EVO - Evolve Education

[noodles]

Anecdotal feedback - I had an interesting discussion with my sister-in-law over coffee yesterday. She works at what was previously an upmarket day care centre in one of Auckland more affluent suburbs which was taken over by Evolve some months back.
I asked her how's things at work and got the following.
Bloody awful.!!...said with a highly discontented frowning look. I took the bait..as you do and asked why ?
Her - The whole atmosphere of the place has changed. We're not allowed to even heat the place properly, (this piqued my interest as I'm aware that according to the world health organisation the minimum temperature for a healthy workplace is 16 degrees Celsius).
Me - What do you mean don't they have a heat pump or two ?
Her - No they have a single electric heater and we're not allowed to run it much.
Me - What has been a typical temperature during the last week inside the centre ?
Her - 11 degrees and if we complain we run a real risk of being fired like my friend was last week. She went on - The kids used to get fresh fruit and decent lunches, now they get cheap rice crackers, (for those that don't know these are the $1 packs of cheap biscuits) and for lunch its mainly pasta and rice.
Me - Because that's the cheapest food they can provide right ?
Her- You got it.
She continued - I wouldn't dare ask for new teacher aids, equipment or toys for the kids...the word has come down, we keep costs to the absolute minimum.
Me - How are parents reacting to this ?
Her - We've had quite a number of parents pull their kids out of the centre in the last few weeks. She continued - I'm really not happy and to make matters worse we don't have quite the ideal number of qualified v unqualified care givers...really they have one too many qualified caregivers for the ideal ratio and I think they're trying to get rid of me and hire an unqualified replacement because its cheaper.
Me - They want to run the leanest legally allowable qualified v unqualified care-giver ratio for the number of kids at the centre to keep costs to the lowest level don't they ?
Her - How did you guess ?
Me - What would happen if you reported the unhealthy environment, (meaning lack of heating), to the authorities ?
Her - I'd be certain to lose my job and get a bad reference so would probably be unable to find another one.
Me - Do the other staff feel the same way ?
Her - Yep.

We then went on and discussed my brothers problems at his workplace....I felt bloody happy to be self employed at the end of that discussion.

Undernourished, cold, discontented kids...is this the future of early childcare in N.Z ?

Me ol mate Norah Barlow...you can really trust her to direct this company in a manner that's in the best interests of our young kids right ??????

Do you really want to invest in a company knowing they're not committed to the very best standards for early childhood education and welfare and that its only for profit. Profit comes before kids welfare...something makes me really uneasy about that.

Roger, That really is a quite shocking account. Maybe I have this one wrong.

[Joshuatree]

Sorry i cannot believe 11 degrees no way.

[winner69]

Sorry i cannot believe 11 degrees no way.

That's why punters are moving to Tauranga .... where it never gets to 11 degrees

[Beagle]

Sorry i cannot believe 11 degrees no way.

I am just telling you what we discussed. In her 50's with over a decade of experience in the sector.
I asked why the temperature was so low and she explained that some of the time, (all the time ?) I can't remember to be honest, they have to keep the door that leads to the outside play area open...something to do with regulations if my memory serves me correctly.

You may recall that it was bitterly cold last week, lowest temperature I can recall in Auckland for years in June so that's probably not a common temperature in there but what does it cost to run a couple of decent heat pumps for goodness sake ? Some of the new model heat pumps have nearly 5:1 efficiency in terms of coefficient of performance. Too much to ask for the centre to be heated adequately ? You'd be happy for your kids / grandkids to be fed cheap rice crackers pasta, rice and noodles with a bit of garnishing...basically the cheapest fillers you can provide ?

[Snapper]

That's why punters are moving to Tauranga .... where it never gets to 11 degrees

You obviously weren't here last week!

[Joshuatree]

You'd be happy for your kids / grandkids to be fed cheap rice crackers pasta, rice and noodles with a bit of garnishing...basically the cheapest fillers you can provide ?[/QUOTE]

Why not ;a billion or 2 Asians do and are healthier and more productive then us. Alternative is fat and sugar laden chippies and snack bars, and 10 teaspoon sugar drinks. they are the cheapest and nastiest. I couldn't make a decision based on one persons opinion; who knows what her agenda is(losing her job maybe) and how accurate; but thanks for sharing anyway Roger.

[winner69]

Before Rogers rather sad post last week the EVO share price was over $1

Now it's not much more than 90 cents

Lets blame Roger for this calamity eh.

Bloody cold throughout the country today, wonder what the temp inside some of the centres are today?

[winner69]

Good H1 announcement ......seems all honky dory with Evolve. Share price up 14% according to headlines

Noodles always said this would come right and be a really good investment.

Wonder what noodles up to these days?

[Beagle]

Back to its issue price of nearly a year ago. Hardly a ringing endorsement of the business model is it ! Word on the floor is many staff are still disillusioned, (those that haven't already moved on).

I understand that at this stage Noodles is not planning on coming back...another victim of...well...you know what... Couta1...I'm giving him support by e.mail and he's a 60/40 chance.

[kiwidollabill]

The Early Childcare space is now very (if it wasn't already) competitive. Alot of capacity has been built which is struggling to be filled.

I hear similar bad stories, including lack of oversight in PORSE

DISC: Family members directly involved in the ECE sector