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.

Sick staff is such a problem. Staff usually turn up to work ill because they can not afford the time off. This often means other staff also get sick. Management also guilt sick staff to come into work because we would be understaffed if they didn’t. I have witnessed many staff asking to go home or to the doctors because they don’t feel well, only to be told that they can not leave because there is nobody to cover them.

Unfortunately this was my experience as well. It feels weird now being in a job where i'm encouraged to stay home if sick. Then when I return there's no interrogation about why I was off, and guilt trips of oh so and so had that last week, and they managed to come in

Please don’t think that all nurseries are like these
In my nursery we have
A cleaner
A cook
A lunchtime assistant
An admin for fees etc
A manager not in ratio
An apprentice not in ratio
A casual who covers holidays
We get paid for training if it’s outside of our hours, otherwise it’s done during work time
We don’t get paid for staff meetings but we do get the time back, so can go home early
We are not allowed to take work home so wouldn’t be expected to do it at the weekend
Not every nursery is run on a shoestring, our directors spend a lot of money on our nursery, we have excellent resources and facilities and I would 100% send my children there if they were younger

Yes the pay is low and it is hard work. BUT it also has an enormous amount of job satisfaction and we are such a close team, almost like a family. We always promote this family vibe when we are recruiting

@insancerre

Please don’t think that all nurseries are like these In my nursery we have A cleaner A cook A lunchtime assistant An admin for fees etc A manager not in ratio An apprentice not in ratio A casual who covers holidays We get paid for training if it’s outside of our hours, otherwise it’s done during work time We don’t get paid for staff meetings but we do get the time back, so can go home early We are not allowed to take work home so wouldn’t be expected to do it at the weekend Not every nursery is run on a shoestring, our directors spend a lot of money on our nursery, we have excellent resources and facilities and I would 100% send my children there if they were younger

I’m glad to hear it’s not all nurseries and where you work sounds great. Unfortunately though, many are struggling due to lack of funding. Most are trying to do the best they can with what they have but it’s just not good enough.

@insancerre

Please don’t think that all nurseries are like these In my nursery we have A cleaner A cook A lunchtime assistant An admin for fees etc A manager not in ratio An apprentice not in ratio A casual who covers holidays We get paid for training if it’s outside of our hours, otherwise it’s done during work time We don’t get paid for staff meetings but we do get the time back, so can go home early We are not allowed to take work home so wouldn’t be expected to do it at the weekend Not every nursery is run on a shoestring, our directors spend a lot of money on our nursery, we have excellent resources and facilities and I would 100% send my children there if they were younger

That sounds great, and i'm pleased my experience isn't the same as everyones. However, the fact your experience seems to be a rarity on this thread is quite depressing, lots of the things you list should be standard, and nothing to boast about. Especially getting the time back for staff meetings, and a cleaner (even more so if they clean at the end of the day)

Dh and i both used to work in nurseries. The pay is absolutely shocking, the atmosphere is bitchy and the responsibility is huge. Parents can be awful and there is so much paperwork. Dh had a disciplinary for taking the parental leave he was entitled to and he wasn't allowed to take the day off work when our 1 year old was having an operation.

For me there was many reasons I left, and every nursery I have worked in has been the same. The pay is probably the main thing for me, I took on a room leader position and then found out I was only getting 5p above nmw. To work in nurseries most of the time you need at least a level 3 and then on top of that you have training you need to attend and yet most nurseries only pay minimum wage.

In every nursery I have worked we have had to stay behind after our shifts end because of the number of children left and we don't get paid for it or get the time back, I've had to attend staff meetings after a 10 hour shift and not get paid for the meeting, the same with any weekend training I've attended.

With the actual job it's getting harder because you have more and more paperwork to complete and records to keep on top of but can't be seen to be doing too much paperwork because then you're not doing activities with the children and ratios are never really stuck to so you often have more children than your allowed.

No appreciation also really frustrates me. All the hard work everybody puts in and I've never worked for a nursery who have paid for A Christmas party or given any sort of Christmas present/bonus or even a card.

@MyDcAreMarvel bank holidays are a real issue for me.

Our owner charges parents full rate, yet we have to use a holiday day to get paid. We only get 9 holiday days we can choose a year as she makes us use ours for a 2 week closure at Christmas and all the bank holidays.

@PassionfruitOrangeGuava sorry but you actually made me laugh. Telling parents how much they adversely affect their child’s behaviour! You’d be a brave person doing that!
I could list many examples of why staff don’t do that but here’s a few:
Your garden or car vandalised in revenge ‘please don’t report the incident with Tommy, his father knows where I live.’ Name changed obvs.

Reply to report by child that stepfather hits him ‘He didn’t mean my boyfriend hits him, he means Staffmembers boyfriend .’ And if you think that is just ridiculous, well Social Services believed her not us !!🤬

A parent of a nursery child has older child in local school. The parent when told at a parents evening that there were some issues with their child, hit the (female) teacher. Not hearsay, we know her.

Twice to my certain knowledge , Social Workers have named the nursery worker reporting a safeguarding concern to the parents ie ‘Mrs Namechange of Somethingsomething Nursery has reported that your child says....’ thus generating furious repercussions from the parents. So staff are now afraid to report.

And no, this isn’t an inner city dive, it’s a pretty touristy small town.

@Thehop wow that’s awful and it makes me really angry on your behalf. I wasn’t annoyed as a parent paying for bank holidays as I assumed the nursery still had fixed costs to pay and a big part of that being staffs wages. I hope my nursery pays the staff they are wonderful with my dc.
The lack of choice for holidays isn’t good either.

[quote PassionfruitOrangeGuava]@Rosebel

You mention that over the weekend parents undo their child’s progress re behaviour. Do you have a system where you openly and directly discuss with parents your recommendations for what they can do at home to help their child’s behaviour?

As a parent, if my child was struggling behaviourally at nursery or home I’d be keen to listen to experienced professionals like nursery workers and hear them out about their suggestions. But if you don’t have that conversation and make recommendations, how can parents know what they’re doing to contribute to the problem and find out what to do differently?[/quote]
Experienced professionals? While there are many experienced and Qualified staff, the majority are young and straight from school or college, barely more than a child themselves. The majority of 18 year olds, with little experience and no children of their own are not comfortable discussing a child’s behaviour with the parents and implying that what they’re doing at home could be a problem.

Some staff may receive training for managing challenging behaviour but this would likely be only one or two staff in a whole setting.

Room leader in nursery I worked in was on 2p above minimum wage.
Not a typo. 2 pence. For all that responsibility.

I work in a nursery.

Trained many many moons ago (20+yrs), left to go on maternity leave 10 years later - swearing id never go back into nursery work. Was a SAHM for many years until last year I got lured into a little part time role.

I'm not really enjoying it. I LOVE the children, they get me through every day, but the pay is shit and I work part time - but have the same amount of Key children as a full timer, so same amount of paperwork for half the wage. Take most of it home, which is crap.

I also work the beginning of the week, and get lots of "part timer, rub it in etc", when actually I spend some of my days off sat at the laptop doing my paperwork (for no pay)

I'm currently hunting for something else...

Find it intresting and so sad that nursery I work at isn't unique..it isn't a bad place just minor things..appreciation and thanks from above be nice once in a while. But its not just that one company who are like that.
I dont get why it becomes such a thank less job for the work you do. Dont get me wrong I love it but sometimes you wonder why am I doing this.. is what I'm doing make a difference and all

I worked in a private day nursery many years ago. I left because the pay was rubbish and I could earn more as a nursery nurse in a school nursery class working much fewer hours and getting much longer holidays. I eventually left that job too, so that I could go on to uni and earn more. I still work with children and families but now earn much more.

I’m sorry, I don’t agree that parents can’t afford to pay more.

Childcare is heavily subsidised by the government. Most parents do not want to pay when their child turns 3, as it is their right for childcare to be ‘free’ from this age. You read posts on here all the time to that effect.

There is also the tax-free childcare scheme and the childcare element of Universal Credit. Students are able to get most of their childcare fees paid - the help available to parents is endless.

Yes, the nurseries are being shafted by the government (or the local authorities in any case - they are the ones allocating the funding and keeping most of the money for themselves). However, parents do not want to pay for childcare anymore. They see that other people (students, those on Universal Credit, etc., etc.) get it for free and they want it for free.

I am not joking - I cannot get anyone in receipt of ‘free childcare’ to pay for lunches or additional hours without a huge fight. They want the hours, they want the lunches, but they don’t want to pay for them. And in a way, I don’t blame them. Primary school children get free lunches, why not children in nurseries? Because the government knows that private providers will ultimately have to pay for those lunches or lose kids, that’s why. And the parents don’t care so long as it is free for them.

The whole industry is broken and no one is motivated to fix it. The nursery providers try, but ultimately they are so exhausted by everything else they are dealing with (everything that has been mentioned in this thread, but ten times the abuse from the parents, financial worries and problems with staff on top) that they don’t have the time or energy to bring about the change that is desperately needed.

Oh and key children are allocated by the manager, so their key children are the straightforward ones and all mine are the scary parents/challenging children.

Staff are expected to confront parents over unpaid bills. Manager makes very sure she doesn’t do this task and orders others to do it.

Paid bank holidays? Nope.
Phoning in sick ’Put more water in it next time.’
Child has poo accident on dressing up clothes ...’Haha glad it’s your turn to take the washing home.’ I refused but then another colleague was intimidated into doing this.

@Marcipex

Oh and key children are allocated by the manager, so their key children are the straightforward ones and all mine are the scary parents/challenging children.

Staff are expected to confront parents over unpaid bills. Manager makes very sure she doesn’t do this task and orders others to do it.

Paid bank holidays? Nope.
Phoning in sick ’Put more water in it next time.’
Child has poo accident on dressing up clothes ...’Haha glad it’s your turn to take the washing home.’ I refused but then another colleague was intimidated into doing this.

Wow. Surely taking home soiled clothes would go against infection control polices and procedures? That’s awful.

Policies

@3WildOnes what do you do now?

After 13yrs in childcare and a degree, I left for a job in a supermarket as I earn £2per hour more and zero responsibility.

@Disgruntledpelicannn

Wow. Surely taking home soiled clothes would go against infection control polices and procedures? That’s awful.

I wonder what other settings do.
We had a rota to take home the laundry. The manager sometimes took tea towels home to wash as a big favour to us-( she didn’t put herself on the rota) but admitted she washed the nursery tea towels with her own family's underwear.

[quote Marcipex]@Disgruntledpelicannn

Wow. Surely taking home soiled clothes would go against infection control polices and procedures? That’s awful.

I wonder what other settings do.
We had a rota to take home the laundry. The manager sometimes took tea towels home to wash as a big favour to us-( she didn’t put herself on the rota) but admitted she washed the nursery tea towels with her own family's underwear.[/quote]
That’s disgusting. I hope it was at least a hot wash. We have a washing machine and tumble dryer. We take it in turns to put a wash on. This also needs to be done while we should be with the children so it’s not ideal. We need to make sure it’s done or we won’t have enough bed sheets or flannels.

Reasons I wouldn’t work in a nursery - the money is awful, I don’t like toddlers, I’d find it boring and icky and I don’t like nursery care as a concept for very young children. I wouldn’t put my own kids in one so why would I want to work there?

I just don't get why it's so badly paid, I find that so, so odd.. the same with care work, just why? They are literally crying out for ppl to work in these areas in many countries. Nursing homes cost an absolute fortune, fckn pay ppl properly and they wouldn't be advertising every 5 mins!!
Also from what many posters have said here if the majority of workers are just out of school, not well qualified and "not in a profession" apparently then pretty grim that these are the very people minding dcs for the most formative years of their lives. The first two years are essential for a human's emotional development, the development of the brain in the first two years is integral , it's the blueprint to the rest of their lives.
I'm not in the UK but volunteered in a preschool here recently and it was fab, it was very outdoorsy , short hours and yes the pay wasn't amazing but would be a good combo if you had another job or were looking for something part-time.