Recruitment and Retention of Staff

How an employee views the organisation and their initial experience can impact their integration within the team and their own personal satisfaction within their role. Therefore, an induction helps to create a positive experience for both the employer and employee, to establish an initial relationship and build upon this as the employee gains confidence and settles within their role.

The induction process helps to provide all the necessary information and knowledge required to support the employee in all aspects of their role and ultimately ensure they perform at the required standard, in the shortest possible time, contributing to the team success.

For an employer, time allocated at the start of employment can make all the difference to their workforce, helping to reduce absenteeism, reduce the turnover of staff and build a strong employer brand and ethos which positively impacts the organisation. 

A good induction will help our staff to:

• establish themselves quickly in their job role, enabling them to understand their position within our nursery and working environment
• become motivated to do well and fit into the nursery early on
• understand any health and safety issues relating to their job- this will not only help to reduce accidents at work but also help us ensure that we are meeting our duty of care obligations under the health and safety legislation
• understand their obligations to our children and families

Supporting practitioner well-being

 Beyond induction - personal development reviews/career progression/flexible working

Your probationary period is a key element in the induction of new colleagues. It allows you to adapt to your new environment and discuss your performance with your line manager, and also allows for you to receive feedback on your progress and performance during this time. 

Meeting regularly to review promotes effective communication and builds supportive relationships within your team and line manager. This is a time to ask questions, clarify key points and embed the information you receive fully within your working practices.

It is an Ofsted requirement that childcare providers have supervision procedures in place. The following information helps guide you through the supervision process to ensure your childcare business thrives while supporting and motivating your staff team. 

Is a supervision also an appraisal?
Supervision can be confused with appraisals; they’re usually part of the same overall staff performance management and support process, however:

Supervisions – are regular one-to-one meetings scheduled throughout the year. Often they are planned once a term / month but these can also be more frequent if needed. Throughout a probationary period, a line manager will conduct regular supervisions with the employee, these are just as important as a probation reviews.

Supervisions are very similar as they look at the employee's performance and objectives set, they also provide opportunity to discuss any problems or difficulties they may be having. Unlike probation reviews, which end once probation has been successfully completed, supervisions occur regularly throughout the entirety of the employee's employment.

Supervision is an on-going process that may take place in other ways. The two other main methods are outlined below. They have a place but should not replace planned, formal, recorded, one-to-one sessions.

Group supervision

This is in addition to regular planned, one-to-one supervisions. It can include a group of staff, all involved in the same task, meeting with a supervisor to discuss areas which involve the team. This could be alongside a team meeting or to ensure that opportunity is provided for all team members to contribute, plan, and agree a way to move forward.

Unplanned or “ad-hoc” supervision

Due to the pace of work staff often have to ”check something out” with a supervisor, obtain a decision, or gain permission to do something in between formal supervision sessions. In addition, staff who work closely with their supervisor will be communicating daily about work issues, problems arising, changes in policies or procedures. This is a good tool to support effective communication and team working, and can help to keep things on track in-between planned supervision sessions.

Supervision sessions should be recorded and will support the annual appraisal.

Appraisals are held once a year, providing the opportunity for managers and employees to have joint conversations to review individual performance over the previous year,  review objectives and what’s been achieved, together with planning forward for the next 12 months.

This will help form the focus of tasks and priorities, with progress recorded during the supervision sessions, creating a useful tool to monitor performance against the job role. It also provides the opportunity to review and amend during the supervision process – for example, should the employees role develop and priorities change or further training / development is identified.

Once completed, the employee and manager are required to sign off the appraisal conversation to ensure that the information included is fair and accurate for both parties. At the end of the appraisal process, employees should have a clear understanding of their performance and if this is meeting the expected requirements, or if additional improvements are needed and how this will be monitored and supported moving forward.

Those that grow within the organisation stay within the organisation.
Working in the education and childcare sector means that all members of the staff team need to ensure that they remain current with legislative changes in the sector as well as ensuring they continue to learn and grow knowledge, skills and behaviours within your career.

Regular CPD also helps to build confidence and demonstrate commitment to the role and can lead to embarking on higher qualifications and senior roles within the setting, supporting both the organisation and employees career goals.

It is important that all CPD is recorded and reviewed regularly during one to one’s and appraisals, where future CPD activities can then be sourced to maximise the time available and ensure the needs of the employee and setting are marched within the activities undertaken.

Examples of CPD activities could include:

• internal training / team meetings
• external training – short courses, e-learning level 2 modules, recognised qualifications at levels 2 – 6
• LCC specific training and events – view and book onto our training and events 
• guest speakers, conferences, sector specific events

Some CPD is mandatory for early years staff and is detailed in the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework (GOV.UK) to ensure that practitioners can continue to be counted in ratios within the setting and fulfil the Early Years qualification requirements (GOV.UK). This includes:

• Paediatric First Aid (achieved within 3 months of commencing employment) and updated as required
• Safeguarding Policies and Procedures (from September 2025)

(You can locate the proposed changes for September 2025 at Consultation outcome: Early years foundation stage (EYFS) safeguarding | GOV.UK)

You can access mandatory and sector specific CPD courses through Leicestershire County Council training courses listed on our Early years Eventbrite page.

Coaching is an effective approach that supports an employee to build and develop their knowledge, skills and behaviours in addition to the supervision and appraisal process. It fosters positive relationships between team members and allows employees to work together towards common goals and develop techniques to ensure best practice is upheld by building a positive work culture which reflects methods of best practice at all times. This includes reflective conversations which allow employees to reflect on practice and assess areas of strength and those for further development, with coaching from skilled and competent staff supporting the personal and professional development of the staff team. This can help to support self-directed learning, structure internal CPD plans and source external CPD activities where needed.

Observations of practice is a useful tool to allow an employee to demonstrate practical skills when working with children and receive constructive feedback on their practice, helping to gather information on areas of strength to be celebrated, and areas for development with support on how to build this into all areas of practice. It supports the supervision and appraisal process by providing specific examples of practice to discuss and reflect upon, and shape the employees overall targets and performance objectives.

Allocating team building sessions within your organisation can help individuals to build supportive relationships which enables people to effectively work together as a ‘team’. It can increase motivation, promote co-operation and improve morale. It can also define roles within the team and ensure that individuals work to their strengths to achieve a common goal.

Life moves on for some people and even though they are happy working for you, they may still need to leave due to life circumstances. Good practice is to carry out an exit interview to find out what that employee valued about working in your setting and what they struggled with. This gives you the opportunity to address those struggles for the next employee.

Survey monkey employee exit survey template

Creating a safe and supporting working environment means a happy and productive staff team. It can help to create a positive work culture in which staff and children thrive. Within this employee wellbeing is at the heart of each setting – to support you to thrive and reach your full potential, while enriching the lives of the children and families you engage with.

You can find out more information at Wellbeing at Work (CIPD).

Or you may want to engage in the Healthy Workplaces Leicestershire Programme:

Healthy Tots support Leicestershire early years providers to offer a healthy environment for their children. Parents and staff through a ‘healthy culture’ can improve health and wellbeing within settings. You can explore if this accreditation would enhance your provision.