This month, I want to talk about the most important part of your business: staff.
We all know that staff make or break any business, and finding the right calibre of staff, suitably qualified and able to correctly look after the children and engage with parents appropriately, is exceedingly challenging.
But, I suspect you don’t know that some staff in your setting may be actively disengaged, and therefore could be damaging the business. That’s a strong claim you may say. But unfortunately, it’s a fact.
Every year, the polling company, Gallup, conducts surveys across the globe to identify how engaged staff are in their place of employment. The last study for the UK was conducted in 2023 and was published earlier this month. The results are pretty stark and paint an exceedingly challenging picture for all employers. According to Gallup, only 1 in 10 employees are engaged at work, meaning that 9 in 10 are not engaged or actively disengaged.
The three categories are defined as follows:
- Engaged staff are those that are thriving at work – they are highly involved and enthusiastic, take pride in their work, drive performance and move the organisation forward.
- Not engaged staff are unattached to their work – their engagement needs are not being met and they are not putting any energy into their work.
- Actively disengaged employees are not just unhappy, they are resentful that their needs are not being met and actively oppose the employers’ goals.
Assessing Staff Engagement Levels
So, if only 1 in 10 employees are engaged nationally in the UK, two questions arise. Firstly, how do you establish the engagement levels in your organisation, and secondly, how do you urgently move those staff members who are not engaged up to the category of engagement?
For copyright reasons, I can’t produce the Gallup Q12 questions here, but in my book, “Improving the Business of Childcare”, I have suggested some very similar alternatives. I’d suggest you take these questions, create an anonymous questionnaire and then survey your team. Remember, if a large percentage of staff are actively opposing your organisation’s goals, they are actively damaging your business every day. This is not something you can afford to leave to chance!
Investing In Development
Secondly, one of the ways to move staff into the engaged category is to invest in them so that they feel that you, as the employer, is concerned for their career progression.
As the largest dedicated Early Years apprenticeship provider in England, Parenta can help with that by upskilling your staff with an Early Years apprenticeship at Levels 2, 3 or 5. And given the sector recruitment crisis, we’ve recently launched a Fast-Track level 3 apprenticeship, which allows those employers and staff who want to complete fast, to be able to do so. It takes just 53 weeks plus the time for the End Point Assessment.
Want to find out more? Just follow the QR code below or go to……to book an appointment with one of our super-friendly consultants who can explain how this service works.
