Staff are the core of your business, and one of the primary ways you are judged by your customers. As a result, tricky factors like team morale, attitude and approach are almost as important as sector specific skills and qualifications. This is becoming increasingly difficult in an industry with pressure on profits and the resulting impact on wage rates and working hours.

A lack of funds can restrict managers from offering pay rises or investing in staff training, yet the Government continues to strive towards an early years workforce trained to a minimum of Level 3 by 2015. With the majority of the workforce driven by a vocational passion rather than financial gain, is this changing the way you manage your team?

Has it become hard to finance staff training or are you still accessing funding? Do you have difficulty retaining staff due to not being able to offer pay rises or promotions?

Have you found productive methods that keep staff in your setting happy? Do you organise regular meetings\out-of-work social events to maintain good team morale and receive feedback from staff?

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