Question for Katymac (or anyone else who's started a nursery) - what are you doing about HR policies for your nursery?

[Pennies]

My friend is setting up a nursery and whilst there are only four of us doing it and it is all mates together I still think she should be considering some HR policies, particularly relating to maternity leave and sickness.

What are you doing about this? I'm not entirely sure where to start.

Advice from anyone very welcome.

There are people who specialise in this kind of thing for small businesses.

Tell me more! I'm supposed to be doing all the HR but all I ever did was ER rather than contracts etc. And that was about a million years ago now too.

I've a feeling they're just going to think I'm being officious by even suggesting formal procedures and stuff but I'm assuming it's going to be needed. We're all good friends but despite that I can't help but feel there should be something concrete behind us.

You should see a doc about that cough.

Oh and we're skint so we need to try and do it ourselves and I'm the one with the task it seems.

email me flowery dot beanbag at ntlworld dot com

I think FBB was saying that she sells that sort of advise......but with no budget??

What sort of company are you (do not do this unless you have limited liability - you could lose your house if someone sues you)

Are you partners or is someone in charge & the others employees?

Well if you don't want to use flowerys services I can be very competitive you know Only joking

You can have a go yourself but speak to Business Link or even just visit their site for some guidance. I do recommend you get things checked by an HR professional though, it can be costly if you make a mistake and it is easier to put things in place at the start than try and push things on people later.

OI callme!

You need to have your legal structure in place before you worry about HR (sorry to be bossy)

OFSTED will need to do checks on all directors

KatyMac - I think the Ofsted stuff is all being sorted by the lady who owns the business now and it's all pretty much sorted and being done so we're working on internal procedures at the moment. Her contact there has done exactly the same thing as we're trying to do and is being incredibly helpful.

Flowery - you have mail.

CMOC - aaaarrrrrggghh I'm trapped in a bidding war! Thanks for Business Link suggestion. Will look into that.

The lady who owns the business - will she carry on owning it?

OK listen carefully to Flowery wrt holidays, time off for appointments, Statutory leave, payslips, payroll, statements/contracts of employemnet

Lots more I can't just put my finger on right now

& bank holidays
& parental leave
& appraisals

She's just bought it from the previous owners and four of us are going to work there. We're all sharing the process of setting it up and because I used to work in marketing and also HR those two aspects of it have fallen to me.

Can I ask you about your advertising strategy as well?

Which parents do you want?

What clothes do they wear?
Where do they live?
What car do they drive?

Are you considering the grandparents?

Would you recognise your customer walking down the high street?

What do you mean? Is it necessary to build such a profile for a small village nursery? How does that affect the advertising. Am I being really thick here?

In answer to the questions - local parents with small children. Not sure how clothes, cars and grandparents relate to this?

pennies got your mail will get back to you tomorrow

Pre-school learning alliance. www.pre-school.org.uk

Contact your local area rep and they'll point you in the right direction.

If they wear Next & Boden & drive a 4by4 they will read certain papers/magazines & have possible anticipated requirements Maybe advertise in the county magazine or at the gym & emphasise the education provided

If they buy charity shop & fair trade clothes & walk they will have a different priority advertise at the health food shop & emphasise the naturalness of they toys you provide & how holistic the learning is

Please do not judge the sweeping generalisations I have made they were stereotypical to make a point not be taken seriously

For an existing nursery you probably need to target the new mothers (eg HV/baby clinics)

How large is the village have you accessed the statistic about how many and what age the children are in the area?
Why did the last owner sell?

Do you want people coming from other villages?
Are you on a commuter route?

Unless you are just going to stick an A4 poster or postcard up in the newsagents window

Pennies. Employment law is a minefield, IMO. Although a lot of info can be found on the web it is very important to make sure it is up to date. If you are going to employ a lot of people you need to make sure you are properly advised. We run a nursery and have a contract with a national firm of employment lawyers. They have a 24 hour advice line manned by solicitors and will give step-by-step advice and paperwork for everything from employees handbooks to maternity, sickness pay and H&S law. They will represent us in the event of a tribunal and, providing we have followed their advice to the letter - will cover the costs of any damages if a tribunal finds against us.

All of this does not come cheap but we have used the service for advice so much already - we feel that it has been worth it. We have 20 employees and have already had one or two tricky situations to deal with.

A less expensive option is to join the National Daynurseries Association for about £600 a year. They will give legal advice but you won't get the insurance cover for damages in the event of a legal action.

Or failing either of these, FBB (amongst others) gives very good advice.

Long post, but I just want to say make sure that you have covered your butt WRT employment law as you can find yourself in a tribunal very easily these days.

WRT advertising. Make sure you have up-to-date info on the CIS (Children's Information Service) website. We have ads on Google but don't bother with the local press. The best form of advertising, IMO - is flyers. If you deliver them through letterboxes on Sunday mornings (but not too early - you don't want to P off any potential clients ) you can target houses with puschairs outside/in porches, drives with cars with babyseats etc and know that your advertising is going directly to your potential market.

Also, by delivering on a Sunday morning your flyer (make it brightly coloured print) will not get swept up with a post delivery and binned straightaway as junk mail. I hand-delivered 100 flyers last summer and got 12 responses and 8 sign-ups from it. Not a bad hit rate, eh?! I was very chuffed.

Oh god, is that you touting for business again Flowery??!!

< Bubble is warming to her theme >

Food. That's a big selling point for us, too. If you're providing full day care, your children will be eating a lot of meals with you during the week and parents want to know that their children are getting an interesting and balanced diet.