Working in nurseries.

[Ilovegreentomatoes]

I work in a nursery. We are permanently understaffed and can never seem to encourage applicants.I notice this is a common theme among nurseries struggling to recruit staff. So out of interest just wanted to know what would put people of working in a nursery? Yes pay is normally minimum wage could it be that? Or working with children in general? Just interested to hear opinions.

My husband worked in nurseries for 7 years and left because of the shit pay.

The responsibility was also off the scale. If a child ends up serious injured or worse at home it’s a “tragic accident”. If it happens with a child carer you are likely to be on a serious charge with police.

I was a nanny for years. I wouldn't have considered working in a nursery because of 1. The pay and 2. I really dislike insular staff environments like that!

Oh god yes and dealing with parents - one set is enough!

I left because of poor pay.
I do a job in the NHS now, nursery nurse in a neonatal unit. I needed no new qualifications to get the job, and do less hours for more pay and better prospects.

There’s a real requirement crisis at the moment, there are vacancies all over the place.

I think we were treated quite badly during the pandemic, and as a result have lost even more staff.
I find once people leave they don’t come back.

Part of the problem is since the introduction of the 30 hours, nurseries have almost become partly state funded and part privatised. It’s a strange mix, where nurseries are trying to add on fees where they can so they can make the running costs and under 2 pay even more to try to balance out the loss of the funded children.

I also think the pressure from ofsted has become quite unsustainable. The expectations of what they want is impossible to deliver without asking staff to do lots of overtime often this is done via sheer good will.
Ofsted are looking for well trained staff, amazing environments and ecperiences, supported children who received personal and in depth learning but all on a shoe string.

Out of interest, I’d you’ve moved on from nurseries. What do you do now?

Agree about Ofstead schools would get weeks notice or few days to polish up their teaching plans and look their very best. I’ve had them turn up day before Xmas Eve at 7am and expect to be running curriculum standard for 12 hours a day. No slacking no off days had to be A-rate all day every day far to much pressure.

@Ilovegreentomatoes I work in a supermarket and my basic pay is £11.57 (up to £15.57 & unsocial hours bonus). Nursery work is incredibly underpaid for what you do

I left due to:
low pay,
no sick pay,
long unpaid hours (e.g. if you finished at 4pm you had to stay until 6.30 for a 1.5 hour long meeting, unpaid, once a month. So you actually left the building at 8pm).
Unpaid work over weekends (open days etc). Doing paperwork in own time.
Lack of care for the children from nursery owners/upper management team.
Lack of training e.g. in how to manage staff. Travelling to different branches expected and extra costs not covered.
Naff incentives such as being told you’re ‘star of the week’ rather than any tangible investment in staff.
Career progression (qualifications etc) promised but never materialised.

I hope this thread is illuminating for all those who think being a nursery assistant is a bit of a doddle! It's not all about having a jolly time playing in the sandpit with the children, more's the pity. I think nursery would be a much less fraught experience for staff and happier and more beneficial for the children if the inordinate amount of EYFS-related paperwork was drastically curtailed and staff were able to spend more relaxed time actually playing and engaging with them. I'm afraid it's no longer enjoyable a lot of the time, due to the pressure of complying with all the (imo) unnecessary box-ticking required by Ofsted. I feel like we've lost sight of what nurseries should be about, somewhere along the way.

I am the room leader and eyfs leader in a very large preschool room with a capacity of 70 children and a large amount if staff to manage every day. I hate to say it but when people ask what I do, i feel so embarrassed and ashamed to say I work in a nursery because of how it’s perceived. The pay is terrible. I get paid 20p more than minimum wage.

We are regularly understaffed or so tight in ratio that we struggle to cover lunches or go to the toilet.

Paper work is never ending, accident forms, risk assessments, med forms, incident forms, observations and assessments, planning and next steps, development files, recording meals, nappies, sleep etc. And this is without the pressure of constantly updating the app for parents and sending them photos.

As you can imagine, an area that holds 70 children is very large. This needs to be fully cleaned every evening. We don’t get extra staff to do this. We have to clean while also looking after children, answering the door and handing over to parents.

Staff turnover is very high. There is generally a bad atmosphere as staff are just struggling through long shifts for very little money. Staff are moved from pillar to post and are often sent to cover in other rooms or other branches.

It’s not all bad but these reasons means that it’s won’t be a long term option for me. I can not possibly remain in this low pay for so much stress and responsibility.

Pay for one.

I don't tend to like other children other than my own and my own families children.

I definitely wouldn't want to look after random people's children.

So thank you for the hard work you all put in to look after and care for other children.

Honestly, I think it's up there with one of the hardest jobs. Hats off to you.

Pay. I’d love to work with little kids and babies

Poor pay, long hours, under staffing , large groups of small and often sick (snotty)children, Poor working conditions and no benefits usually, long hours and a huge responsibility. Its just not appealing and anyone I know who has trained in childcare has usually quite quickly left group settings to care for children privately as its far more money

You can earn a lot more doing other things, and although you might need a qualification to lead a room, many people haven't made an investment in a career as such when they start working in a nursery and feel freer to leave. The hours don't suit school age parents, and caring for very young children grates for many people after a few months.

I think if I ran a nursery, I would accept that bad hours plus bad pay and bad conditions is going to put off a lot of good applicants and therefore try to do something about the bad hours (because short of government actually subsidising the sector properly or an unexpected rise is real wages all round, the pay's not solvable).

I would pair mums looking for school hours work with students looking for holiday work to cover 8.30 - 3.30 all year round and then offer either an early finish or a late start (e.g. two overlapping shifts). My shift hours would be carefully chosen to be slightly nicer than local retail and/or dovetail so the students could do both. I would look very seriously at the possibility of admitting staff members' DC at a discount (maybe to a partner nursery to avoid conflict of interest) and I would hire someone to do the paperwork. Maybe 4 day contracts with day release for a college or university course.

Regarding the conditions, once my nursery had a waiting list, I would operate a three strikes and you're out policy for parental rudeness to staff. I would also offer proper sickness pay (how are they getting away with that?!) and give staff extra day(s) of holiday based on length of service. I would come down like a ton on bricks on any bitchy or bullying. I would hope if staff were happier with conditions that would improve.

Working with children is quite a divisive thing, especially such young children, I think it's something you love or hate. The amount of times DH and I mentioned to each other the stress and noise of dropping the kids off and the sudden feeling of relief getting outside in the quiet! It's not a working environment I'd enjoy, add to that lack or career progression and pay.

But I am hugely grateful to those who do, we had some fantastic nursery workers over the years (some less so sadly too!), and one of the things that helped any potential rising guilt for our choices was seeing how patient and fantastic they were and how, frankly, they could give my children what I couldn't when we needed it most, patience and enthusiasm for those difficult early years.

I work in a nursery. I've not been there long but it's been an eye opening experience to the point I'm really wondering if I've made a HUGE mistake. Bullying and rude staff, constant drama between staff, being left in charge of upwards of 10 children constantly (way above ratio) poor pay, promise of training yet they haven't even secured funding to train me. I've got one DC of my own and I would be furious if they attended this nursery.

Out of interest, what careers do you others go onto after a nursery ?

I'm a nursery nurse. In the past I've worked as a nanny,worked in nurseries,been a teaching assistant and also childminding for many years.
Now I'm a self employed cleaner/house keeper and have a little nanny job two afternoons a week.No paperwork except a tax return to complete once a year( straightforward) and a note book to show my hours of work and pay.

I have recently left a private nursery for all the same reasons as others- paid £9 per hour , no extra pay for additional responsibility, paperwork and reports done at home for no pay, no sick pay. I could only do the job because my dh earns a good salary. I am a graduate. Part of the problem is abysmal govt funding plus a lot of people see it as a job for caring but dim young women who love children. If more men worked in nuseries that perception might change but sadly the work is typical low status female dominated.

If working at home brings you below nmw the nurseries are breaking the law. Don't do it!

Sick pay? You must be joking.

It’s almost impossible to pay statutory sick pay. Agency staff cost three times more, but you have no choice but to use them if someone calls in sick at 7 am. Absences have to be covered.

If nurseries paid additional sick pay, they would go under in short order.

There is only one way to improve conditions for staff and that is for parents to pay more. For sure, no one who owns a nursery is getting rich from it. Mine is full with a huge waiting list and a low staff turnover and it barely breaks even.