Single Nursery Setting With Occasional Staffing Needs 

The Story

This nursery manager runs a small 22 place nursery within a church hall setting and has done so for the last 3 years. She comes from a childcare background and is passionate about early years and child development. Having worked in other settings prior to starting her own, it was always an ambition to run her own small nursery as a lifestyle business, managing and working within her own setting. The nursery is very popular in the community, always full, and has a waiting list. 

The Challenge

Being a small single setting, the client acted as her own recruitment department! Although this worked well, and she had many contacts within the early years community there was always a worry of permanent staff leaving or calling in sick. Further, there were certain times of the year where more staff were needed due to the ages of the children in the setting, to maintain staffing ratios which she felt most comfortable with, or when people were on holiday. She reached out to Tinies to establish an ongoing relationship with a reliable agency.

Why Tinies?

The client had used other agencies in the past on an ad hoc basis, with varying levels of success. She had heard about Tinies through a temporary worker who was in the process of transferring to Tinies due to better pay and employment benefits. After a call with the Tinies consultant for her area, she felt that Tinies had a good understanding of her situation. She signed up without hesitation looking forward to the peace of mind Tinies would bring.    

The Solution

Tinies provides childcarers on an ad hoc basis for this nursery setting, recruiting for permanent staff when there were staffing gaps, covering emergency sickness when it arose resulting in absence of her permanent staff, and the occasional ‘staffing up’ for busy periods or to better balance ratios. 

Immediately, there was a need for a new permanent member of staff with Tinies sharing three CVs in the first week and a further two the week after for a Level 3 qualified candidate. Three of those candidates were interviewed and a great candidate who lived very close by was hired to start the next day.  

With the Tinies recruitment strategy always in play with dedicated resources in the office, Tinies are never short to supply emergency nursery staff whenever needed. Two weeks after first working with Tinies, a staff member had a holiday booked for the following week. Within 24 hours, Tinies had a temporary nursery worker ready for the following week and booked to attend. On the Monday of that week, another staff member called in sick. The client called the emergency phone at 7.20am and a further temporary staff member was deployed and in place ready for opening at 8.30am.

The relationship with Tinies has brought huge peace of mind to this nursery manager who now no longer needs to worry about day-to-day childcarer recruitment. It allows her to spend less time on this previously tedious function and more time to engage with children and do what she does best; practising child development. Tinies takes care of all the recruitment needs of the setting, and the client now depends and relies on the help of Tinies.