Day Nursery staff celebrate ‘20 extra paid days off work’ plan

All employee-owners of the award-winning Childbase Partnership – which has dominated UK Best Workplace lists for over a decade and has 44-day nurseries – the team at the

Ofsted-rated ‘Outstanding’ day nursery in Haweswater Road say the new Partnership Reward Days are just what they need.

As Windermere Day Nursery Deputy Manager, Elaina Camenzuli explained:

“Happy, energised colleagues who have fun at work are more creative and innovative. A really good work-life balance means we are all at our best when it comes to ensuring our nursery children thrive and realise their full potential.”

Based on contracted hours worked in the previous three months, the Partnership Reward Days plan means full-timers can get up to five days extra paid leave in each quarter with pro-rata allocations for others.

This is in addition to their annual leave entitlement - which was extended last year - and Long Service Reward Days and gives colleagues the opportunity to sell a portion of their extra days if they would prefer a cash reward.

The extra days mean more quality time with family and friends for practitioner Maddie Dunbar while Elaina is looking forward to getting home tasks completed during the week when her children are at school.

“Having time to myself during the week means I can spend more time with my children when they come home from school. It really is a great company plan.” she said.

The ‘extra leave’ initiative follows last year’s £8.5 million Financial Support Plan to help colleagues meet cost of living challenges. This includes two meals a day in settings, fresh fruit and refreshments in staff rooms, and free feminine hygiene products in addition to ‘Perkbox’ access to discounted shopping and entertainment.

Emma Rooney, Childbase Partnership Chief Executive, said:

“The new plan is, quite simply, the right thing to do for colleagues who continue to rise magnificently in these challenging times, and a need to further improve their work-life balance as a result,” she said.

“Like our profit-sharing Partnership Dividend, everyone’s contribution is recognised with colleagues stepping up for team mates on maternity or sickness leave achieving the maximum ‘Extra Reward Days’ to invest in themselves and re-energise,” she added.