Bl**dy Senior Staff! Ahhhhhh

[Guest]

HI

 

advice needed please....

 

we have our toddler room and tweenie room next to each other, divided by a middle door (betwwen the rooms) and a little window was also between the two rooms. The problem with this was that the staff in tweenie room (both senior) would stare through the window into toddler room, watch the staff etc (and the other day they even had children stood on chairs looking through the window into toddler room!!!). Tweenie room staff just bitch about staff in toddlers, and glare at toddler staff through the window.... toddler staff were understandably finding it annoying and a bit intimidating.

 

so they asked me if they could put a display up over the window that tweenie room staff used to stare in. since the window isn't actrually needed, i agreed that they could cover it and make it into a display board, toddler staff have created a fabulously bright display that looks lovely.

 

Tweneie room staff asked me today why toddlers had covered the window. i told her straught it was because they were fed up of being stared at.... senior staff member not happy!..... she didn't say anything, just pulled her face... then slammed the door then stomped aorund nursery allday.

 

senior staff member effectivly threw the craft order at me, and then the register.... both occasions i ignored the abruptness of her attitude and put it down to her having a chip on her shoulder because i had 'sided' with toddler room....

 

anyway this eveing senior staff member leaves at 4:30, all day they have had 8 children in there room, fine for ratios etc,.... but when she left she knowingly left one member of staf with seven children without informing me that the staff member had seven children alone..... it was 20 mins till i walked in the room to find that staff member alone with seven children.

 

It could have been a parent walk in at that stage and seen us that over ratio, an accident could have occured, anything could have happened.... i am so cross at senior staff member for not telling me they had seven children before she left. senior member knew i would cover....

 

so im annoyed and don't know which issues to tackle:

 

do i :

 

tell her her attitude today annoyed me and that i found the way she almost threw the craft order at me rather unprofessional and not needed.

 

do i tell her that if she has an issue in nursery she should discuss it rather than get annoyed, slam doors, be short with others etc....

 

and do i raise the fact that she , a senior member of staff knowingly left a room under ratio, without informing me.

 

I am the manager yet she treats me like crap and i know she wouldn't have treated the director in that way.

 

help ideas please.

 

Dawn

[Guest sandcastles]

How awful for you Dawn!! As a senior member of staff myself (although I would not put myself in this situation!!) I would expect my manager to tell my exactly what I had done wrong. Your senior was behaving totally unprofessionally and should be told so. Leaving a member of staff by herself with 7 children could have caused serious consequences to the children, member of staff and the whole nursery! It was lucky that a parent had not walked in. I would never dream of leaving a child with one member of staff let alone 7! If I had behaved in this way I would most definately expect a warning. And as a manager i would question whether this girl is suitable enough to act as senior. I hope my opinion as a senior helps!

[Guest]

How awful for you Dawn!! As a senior member of staff myself (although I would not put myself in this situation!!) I would expect my manager to tell my exactly what I had done wrong. Your senior was behaving totally unprofessionally and should be told so. Leaving a member of staff by herself with 7 children could have caused serious consequences to the children, member of staff and the whole nursery! It was lucky that a parent had not walked in. I would never dream of leaving a child with one member of staff let alone 7! If I had behaved in this way I would most definately expect a warning. And as a manager i would question whether this girl is suitable enough to act as senior. I hope my opinion as a senior helps!

 

Thank you,

 

your opinion helps very very much.

 

I am going to tell her that she needs to think about thes enior position and what it means to her, as right now i don't think she is acting in the way a senior needs to do so...

 

Dawn

[Guest sandcastles]

Good luck!

[Susan]

Good luck Dawn.

[Andreamay]

I take it this is the same staff always causing trouble.

My advice you need to deal with her once and for all!

And NEXT time is a written displinary.She is taking the michael Dawn.

[hali]

id give her a disiplinery now, totally unprofessional and dangerous !!!!!!!

[Guest DeborahF]

I agree with Hali, her actions warrant a written warning - unless you HAVE to give a verbal first, I don't know what your disciplinary procedure says. But a formal warning of some kind should definitely be given.

[Rea]

I was 10 mins late leaving a setting this week because nobody came to cover me and I'm supply. I was only there for 4 hours. No way would I leave a member of staff in that position. I was left working out of ratios at a setting once and told the manager I couldnt afford to be associated with bad practice. I think your senior member needs a reminder of the standards at the very least. Good luck.

[Guest]

I take it this is the same staff always causing trouble.

My advice you need to deal with her once and for all!

And NEXT time is a written displinary.She is taking the michael Dawn.

 

this isn't the deputy, who normally causes the trouble (she is off) its the senior, who is getting equally as bad as the deputy .

 

however, she is also taking the piss and needs to be reminded of who is in charge....

 

fighting gloves on today!!!!

 

Dawn

 

HI,

 

thanks for your responses evryone.

 

sometimes at work it is unavoidable that we may be one over ratio, ie in instances of staff illness etc....

i try my hardest to cover rooms so not leaving them over ratio... but sadly i can't cut myself into two.

however, last night i was available to cover and she knew it... so why the hell did she not ask.....

 

the more i think of it the more angry i get, at her lack of professionalism and indeed commitment to the company, staff and most importantly children in her care.....

 

she will definatly be being spoken too and if i can give her a verbal for this then i will be doing so.

 

hmmm, i feel a great day ahead of me... sigh, (soon be weekend!!!)

 

Dawn

[Guest DeborahF]

Dawn she can DEFINITELY be given a verbal for this!

[Guest]

hmmm,

 

she cried, and cried...

 

Blamed it all on me, questionned my managerial skills... to which i told her if she thought i was not a suitable manager she was more than welcome to pass that concern on to the director of the company.

 

she feels i am too clicky with certain staff, i would disagree, she also feels i side with certain staff, again i disagree, i feel im rather fair and will listen to all angles.

 

She felt i didn't respect her, i felt she doesn't respect me....

 

i tole her i am the manager and what i say does go. she is senior and yes an inportant member of the team but still i am the manager.....

 

at the end of our discussion we both felt that we had cleared the air a little, which is good.....

 

so we will see how next week goes.

 

 

Dawn

[Posy]

Glad you cleared the air Dawn. Hope everything goes better from now on

Love Barb

PS Just re-read my post, don't mean to imply it won't!!

[Guest]

Dawn you say she is a senior member of staff. is that senior in amount of time she's been with the company, or in age or qualifications.

Are you older than her?

Why not tackle her more from the idea that if she thinks there are things that need changing you will listen to her ideas, and make a judgement on whether they will work or not. Try reminding her that if she is a senior member of staff she should be contributing to the smooth running of the place and if she is upset it is detrimental to the well being of the children. An anxious uptight member of staff is going to make for uptight children which doesn't do any one any good.

Does she contribute any support as part of the senior team, or does she just moan.

Maybe if she is a moaner give her more responsibility to make her put her money where her mouth obviously is!!!!

Good luck Good staff are hard to find,

[Guest]

Dawn you say she is a senior member of staff. is that senior in amount of time she's been with the company, or in age or qualifications.

Are you older than her?

Why not tackle her more from the idea that if she thinks there are things that need changing you will listen to her ideas, and make a judgement on whether they will work or not. Try reminding her that if she is a senior member of staff she should be contributing to the smooth running of the place and if she is upset it is detrimental to the well being of the children. An anxious uptight member of staff is going to make for uptight children which doesn't do any one any good.

Does she contribute any support as part of the senior team, or does she just moan.

Maybe if she is a moaner give her more responsibility to make her put her money where her mouth obviously is!!!!

Good luck Good staff are hard to find,

 

HI Steph,

 

she is senior in her role, she is younger than me, im 25 she is 22. She has been in the company three years, me , 9 months.

She is a moaner, but she did say today she is bored. she really wants to go in baby room but we have no vacancies in there at present. However i have said if she wants a challenge and change she could go in pre-school room, she said she will think about it.

christmas time is busy as you probably know, and its my first christmas there, and first ever christmas as a manager somewhere, so i am still finding my feet.

In jabuary i am hoping to put stratergies into place that will enable me to dlegeate her more tasks and enable her to feel more involved as a senior member.

 

I just think we need to ride xmas out, and hope for a fresher start in the new year.

 

Dawn

[Guest]

Well done for tackling it Dawn. I agree Christmas is a stressful time - our committee members are falling out!

[Guest]

Dawn - you've been going through it again haven't you??!!

 

Boredom is not an excuse - she needs to motivate herself and implement stimulating and exciting changes.

 

You need to monitor her closely now.

 

I am getting quite an expert on this now (!!) - have one staff on a disciplinary, and 1 on her first warning. I am the big bad wolf at the moment, but it is only ever with the staff who lack in standards, even though they are level 3 qualified and experienced.

 

The staff with high standards never get picked up on things, and the staff who do, resent it.

 

It is just such hard work when it is your management team who are letting you down Dawn - those are the people who you really need on your side 100%.

 

You have done the right thing - well done lovie - don't let the bu99ers get you down!!

[Guest]

This is slightly off topic but at my old school we were not allowed to cover glass on doors with posters/displays,etc as we were told it was against health and safety rules if there was a fire, etc....is this true?

[Guest]

This is slightly off topic but at my old school we were not allowed to cover glass on doors with posters/displays,etc as we were told it was against health and safety rules if there was a fire, etc....is this true?

 

NOt sure on that one Kermit,

 

In my setting (where they ahve covered the glass window) we do have a connecting door, (which also has a glass window) this window is not covered, and in event of fire we would go through the door. The window they have covered does not open anyway.... but as i say im not sure on where each setting stands from a health and safety point of view.

 

Dawn

[Guest]

Glad t0o read that you have addressed the ratio situation, even though the 'senior' defended herself by commenting on unrelevant 'other issues'. Agree it seems she needs to be 'kept busier' with more responsibilities to stop her from becoming bored.

Do you need a 'procedure' for staff to be able to request transfers into other rooms, otherwise I can see that in the future she may moan that her request for a move has been ignored. If a request procedure is in place then you can be seen to be acknowledging her request and your response ie; not a vacancy yet, can be recorded and a time scale for when her request is reviewed again.

 

As regards to her 'attitude and sulky/stroppy behaviour, I have learnt that as manager this needs to be addressed immediately, at the time, ie: if someone through me the register at me, I would say, " excuse me but you are obviously feeling a bit emotional at the moment and if you wish to discuss how you are feeling I can speak to you at .........o'clock about it, but please, I do not appreciatte having the register thrown at me" Then I would ask again do you wish to have a chat later, then end the discussion by walking away. ( to give her space to think about her behaviour).

 

I EXPECT ALL MY STAFF TO BE ABLE TO CHALLENGE (CONSTRUCTIVELY) EACH OTHERS BEHAVIOUR. This promotes professional behaviour and shows that unprofessional behaviour is not tolerated by anyone, by everyone, thus individuals don't feel that they are being singled out and each adult becomes responsible for controlling their behaviour and being responsible for the consequences of unwanted behaviour. Everybody has consistent boundaries and all know where they stand in terms of what is expected of them.

 

Hopefully the tensions will die down and everyone will be relaxed and happier after the holiday.

 

Peggy