10% discount for Nursery worker's own children?

[Whose]

I'm opening a day nursery and approaching the recruitment stage. Word is out locally, but nothing official has begun.

A local lady has said she'd be interested and asked if there would be a free place given for her child, or at least a discount.

Profit margins are really tight and the childcare ratios lean, especially for Under 2s (3:1) which is the majority of the current demand.

A lot of the local staff available will have their own young children. I'm anticipating needing 6 members of staff initially, I wouldn't be surprised if all of them had their own children... meaning that I could be looking at 6 staff with 6 kids, leaving only space for 12 full paying places.

Would I be unreasonable to limit the discount to 10% for under 2s, and perhaps 15% 2 to 3 year old, 20% over 3s?
Or is that super mean?
Google shows a huge range.

If anyone has direct experience please let me know!

I'd say any discount is a bonus. If the numbers don't work for them I'd assume they wouldn't take the job.

Good nursery staff are worth their weight in gold though and in general don't get paid enough. So hopefully you can come up with a package that works.

A free place is ridiculous though. I can't believe she suggested that.

My sil gets 50% off fees for her child, that’s universal across all ages. But I don’t know if that’s particularly generous or standard practice.

I also have friends who work in a private school, and their 5 year old is enrolled there for free. Obviously the finances of a private school are vastly different to those of a nursery, but I wonder if that’s where she’s got the idea of a free place from?

It’s 25% discount where I work but we have more than one nursery so staff are not allowed to work at the same nursery their child attends.

The nursery SIL works in doesn't offer a discount for under 2's and 10-15% after that.

The discount also doesn't kick in until the staff have been there for a set period of time, I think it's 12 months.

I'd offer them 10% off their youngest child but see if you can do it through salary sacrifice - that way they get a bigger benefit as its pre

YANBU, don't give a discount at all if it doesn't make business sense.

Depends how generous your pay is really. If they need a nursery place to work but even with a discount can't afford it then you'll need to offer a bigger discount.

What would be the monthly pay, what would be the cost of a full time place? That’s what it boils down to.

50% off at dds nursery for staff. That's pretty standard in the nurseries around here.

Do you not take funded hours for 3 year olds?

My nursery gives 10% discount and let's their staff pay through salary sacrifice ie it comes out of gross pay, so the actual saving is probably closer to around 30%.

Crikey I work in a private school and get zero discount for my ds.

I'd up the hourly wage rather than give people discounts.

I’d make an exception for someone that makes excellent business sense in that, they will contribute to a good reputation.

So financially, you will lose out for a time but while your business is starting out having the right staff and gaining a reputation would pay off in the long run.

The nursery DD goes to gives its staff 50 per cent discount off all ages. It's a large nursery and part of a local chain. Quite a few of the staff have kids in the nursery and tbh that was one of the things I liked about it, that they obviously felt it was a good environment for their own kids to be in (as staff aren't allowed to work in the same room as their own child).

I think it really depend on how much you need them. Level 3 qualified staff are few and far between these days. It’s really hard to recruit staff.
I’d say it would also depend on their hourly rate.

However I’ve run nursery where managers have had 80% discount - 10% discount.

It’s very hard to make a profit theses days through nurseries even with such high costs to parents.

You must be mad to be opening a private day nursery!

I wish you well.

Given the tight margins for nurseries, can you really afford to give any discount?

Personally, if I was running a nursery I’d aim to pay all my staff slightly higher than the going rate - to hopefully attract the best staff. Then I wouldn’t give any discount for nursery staff children.

So I’m about to go back after Mat leave and will get 50% discount. For second children etc I am told it is slightly less. I think some discount is beneficial and is another perk that will attract good staff so if you can, you should.

Before you think of discounts you need to think of your other policies around staff and their children.

Are you going to allow staff to work in the same room as their child?
If not then do you need to limit staff child places? How will you do that?
Will staff have priority on the waiting list?

Once you've worked that out you can decide how tempting to have their child in the nursery you want it to be.

@AmanitaRubescens

You must be mad to be opening a private day nursery!

I wish you well.

Why? Stressful? Not lucrative?

Why? Stressful? Not lucrative?

Both. OP is going to have huge problems with recruitment and retention. The success of her business will depend on staff who are often very young and inexperienced and to whom she is paying (presumably) NMW.

If her staff have young DC they might lose a lot of work days to child's sickness. When they start school the staff will be reluctant to work 40plus hours per week.

3plus funding won't cover her hourly rate so she'll have to persuade parents to cough up for lunch hours and other extras.

I think OP will be paying business rates with no Vat relief. Though am willing to be corrected.

It really is time for govt, LAs and schools to take over nursery education and care. People shouldn't be trying to make a profit at this or pay people NMW.

@AmanitaRubescens

Why? Stressful? Not lucrative?

Both. OP is going to have huge problems with recruitment and retention. The success of her business will depend on staff who are often very young and inexperienced and to whom she is paying (presumably) NMW.

If her staff have young DC they might lose a lot of work days to child's sickness. When they start school the staff will be reluctant to work 40plus hours per week.

3plus funding won't cover her hourly rate so she'll have to persuade parents to cough up for lunch hours and other extras.

I think OP will be paying business rates with no Vat relief. Though am willing to be corrected.

It really is time for govt, LAs and schools to take over nursery education and care. People shouldn't be trying to make a profit at this or pay people NMW.

I 100% agree with this. Staffing and retention and getting decent staff is the main reason that I looking for other work. That and the very unreasonable pay. I’ve lots so many of my staff to Aldi. I can’t pay the staff anymore as my funding rates are so low.

So disheartening to read these posts about how difficult it is run as a business and the issues with retaining staff etc.

I agree that this should really be something that the government takes control of and schools / LA's manage. But, realistically, that's not going to happen for a long time (if ever). Children really are just marginalised by the government in this country.

So best of luck to you, OP. I'm sure there will be many challenges but I hope you make a go of it and wish you the very best of luck. xXx

"100% agree with this. Staffing and retention and getting decent staff is the main reason that I looking for other work. That and the very unreasonable pay. I’ve lots so many of my staff to Aldi. I can’t pay the staff anymore as my funding rates are so low."

@Freddiefox really sad to hear that. The government really do need to step up in this area.

If you give a great discount do you think it would encourage the staff to stay? I only say this because if your staff turnover is low then the kids won’t need their places for long anyway. Plus bear in mind some people won’t even need places.