The Client
Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries

For over fifteen years Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries (MPDN) have been working closely with parents, staff and Ofsted to deliver childcare of the highest quality, providing children with unlimited opportunities to learn, develop and grow within a safe, secure and caring environment.

In 2005, Monkey Puzzle launched its first nursery franchise, the first in the sector, having now grown to over 60 successful franchised nursery settings nationwide, making Monkey Puzzle the UK’s largest childcare franchise network managed by a dedicated team from their Head Offices in Berkhampsted, Hertfordshire.

We were tasked to provide them with up-to-date tailored Contracts of Employment, Employee Handbook and HR policies and documentation to support their delivery of ambitious growth plans.


The Brief

These HR Essentials, GDPR and legal compliance were also important drivers within their Ofsted regulated environment.

The Group MD also wanted the support structured as a fully outsourced HR Department; for the HR Lead to be both trusted partner on all aspects of HR in the business but to also have a point of contact for his team if they had any queries.


Our Approach

Regular monthly calls with the HR Lead, oversight and strategic level support from one of the Directors with legal updates on changes to legislation have all helped the Group MD focus on his longer-term plans and vision for the business. We’ve created and successfully implemented all of the HR Foundation documents, with HR Administration support issuing contracts and offer letters helping MPDN embed new ways of working.

Our “Breathe Expert” supported the Group MD and team in getting our cloud-based HR system Breathe fully implemented through the on-site training and being available to answer queries. They’ve seen reduced costs on administration time, satisfied GDPR requirements and most importantly, provided business processes to support effective remote working.

Our package of support and dedicated team has really helped MPDN, and its people, meet their ambitious growth plans, providing challenges where needed and really partnering with them to find workable solutions.

For more details on how we were able to help MPDN, please watch our interview with Rich Blunden, CEO of MPDN.

Client Contact

Group Managing Director Rich Blunden
The Outcome

SYLO have become an invaluable business partner and extended part of the Monkey Puzzle business. The original brief has been met and SYLO have enabled me to bring HR fundamentals to the business as well as strategic HR oversight enabling me to focus on developing the vision and strategy for the business.

SYLO has provided an HR toolkit, giving timely advice and guidance in order to shape the employee landscape and bring excellence to the employee journey and benefits.

Relationship and trust is key for me and SYLO have delivered at every level.