TNB The Nursery Business
The Retention
Working Pack
The practical sheets from the TNB Retention Playbook, pulled into one place so you can print them, write on them and use them with your managers.
Inside
1. Turnover and leaver-cost worksheet
2. Stay conversation script
3. Ninety-day onboarding checklist
4. Twelve-week implementation tracker
5. Weekly five-minute retention review
Use alongside your own HR, safeguarding and employment procedures. This pack is a management aid, not legal or employment-law advice.
TNB Retention Working Pack
Know your number
Calculate the scale of the problem before deciding what to fix.
1. Your turnover rate
Leavers in the last 12 months
Average headcount over the same period
Turnover rate: leavers ÷ average headcount × 100
Of those, how many had under 12 months' service?
2. What one leaver costs you
Direct recruitment and administration
Temporary cover, premium only
Reduced effectiveness during induction
Lost occupancy: places genuinely unavailable × weekly fee × weeks
Total cost of one leaver
TNB Retention Working Pack
The stay conversation
Twenty minutes, off the floor, and separate from supervision or performance management.
Open with
“This is not an appraisal. I want to know what it is actually like working here, so I can fix what I can and be straight about what I cannot. You can be blunt.”
Ask five questions
- What makes you look forward to coming in?
- What makes you dread it?
- If you could change one thing about how we run, what would you change first?
- What are you learning here at the moment?
- What would make you seriously consider a job somewhere else?
Useful follow-ups
Tell me more about that. When did it last happen? What would good look like? Is that a this-week problem or a for-months-now problem?
Close with
“I will go away and look at all of it. You will hear back within two weeks. Some answers will be no, but you will get an answer.”
Notes, in their words
One thing I will do, and by when
TNB Retention Working Pack
Ninety-day onboarding checklist
| Done | When | What | Owner |
|---|
| □ | On acceptance | Put every check-in below in the diary | Manager |
| □ | On acceptance | Contract issued, DBS and references started | Manager |
| □ | Day before | Send start time, parking, uniform, who to ask for and lunch information | Manager |
| □ | Day one | Named buddy assigned and told they are the buddy | Room leader |
| □ | Day one | Introduced by name to everyone in the room | Buddy |
| □ | Day one | Safeguarding induction, DSL named and reporting route explained | Manager |
| □ | Week one | 15-minute check-in: what surprised you and what are you unsure about? | Room leader |
| □ | Week two | Mandatory training booked with dates | Manager |
| □ | Week four | 30-minute review, honest both ways, written note kept | Manager |
| □ | Week eight | Training gaps closed and concerns raised specifically | Manager |
| □ | Week twelve | Probation decision made and confirmed in writing | Manager |
| □ | Month six | First stay conversation | Manager |
TNB Retention Working Pack
Your first twelve weeks
| ✓ | Week | What | Owner |
|---|
| □ | 1 | Turnover rate and cost per leaver calculated | |
| □ | 1 | Weekly staffing review started | |
| □ | 2 | Reward schemes reviewed | |
| □ | 3 | Ninety-day onboarding structure built | |
| □ | 4 | Buddies assigned and every check-in diarised | |
| □ | 5 | Stay conversations booked for Level 3+ and everyone under six months | |
| □ | 6 | What you heard published with a yes, no or looking-at-it response | |
| □ | 7–8 | Two or three named progression roles designed and advertised internally | |
| □ | 9 | One pressure point fixed and announced | |
| □ | 10 | Room leaders trained in the monthly one-to-one | |
| □ | 12 | Turnover rate recalculated and compared | |
Where we started
Where we finished
TNB Retention Working Pack
The weekly five minutes
Before you leave each Friday, write down six things. Consistency matters more than a big engagement exercise once a year.
Who shone?
Name, what they did, how you told them.
Who needed support?
What you observed, what you offered, when you will check back.
Who stepped in?
What they covered and whether you thanked them.
Pressure numbers
Unplanned absence, agency shifts, extra hours, ratio near misses.
Retention watch list
Use initials. Who needs a conversation next?
One thing to change next week