How to Build a Thriving Workforce in Early Years Settings

How to Build a Thriving Workforce in Early Years Settings

Author: Vivek Raju, Senior Marketer, eyworks

The staffing crisis in the early years isn’t new. But the numbers have reached a point where every setting leader needs to take it seriously.

According to a 2024 survey by the Early Years Alliance, 78% of settings found it difficult to recruit staff in the previous year, with almost half describing the experience as "very difficult." In the same six-month period, 61% of providers reported staff leaving the sector altogether, and 50% had to limit or stop taking on new children as a direct result. DfE early years provider survey data puts annual staff turnover in private group-based settings at 16%. Research from the Early Education and Childcare Coalition found that 57% of nursery and pre-school staff are actively considering quitting.

These aren’t abstract workforce statistics. They’re the reason ratios get stretched, why some children see a new face every term, and why many managers spend Sunday evenings dreading the week ahead.

The good news is that many of the most effective responses to this crisis are within a setting’s control. Keeping good people isn’t about outspending competitors. The settings that keep their teams together tend to think more deliberately about how they attract, welcome, and hold on to their people.

Writing job posts that resonate and reach the right people

Most nursery job adverts read like a compliance checklist. Level 3 qualified. DBS required. Competitive salary. This format tells a candidate what you need from them. It says almost nothing about why they’d want to work for you.

Your job description has to sell your setting to the candidate. Lead with what genuinely makes them worth joining.

  • Company culture: What does the environment feel like day to day?
  • Professional development: What growth opportunities do you offer people?
  • Staff autonomy: Do room leaders have real ownership over their environments?

Candidates who align with your values are the ones who stay, and those are the ones worth recruiting.

Distribution matters as much as the job post itself. Different demographics use different platforms, and relying on a single job board limits your reach. Purpose-built tools like eyrecruit allow you to post vacancies to multiple job boards from a single platform without the manual effort of copying listings across sites.

The first 90 days matter more than you think 

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A candidate’s experience during recruitment is their first glimpse of how they’ll be treated as part of your team. The interview, the offer, and every message in between tell a prospective practitioner what they can expect before they’ve even started.

The onboarding experience continues that story. Research shows that structured onboarding makes employees 69% more likely to stay for three years. A structured, genuinely warm introduction communicates that the setting is organised, that the manager has thought about them as an individual, and that working there will feel meaningfully different.

Many settings understand this in principle but then hand a new starter a stack of physical forms on their first morning and wonder why the energy fades quickly. The transition from candidate to employee should be as smooth as possible. When personal information moves directly into a permanent staff profile, compliance checks and the Single Central Record are built effortlessly, without a manager chasing the paperwork. That frees time for what actually matters: the conversations, the introductions, and the deliberate effort to help someone feel at home. HR software built for the early years, such as eypeople, is designed precisely around this kind of transition.

Admin is a form of staff care

Most practitioners enter the sector out of a genuine love for early childhood development. Administrative overload is one of the most reliable ways to erode that motivation over time.

This isn’t a call to eliminate or ignore compliance. Safeguarding records, EYFS documentation, and accurate reporting are non-negotiable, and for good reason. But settings can take deliberate steps to remove the unnecessary layers of process that eat into the time practitioners would rather spend with children.

One of the lowest-effort, highest-impact steps is giving staff transparent access to their own employment information. When a practitioner can check their holiday balance or review their absence record without having to chase a manager, small daily frustrations disappear. HR transparency is a quiet trust-builder. It signals that the setting takes employment seriously and respects the people working within it. That kind of organisational respect matters more to practitioners than many managers realise.

Building a team that wants to stay

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Retention is rarely the result of a single moment. It’s the accumulation of whether people feel seen, developed, and invested in over time.

One of the most effective shifts a setting can make is moving away from reactive tracking of mandatory training and towards deliberately designed professional development pathways. When a practitioner can see where they are now and where they could realistically be in two years, the conversation about leaving becomes far less likely.

Recognition culture matters too, and it doesn’t need to be formal or expensive. Noticing the small things that make a real difference builds a team that actively looks after itself. It might be a calm handover handled particularly well, a room prepared with real care, or a practitioner who spotted that a child needed extra reassurance before anyone else did. That kind of culture is harder for competitors to replicate than a pay rise.

It’s also worth being honest about who recognition tends to miss. In many settings, quieter members of the team go unseen while the most confident voices receive most of the credit. Create deliberate, low-pressure spaces for everyone to contribute to team reflection, whether through peer feedback, shared notes, or simple weekly check-ins. Little things like this make sure the whole workforce feels connected, valued, and part of something worth staying for.

The bigger picture 

No single setting can resolve the sector-wide staffing crisis on its own. But every decision made inside a setting each week adds up to something significant.

Settings that build thoughtful, well-supported teams don’t just retain staff for longer. They deliver higher-quality care, attract families through word of mouth, and build a reputation that brings the next generation of practitioners to their door without relying on job boards alone.

The goal isn’t to be the employer who pays the most. It’s to be the employer that people feel proud to work for.

 

Vivek Raju

Senior Marketer
eyworks
Helping you build thriving nurseries

 

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