The Great Resignation arrives in Day Nurseries, Pre-schools and Out of School Clubs

Today, like many Mondays, we arrived at work to requests for letters to acknowledge resignations. It’s sad. The term “The Great Resignation” was first coined in the US in May 2021 and refers to the unprecedented rise in the number of workers resigning from their jobs following the pandemic.  It is said that during the pandemic and immediately afterwards, workers didn’t leave jobs due to fears in relation to being short serving (not eligible for Furlough) and the volatility of the jobs market. Those fears have passed. This could help employers who are hiring for the first time, but not those who are losing staff and struggling to replace them.

So this has arrived at Day Nurseries, Pre-schools and Out of School Clubs. The evidence is that the sector is experiencing the impact of The Great Resignation in several ways:

1. Long standing employees are resigning when often resignations are from those with less than 12 months service.
2. People are resigning after taking promotions, pay rises, increased levels of responsibility suggesting the reason behind the resignation is not just about pay and status and it is in fact about other factors.
3. Customer service is declining as longer standing employees often know the systems, understand the customer and deliver better customer service, than their shorter serving colleagues.
4. Stability is decreasing and this leads to greater feelings of uncertainty amongst the colleagues that stay.
5. An inability to replace leaving staff is leading to closures of Day Nurseries, Pre-schools and Out of School Clubs.

What can we do to address The Great Resignation?

In Day Nurseries, Pre-schools and Out of School Clubs the power of 121’s and supervision meetings should not be understated. Regardless of whether you are required to implement them or not, they give the management an ideal opportunity to support their staff to increase levels of employee engagement. We constantly recommend that a supervision meeting is held to find out what an employee needs from their line manager.

In addition, training & development plans, succession planning and appraisals are effective at supporting employees with their career progression. Whilst unlike the supervision meeting these are led by the line manager, they do encourage your staff to see themselves as being part of the bigger plan and give the line manager an amazing opportunity to remind staff as to the difference they make.

Staff well being initiatives and celebratory events are great for staff engagement. How engaged were your team at your Platy Joobs celebrations last week? Yes, mine too!

Staff opinion surveys, employee assistance programmes, reviewing your reward and benefits strategy all help staff to feel more connected to their employer.

If you have any questions regarding how you can manage your Day Nursery, Pre-school or Out of School Club through “The Great Resignation” please do give us a call on 01527 909436.