1/2 Casper is regularly at home with his mother Wendy because there is not enough staff at the shelter (photo: Imke van de Laar)
Childcare has been struggling with a serious shortage of staff for a long time. At daycare center Pepino in Berkel-Enschot, the shortage is now so great that one or two groups have to stay at home every day. Parents must then arrange other childcare for their child themselves.
Buzzing, Stef Stuntpilot flies around. Casper is completely absorbed in the game he plays with his mother. Casper normally goes to daycare center Pepino on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. But in recent months, he was regularly at home due to a shortage of employees at the shelter. Mother Wendy van der Eerden: “That is very annoying. We have opted for childcare to make sure that we have childcare when we have to work.”
“We have to keep puzzling and that’s stressful.”
The parents are informed via an app which days are not available. Wendy shows the latest message. “In this case, there were eight closing days. The first thing I do is see how many days it is for Casper. There were now five. Then we have to puzzle: when can we exchange working days and on which days should we visit grandpas and grandmas questions? That is stressful and requires quite a bit of frustration and energy.”
Humankind, the organization behind daycare center Pepino, is also disappointed by the situation in Berkel-Enschot. “We think it’s terrible. We are faced with the daily challenge of keeping groups open and that is not always possible due to the shortage on the labor market,” says regional director Esther de Koning.
“We have five or six vacancies open, just for this daycare center.”
According to De Koning, it is difficult to find employees. “The labor market is improving. There are many vacancies and as a result some people leave the shelter to do something else. There is also a smaller influx of pupils who leave school and enter childcare. If you put that side by side, you have a shortage.”
And that is now clearly noticeable at Pepino. “We have to close one or two groups every day. There are two or three employees on each group. So count it up. We have five vacancies open for this daycare center.”
“Parents are not happy and we fully understand that. We think it’s terrible ourselves.”
A closing carousel has now been introduced at Pepino. Every day one or two groups close the doors and that rotates. “We want to prevent the same groups from sitting at home. That’s why we spread it.”
De Koning also realizes that this is only a plaster on the sore wound. “Parents are not happy and we completely understand that.”
“We will train lateral entrants internally so that they can start working for us.”
Humankind tries to solve the problems. “To reduce the workload, we deploy location assistants. Then there are extra hands on the group, so that there is more time and attention for the children.”
And this summer the Humankind Academy will be opened in Brabant. “That is a training that we provide ourselves, in which we try to attract lateral entrants. We train them internally so that they can start working for us. It will not completely solve the staff shortage, but it will certainly help.”
Still, for Wendy and her son, the puzzle is almost over: “Casper will go to school after next weekend.”