“It is the nonfinancial rewards — as opposed to the financial rewards —
that are viewed as having more impact on employee engagement,” said Tom
McMullen, North American practice leader for Hay Group. “Quality of
work, career development, organization climate and work-life balance
all have a greater perceived impact on employee engagement than
financial rewards such as base salaries, benefits and monetary
incentives.”

These were just a few of the conclusions of the survey, “Impact of Rewards Programs on Employee Engagement,”
published in June. The data found that, overall, employees have limited
involvement in the design of rewards programs, with 11% of respondents
indicating that their organization frequently (i.e. often or always)
involved employees in the design of rewards programs.

The majority of daycare operators on P.E.I. want to transition their centres into provincial Early Years Centres.
All 95 daycares on the Island had until July 1 to decide whether to take part in the many changes coming to the childcare sector with government’s announcement of its new preschool initiative in late May.
The centrepiece of the massive changes is a transition of current daycares into provincial Early Years Centres. These centres will charge regulated fees, offer pay increases to early childhood educators and will offer a standardized provincial curriculum.
Fifty-five of the 95 daycares in the province have told the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development they want to transition into Early Years Centres.
But that doesn’t mean they will all become provincial centres.
Government officials are going through each application and will determine whether each daycare qualifies to become an Early Years Centre.
“We’re going through them based on the criteria that we gave (operators). We gave them a criteria to say what information we require and what the application will be judged on,” said Linda Lowther, assistant deputy minister of Early Childhood Development.
For centres to qualify, operators will have to agree to provide services most do not currently offer. They will have to be open year-round, will have strict nutrition policies and, with 40-50 children, will be larger than most current daycares. To address a major lack of childcare spaces for infants under 22 months, government is requiring all Early Years Centres to also accept a certain number of babies.
Lowther said it’s too early to say how many of the 55 daycares that applied will be accepted to become provincial centres, as officials are still going through applications.
But not all daycares in the province are interested in joining the new provincial childcare system. Close to a quarter of the centres told government they want to remain private.
Another 12 centres are taking advantage of the government’s offer to buy out licences. Those centres will receive twice the amount they currently receive annually for their operating grant as a one-time licence buyout.
A total of five daycares will be closing their doors altogether. Lowther said these numbers correspond with the department’s projections.
“It’s pretty close to what we thought we’d get, as far as the numbers go. We were expecting about 50 (to transition).”
The department is hoping 20-25 daycares will be ready to open as Early Years Centres this September. The rest will have until Oct. 1 to submit a plan for any work they need to do to complete the transition.
“The start dates for those supplementary centres could vary anywhere from October to September of 2011 or even possibly later, depending on what they need to do.” Lowther said.
There is currently no cap on the number of Early Years Centres that will be established, but the province will determine how many are needed based on the childcare requirements of each community across the Island.
“We want to make sure that there’s sufficient numbers to take in the children that are there and that they’re spread out so that there’s no communities or areas that don’t have access,” Lowther said.
One thing not yet known is whether the 55 daycares that have applied are evenly spread across P.E.I.
Lowther said that’s one of the many things that will be determined over the next week as officials continue to go through the daycare applications. The department will be reviewing applications until July 16. Officials will meet with each daycare operator to let them know the results of this process.

via www.theguardian.pe.ca