do happen on occasion.

I am a c.minder...Late fee's are built into my contract... I have never used them but would for someone who is persistently late..

Life happens... So I have had parents late because of snow, traffic..

I am not sure if you are nursery staff it is your place to remind parents though...

Are your parents normally on time?

For those of you who think it's wrong to charge a late fee or are saying 'life happens', life doesn't 'happen' for an office or at the stylist or the shops.

Closing time is closing time. I wouldn't expect my stylist or Dr's office to stay open for me because I was running late. I'd expect them to close on time and that I'd have to reschedule. I don't breeze into the mall at 9pm and expect the shops to be open because traffic was heavy and I couldn't get there sooner.

Nurseries don't have the option of just locking the doors and leaving. Fines and calling the police or children's services is all they can do to force some parents to be on time.

I have worked in settings that charge a late fee, but as a member of staff we didn't get paid for that time. Never ever been paid overtime no matter how long a parent was late.

Now for parents who have an emergency, we all understand why a parent is late, many staff are parents and we get it, we really do. Totally understandable.

This year a parent asked what days we were open during the Christmas period, and seemed a little surprised that we are shut for nearly 2 weeks. Hence members of staff being asked if they could babysit.

crackedphone I would also be surprised about a nursery shutting for two weeks or so. There are only two Bank Holidays so many parents will have to work on all of the other days this month. Not that the nursery shouldn´t have the right to give their staff holidays, but, like the parent you mentioned, I would have expected the nursery to be open.

Many, many businesses don't shut on Christmas Eve, let alone for two weeks.

Its perfectly reasonable for staff not to want to work late on Christmas Eve. Its also very reasonable for staff to expect to be paid overtime.
If your employer requires the former and doesn't pay the latter, the fault is surely with the employer, not the parents of the children you're paid to look after.

I've yet to meet a parent who isn't phenomenally apologetic, stressed and frantic about being late to pick up their child. The reality is transport failures happen to the best of us. Not once have a I known a parent to be late because they were caught up at work or out at the pub. Its has always been transport failures.

Unplanned overtime is just part of the job spec for nursery staff surely (it isn't as though the children can be left on the doorstep), just as it is for many other professions. It absolutely should be paid though. I'd naively assumed it was.

at the idea most parents are apologetic about being late

You pay someone £6.70 an hour for that they have to be available 7.30 - 6, 5 days a week. They also have to do overtime if a parent is late, staff meetings, for courses often at the weekend! These staff are often parents to, and have to pick up their own children.

We have had lots of parents not at all bothered that they were late, many having been shopping or asleep. Many times they haven't even said sorry. Of course there are emergency situations but many, many parents take the p.

The nursery I've always used charge late fees, but waive them for people in genuine circumstances. So the man who is always late got charged extra (then eventually given notice), but the day someone ran into the back of me on the way to pick up and my MIL had to collect instead they didn't charge for the 10 extra minutes.

I'm not being smug I'm stating a fact.

I'm sure some parents can't avoid being late but on the other hand I bet you get some people that rip the arse out of it & are constantly late/ late for no good reason.

Our nursery charge you a full hour if you're late.
£12 for 10 mins, no thanks !

We tried fines a few years ago, you'd be charged a full hour if you were late, so what happened was the regular late pick ups just started picking up an hour late, figuring it was a bargain and as they were already gonna be charged for five mins they may as well take the full hour for the same price.

The staff left behind never got an extras hours wages though and faced their own problems picking their dc up from childcare themselves. Some of us knew which parents were always late and has to pay extra childcare (out of minimum wage for an hours work we won't be paid for) knowing we wouldn't be able to collect our own dc on time as it's almost certain we wouldn't be leaving on time, or arrange for someone else to collect their dc until we got home.

Staff complained and complained and the owner had to start doing some lock ups herself and soon scrapped the fines, preferring to be ten mins late home, than a full hour.

The majority of parents pick up on time, and in emergencies are very very sorry, I absolutely don't mind, sometimes it can't be helped, and it's usually a one off for most, I've never logged them for a fine.

But there are some who are regularly late, and take the piss, no apologies and often aggression, and it's easy to spot those from genuine one offs. These are the minority, but it does happen.

It wouldn't do me any good. I happen to be off on Christmas eve but next time it's Mon-Wed I'll be working and the earliest I can get back is 5:30. Last week there was a major road closure due to a severe car accident and I wasn't late-late, but was the latest I'd ever been. No amount of 'reminding' could've changed that.

However I'm sure some parents just aren't organised and probably do take the piss. I would do regular reminders throughout the year.

I really don't understand those that are saying "its a normal working day" then telling people that they (essentially) get over it.

being on time or at very least informing those that are waiting that you are going to be late is basic manners.

If you are going to be more than 10 - 15 minutes late then you need a back up plan.

I say this as someone that was kept waiting for 3 hours for a parent to turn up. (there were no extenuating circumstances and they complained that I complained to them)