Penguin Childcare Consultancy

“Over the past 10 years the landscape of childcare in Ireland has changed from being a predominantly private industry, with varying compliance standards and regulatory adherence, to a sector that is funded by the state, more strictly regulated and also increasingly valued in our community.

These changes, while they are welcomed by the childcare community and those who utilise childcare services, come with their own unique challenges. Parents struggle to find childcare places; services struggle to reduce overheads and maintain an acceptable profit margin; childcare professionals feel undervalued and overworked in an industry that has suffered from traditionally low pay and high levels of responsibility.

After years of working in the sector and being present to witness and navigate these changes.

I was eager to address these issues on a community level. I wanted to use my experience as both a parent and provider to offer other parents valuable insights into the realities of childcare in Ireland. As I worked with the parent community, I realized that providers could also benefit from learning about the services that parents wanted and needed for their families. I found that I could utilize my insights to support providers to grow and embrace a collaborative partnership with parents based on mutual trust and respect.

Working with childcare SME’s these past few months has been incredibly rewarding as I have had an opportunity to share my experience and expertise to create viable strategies and solutions for growing businesses. We have supported many clients over the past year to address and resolve compliance issues, support staff onboarding and retention, implement expansion strategies and create bespoke training programmes that compliment the values of the individual service. The most rewarding element has definitely been supporting owner-operators to realize their business goals, which can often get lost in the hustle and bustle of daily management
When I began to work with providers directly, it quickly became apparent that one of the primary challenges childcare providers faced was recruitment, staffing, high staff turnover and staff performance. Many of the teams I encountered felt overworked, undervalued and unmotivated. The majority were actively looking to leave their employer and the sector as a whole.

One of my passions has always been to provide meaningful staff support, mentorship, guidance, and training in this incredibly worthwhile career. It has led to the development of our new branch of Penguin, offering one to one staff support, progression plans and career advice for professionals who are looking to grow and develop within the childcare sector.

My journey with Penguin has been insightful, challenging, and rewarding. After a year of operation, I am delighted to be expanding my team and responding to the market needs by also expanding our areas of support. More than ever this past year has reinforced our company’s core values; that by working with the whole community we can continue to Build Trust, Promote Partnership and Serve Childcare Communities everyday.

If you are a parent, provider or staff member in need of support in your childcare journey please contact us today for a free consultation and guidance,