L A T E S T N E W S
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PURPLE POST July 2020
Hello everyone and welcome to the July edition of Purple Post.
Message from Allan
“When we all celebrated New Year as 2019 closed, no one could have imagined a world where schools and offices would be closed and we’d spend months and months staying at home.
And yet our outlooks have been transformed. We now live in a world where working from home is for the majority, not the minority. We’ve closed our office, and found new ways of working which avoid face-to-face delivery across the board.
Since March, it’s been painful in the extreme. We’ve all suffered the pain of salary cuts, we’ve said goodbye to colleagues and friends, we’ve given up company cars, and we continue to drive costs down as we adjust to this new environment.
Despite the fact our sector is starting to return to work, we are not out of the woods yet. We have lost almost half a million pounds of revenue during this period, and need to continue to manage our costs frugally. We still have the pay cut in place, and we still have a large number of staff furloughed. I am well aware both of these are hurting.
Everyone is asking when the pay cuts will end, and the reality is I simply don’t know. I can only repeat that we need to be hitting about 160 starts per month before we can start to reverse this decision. I sincerely hope we will do so in September, though this is the guestimate of an optimist and nothing more. I can assure you though, we won’t rest until we have all our staff back on full pay, and working normally. That means everyone off furlough.
Despite the pain, I still consider we are the lucky ones. Whilst mass redundancies and bankruptcies dominate the news headlines, at least we are in a sector where the Government is pumping in money as it strives to keep people in work.
And yet despite all the adversity, team Parenta never ceases to amaze me. In the midst of this hardship, we have risen to the challenge and found solutions to many of the problems we have experienced for years. Our overdue completions are set to be the lowest ever - and this is a testament to the way our assessors and tutors have worked so diligently to address this issue. Equally, we have found new and better ways of working which will transform our business. This can only offer more security for all of us, and, in due course, a greater ability to reward staff for their tremendous commitment.
I know everyone has worked so damn hard over this period as we’ve all pulled together. From assessors/tutors, to the customer experience team, from finance through to IT, from sales and marketing through to HR and from the admin teams to the management teams, everyone has delivered. We should all be so proud of what we have achieved during this time.
And so I finish by saying thank you to each and every one of you. It seems such an insignificant word compared to the effort that people have put in but it is heartfelt and I truly mean it.
Enjoy your extra day off everyone - I know it’s not much, but it is a way of translating my thanks into something tangible.
Best wishes, Allan”
Update from the People team
Your additional day’s holiday for August has now been added to Breathe. Please don’t forget to book this in and have a
well-earned break!
We are updating our area of the staff intranet and if there’s anything you want to see included in it please email
hrsupport@parenta.com
with the details.
Survey reminder
Please remember to complete the remote or office based survey here.
Free COVID-19 Staying Safe Course
City and Guilds has kindly given us FREE OF CHARGE access to their “COVID-19 – getting ready to return to work and staying safe” course. This is available for all Parenta staff and our learners. All learners will be sent the information this week in their monthly newsletter, but please encourage them to take the course. It takes approximately 35 minutes to complete and you will receive a certificate on completion. Here is the link to the course.
SEISS Information
For those in the LLP (or who have been in the LLP at some point)
Following Desmond’s email to everyone on 29th May regarding the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) for LLP members – this is now closed to new claims for the first grant. However, it has been extended. If you were eligible for the first grant you may be eligible for the second one. You will be able to make a claim for this second and final grant from 17 August 2020. As with the first grant - HMRC will contact you if you’re eligible.
All the details including eligibility and how to claim can be found here.
Zoom company updates
A big thanks to all for tuning into the monthly company updates, particularly those who are still on furlough but remain positive during these difficult times.
Here is the link to our Zoom meeting, held on 17th July: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEDN8H20s6A&feature=emb_logo
Useful Resources
A reminder that all Parenta resources to help our learners and settings can be found here on our intranet, all in one handy place. We publish additional industry expert advice, news articles and crafts in our
free
magazine
and on our
blog.
Here are this month’s How to Guides
and new additions to the staff intranet:
Don’t underestimate the power of testimonials!
The positive endorsements that we receive from our existing customers are not only a great way for giving praise to the individuals or teams concerned, but are used as a valuable marketing tool to
entice new customers!
Please ensure that after every positive interaction you have with a customer you ask them if they would be willing to send in a short testimonial and then follow up with the link https://www.parenta.com/testimonial/
A huge congratulations goes out to Jane Purnell
this month – she has received some amazing
feedback from her learners –
well done Jane, keep up the great work!
I have been really happy with the whole process and felt completed supported
Tracey James, Jemima House Day Nursery
Excellent. Very helpful and friendly :)
Jessica Williams, Jemima house day nursery
This is a personal statement to say that I have finally completed my course with Parenta. But I feel that there is only one person to thank here. And that is Jane Parnell, she has been there through my whole experience. And helped me constantly through tough times, has given me the motivation and encouragement I’ve needed through these hard times. And persevered with me.
An absolute professional at her job, and an exceptional ability of being able to explain things I didn’t totally understand.
Without Jane’s guidance and knowledge I wouldn’t have been able to do it so I thank her solely for all of her help
and support through the whole year.
Helen Mccauley, Little Lanes
Keep those High Fives coming!
Thanks to all those who have been giving kudos throughout the month – please keep it going, it’s important now more than ever to give each other a deserved ‘pat on the back’. We have a winner for July – Katie Maclean
– although the leaderboard is really tight at the top with Julia Emson and Pippa Cain hot on Katie’s heels! – congratulations to all of you!
Don't forget you can start voting for our August employee of the month already. Keep that Kudos coming and please give recognition for all the hard work our colleagues are doing.
Welcome to:
- Denise McGuire
- Paul Burton
Goodbye to:
- Allison Barrette
- Diana Gower
- Linda O’Neill
- Diane Moore
- Kim Potter
- Joanne Brennan
- Tracey Buffery
- Jem Cross
- June Farquharson
- Heather Gamble
- Amy Webber
- Raquel Dennard-Mayne
- Lanya Downie
- Clare Drew
- Kara Last
- Carol Nicholls
Parenta Magazine
Our free monthly magazine is packed with news articles and advice pieces - all of which are written to help nursery managers with the efficient running of their settings and to promote the health, happiness and wellbeing of the children in their care. Please do read it and send the magazine link
to your contacts.
Welcome to the February issue of Purple Post!
Welcome to the January issue of Purple Post!
Welcome to the December issue of Purple Post!