Growing great staff to grow great kids
September 2007
Franklin Kindergarten Association is a not-for-profit organisation which runs 25 kindergartens in the South Auckland region. It employs 70 teachers and 30 support staff.
Staff retention is absolutely critical to its success due to the importance of continuity of care for young children. However, many of the usual retention strategies such as higher remuneration packages and flexible working hours are not possible given the constraints of the business.
"Teachers must start and finish work at set times in order to meet teacher-child ratios and it is these ratios that determine the Association's income," says Professional Practice Manager at the Association, Raewyn van Lingen.
The FKA provides as much flexibility as it can by offering full-time and part-time roles. It supports staff in many ways, first asking them what they need, then doing its best to provide it.
For example, in 2003, the Association asked head teachers what would support them in
their work. They reported that they regularly took administrative work home, spending perhaps 10 hours a week on unpaid work. The Association decided to provide four half-days a term to head teachers for administrative work.
In 2005, when the Ministry of Education offered funding to support registering teachers, the Association asked registering teachers what they would like the money spent on. As a result of this consultation, registering teachers now receive the whole of the grant allocation to buy resources or take time off for professional development.
Teaching staff are entitled to six weeks annual leave but, in the past, staff were often interrupted during their breaks. In 2005, the FKA defined the first week of any break as annual leave days. It tries to ensure that teaching staff are not interrupted by any work matters during their annual leave.
Since 1997 the FKA has given every employee up to $150 annually to help them meet the cost of a wide range of activities to support a work-life balance. This includes memberships to sports clubs, gyms or other activities associated with health and wellbeing, costs of clothing or items associated with health and wellbeing, prescription glasses, sun protection, and clothing for work.
All staff who have been employed for two years or longer are eligible for a study grant of $400 for teachers and support staff and $500 for head teachers to help them to gain further qualifications relevant to their work.
As a result of the Association's approach to work-life balance and staff development, turnover of teaching staff over the past three years averaged eight per cent per year. All of the 70 teaching positions are currently filled and all the Association's permanent teaching staff are qualified and registered teachers. Nearly 50 of its permanent staff have been employed by the Association for five years or longer.
"We estimate that the savings over the past three years through retaining employees who have returned to work after a period of parental leave are worth more than $300,000," says Raewyn van Lingen.
HR Manager at IBM Gary Saunders, who was on the EEO Trust Work & Life Awards judging panel, says the Association has made good use of innovative ideas given its operating constraints around hours. "They have as much flexibility as they can and there's a strong commitment to developing people's careers. To me they have a really good integrated culture."
