Very sad - no options

[snapD]

I had been hoping to find work locally but can't even get a cleaning/bar job

So I have had to reduce all my employees hours

We have all dropped by a third from 1st August

I feel gutted - disappointed at myself that I can't get enough work to keep them all at full hours

Unless work picks up I may have to consider redundancies

I have bee so unhappy about this today

Everyone has been so nice about it as well - which made me feel worse

What buisness are you in? It must be bad if you have to find work to keep your employees hours up? Have I misundetsood?
What sort of things have you done to increase your revenue?

Ideally when things pick up I will need them

If I lay them off they will find other jobs (they are very good)& when things pick up I will have to recruit

I asked them if they wanted me to do last in first out or a cut across the board & they all independently chose a cut in hours/wages rather than lose one of the team - I was so touched by that.

If I could have got a short term temp job I would have to keep the team together - we always have less work in the summer but pick up in Sept

We are advertising like mad & I have given away free sessions as raffle prizes, not sure how esle to attract people in

What buisness are you in, SnapD?

Childcare

Word of mouth is the best way of advertising childcare (or best way to put people of if negative rumours get out)

Free sessions as raffle prizes not the way to go IMO. Do you have a website? Is anything unique about your setting that would atract people?

Yes to website
Word of mouth is good
We are quite unique (IMO)

We are at about 1/3rd capacity - we need to run at about 2/3rds

I think there is a lull atm while parents decide what the best thing to do about work is with the credit crunch

A lot of people round here are renting and there seems to be an impression that if they don't work they will be better off in a depression

At the same time people who have a mortgage have to work longer hours to keep up with the payments

It just depends upon the proportions whether things will pick up or not

where abouts are you based? Could you look into offer NEG sessions? Can you offer discounts for people wanting childcare in the future if the pay in advance now?

do you have full time children, could you go down to opening 3 or 4 days per week in the short term?

No we are about half full time

I don't really understand "offer discounts for people wanting childcare in the future if the pay in advance now" sorry

We are quite rural between 2 towns that commute to each other

Okay I mean as an advertising strategy - book and pay one months fees by 31st July for starting Sept/Oct/Nov and receive 10% discount something like that.

Oh that's a good idea

Thanks

do you own premises, could you rent out the space for other things to happen - dance or drama classes, have you got a spare room to operate a craft session during the holidys when most of the toddler groups stop etc Just something to bring in new people through the door and to utilise the staff and contribute to the overheads.

Sorry wrong thread

Craft session is a good idea - we could do that

No spare room though & the space is used when we don't use it

Hmmm what is the insurance position if you have extra children there with their parents? could you have stuff like a teddy's bear picnic using the garden and toys etc - so a bit like the craft idea just a way of getting people in to see what you offer?

Can you offer temporary places over the summer at a cheaper than usual rate? I'm trying to think of new markets - ie Mum's who have school aged children too and perhaps would palm off their younger children for a couple of short sessions in the hols to give themselves a break?

Do you have summer playschemes where you are could 2 of you work there over the summer as a job share?

Maybe to the playscheme

Insurance is OK as long as the mum's stay

Cheaper in the summer is OK but would existing parents object iyswim as the are paying more

I don't know what your standard days/half days are like but perhaps if it didn't include meal times or something like that. Perhaps just advertise as temporary no contract sessions available or something?

Are you advertising yourselves as offering emergency cover?

could you offer a collection service?

It's hard when ofsted make it all more difficult! Have you considered offering NEG sessions and already decided it's a no no?

We are in training........watch this space for NEG

We do collection/ad-hoc

You have been really helpful thanks - I'll come back to this tomorrow

Night