In a sector where businesses spend, on average, 64% of revenue on wages, it's important to keep on top of your expenditure.
That's not to say that you should be skimping on wages to the detriment of working conditions - it's all about creating a more efficient workforce that isn't overstretched or underworked.
The need to be financially healthy as a business means centres can continue to deliver a great service to families in the local community. So using a system that can predict the needs of your team, and make rostering more efficient and cost-effective, is a welcome addition to any ECEC service.
How It Works
OWNA's rostering function predicts the needs of your service down to every 30 minutes.
It does this by using data of when children are being picked up and dropped off, the regulations around room ratios, and educator availability.
By having this data at your fingertips, you're able to better manage the amount of educators rostered on at any one time. This will prevent overstaffing - saving costs - or being in breach of regulations from understaffing.
Reducing The Workload
By predicting the roster, we can know the requirements of the team each week. In a sector that is notoriously overworked, it is essential that we can predict these things in order to effectively manage the workload of staff and increase educator wellbeing.
As a result, the team can work more efficiently and things like documentation can be done in real-time, under less pressure, and ultimately reflect the goings-on in the service.
Educator wellbeing is such an important factor - so much so that a 2016 study showed an overwhelming amount of paperwork was attributed to educators wanting to leave the sector. And whilst a rostering system isn't going to solve everyone's problems, it can help release some of the burden.
All-In-One Early Ed-Tech Solution
Using multiple apps to manage your early education service is clunky, inefficient and outdated.
A rostering function that sits within an all-in-one childcare management platform is best for efficiency in all aspects of your service. Rostering, HR, staff appraisals and other aspects of compliance can be done in one spot - no need to flick between apps, screens or folders.
And when it comes time to contact support for any reason, having one point of contact is a huge timesaver, which we rarely factor into the 'cost' we usually talk about, but it's an important factor when it comes to efficiency.
So you've managed to cut costs, reduce the workload for educators, and increase efficiency through your roster and software choices. And at the end of the day, everyone can go home happier (with less signs of burnout).
Whilst keeping costs down is vital for any business, the benefits of a predictive roster affects so much more than your bottom line.
If you'd like to see what an all-in-one childcare management software solution - backed by AI - could do for your ECEC service, reach out to OWNA today!