Not being in setting myself, I am constantly in awe of managers who seem to be able to calculate ratios in their heads. They automatically work out who needs to be where and when, levels of qualified to unqualified, a task that would require me to sit with a map of the setting, moving small plastic figures around like a game of risk. However, while every manager I know seems to do this automatically, calculating occupancy seems to throw everyone into a spin, and this seems to be for a variety of reasons.
When I’m valuing a setting, I will always ask about occupancy, and even for those who use occupancy software, the answer is rarely confident. The large peaks and troughs of demand, coupled with the sheer intensity of day-to-day management often stops managers from truly delving into their occupancy levels and understanding them. In many cases a manager will tell me occupancy is at 85% for me to calculate it at 70% when I sit down and work out the numbers. For those who use occupancy software, it can go the other way. I only recently found out that one software provider calculates a fulltime equivalent (FTE) place to include all opening hours, which sounds logical on paper. However, it means that if you have a child who doesn’t attend breakfast club and arrives at 8.30am rather than 7.30am, that child would be calculated as a 0.9FTE, so the report will tell you that you have capacity when you in fact have a full house by 9am in the morning.
So, what is the solution? If occupancy cannot be calculated by ‘it feels full, so we must be full’ or calculated accurately by the software provided, how do you know if you have capacity, and that the ratios you are working to are being fully utilised along the way?
I recently spent time with Lucy Lewin, who is the creator of The Profitable Nursery Academy, and kindly gave her time for a new video series called ‘Added Value’, which you shall hopefully be seeing soon. This subject came up and we were discussing how important it is to constantly review not just the financial key numbers, but the operational ones as well, of which the occupancy is the upmost important. We also discussed how this can be done easily without having to spend hours interpreting how the software is calculating occupancy or completing headcounts on an hourly basis to work out how full you are. As always the answer really is surprisingly simple.
As Lucy said to me ‘We sell hours’. By which she means that you may work on day rates and sessions, but ultimately if you have 50 places, and you are open 50 hours a week, then you have available 2,500 hours a week. Start there and work out how many of those hours you are being paid for. You can create yourself a basic excel spreadsheet, or work it out on paper. Once you have that you know your true occupancy and you can take it one step further to see when and where you have hours spare. Armed with that knowledge you can go on to fill those hours up and then when you do then look at the financial figures, you’ll see the direct impact that understanding your operational figures has made.
Look out for the video series coming soon. An ongoing series of short positive videos aimed at ‘Adding Value’ to the setting.
If you would like to receive our new video series and other resources straight to your email, contact us at hello@owenfroebel.co.uk and we will add you to our mailing list.
