Free TNB business tool
The Weekly
Staffing Review
Five minutes, once a week. Who shone, who needed a hand, who stepped in, and what you will do about it. Works whether you run one setting or fifty.
This week
Who shone
Name the behaviour, not the personality. Say what they did and how you told them. Praise that never reaches the person is worth nothing.
Who needed support
This is a support log, not a disciplinary record. Write what you observed, what you offered, and when you will check back. Stick to facts and dates. If a concern is serious enough to need formal action, stop here and open your capability or conduct procedure properly.
Who stepped in
Cover, swapped shifts, stayed late, moved rooms. These people carry your rota. They are also the ones who quietly burn out first.
Pressure check
Four numbers. Track them every week and the pattern tells you more than any exit interview.
Retention watch
Who feels wobbly. You usually know weeks before the resignation lands. Pick the likely reason and one action you will take before next Friday.
Someone here is either new or has appeared twice running. Twenty minutes, off the floor, not attached to a supervision. Ask these five and write down what they actually say.
- 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?
Come back with an answer inside two weeks, even if the answer is no. Asking and then doing nothing is worse than never asking.
Recruitment pipeline
Vacancies cost you occupancy, not just cover. Keep the funnel visible so you can see where candidates drop out.
Based on advertising or agency fees, manager time, DBS and induction admin, cover across the vacancy, and reduced effectiveness in the first three months. Assumes a Level 3 salary of about £27,000, which is above the £26,436 legal floor for 40 paid hours at the April 2026 National Living Wage. Lost occupancy sits on top of this and is usually the bigger number. This is a working model, not a published figure. Test it against your own last three leavers.
One thing I will change
Not five things. One. Carry it into next week's review and mark whether it happened.
Before you file this
- This is personal data. Store it securely, limit access to those who need it, and set a retention period. Twelve months is a sensible default unless it feeds a formal process.
- Nothing here replaces a formal procedure. If conduct, capability or safeguarding is in question, follow your policy and the Acas Code of Practice from the start.
- Record facts, not feelings about a person. "Arrived after ratio opened three times" is a fact. "Has a bad attitude" is not, and it will not survive a tribunal.
- Do not record health, pregnancy, religion, race, disability or any other protected characteristic here. Health matters belong in a separate confidential record with a lawful basis.
- Your team can ask to see this. A subject access request covers these notes. Write everything as though the person will read it, because one day they might.
- Be consistent. Praising and supporting some staff and not others, without a clear reason, is where discrimination claims start.
- Use initials in the retention watch. Recording a named person alongside your guess at why they might leave is the highest risk entry on this form. Initials do the same job.
- Probation now carries real weight. The unfair dismissal qualifying period drops to six months from January 2027, with the compensation cap removed. Make probation decisions on time, in writing, and with evidence.