Finding and retaining child care educators can be a challenge for many daycare center operators. Preventing burn-out should always be a key focus for daycare operators and supervisors, to help you retain your valued employees. From ensuring you’re hiring the right people for the job to creating the best environment for staff, we’ve got you covered with some great tips on finding the best child care educators, while also creating healthy and happy environments for your child care staff.
Finding Great Child Care Workers
Job Descriptions
When you begin the hiring process, start with creating job descriptions that are detailed and accurate, so potential staff know exactly what to expect. Anyone who has worked with children understands that while it is a highly rewarding job, it can also be exhausting and draining. You want possible employees to be up to the task and know what the job truly entails. Be sure to add any extras you offer that put you above and beyond other employers. Some examples: supportive environments, calming break spaces, room for growth, and use of a fun digital app like ChildFriendly that makes their job easier.
Utilize our free job posting templates to help make your employee search easier.
Post in the Right Places
Finding the best child care workers is your first step. Your job ad should be posted on more than one platform. Along with Indeed and LinkedIn, you could also try using social media (sponsored will increase your reach). Think outside the box and look to your local colleges for recent grads or alumni, and connect with local businesses geared toward infants and children.
Hire the Right Child Care Employees
The interview process is a great opportunity to really get to know potential employees. Along with your standard questions that look at their experience, skills and professionalism, you can provide potential candidates with different scenarios to see how they would handle them. You want to ensure employees can handle any situation that may occur. This will give you a good idea of their ability to navigate the ins and outs of working with children all day. Don’t forget to confirm they have their proper criminal record checks and follow up with their references. Working with children, it’s critical there are no previous conduct issues.
Retaining Child Care Workers
Retaining great child care center workers is your next step. Dealing with turnover can not only be time-consuming and costly, but it also affects the children and overall daycare or school environment. It’s crucial that young children develop an attachment to those caring for them daily. When you find amazing child care workers, it’s important to also focus on creating environments that ensure they stay with you for as long as possible.
Create a Healthy Work Environment
Working with children can certainly be tiring, so providing your daycare center staff with a healthy and supportive environment is crucial. Make sure you are giving them opportunities to de-stress and that everyone always gets their allotted breaks. Providing options for growth or greater responsibility can also be a key feature in retaining child care staff. Ask for their input and put their good suggestions into practice. Providing a great atmosphere that really fosters collaboration and leaves the door open for communication ensures you are creating a place where people truly enjoy coming to work.
Simplify Paperwork
Take burdensome tasks off the plates of your child care workers, giving them more time to do what they love – spend time with the children! Going digital can save so much time and frustration for everyone. The ChildFriendly app lets staff easily share how the children are doing, any significant milestones, and daily happenings such as meals and toileting. You can also digitize incident reporting, removing much of the tedious paperwork involved. Your employees will be more than happy to use the time and energy spent on paperwork to be with the children
Show Them Appreciation!
Ensure your employees feel valued and appreciated. There are so many ways you can show appreciation for your child care staff, both small and big. When employees feel valued and enjoy their job, they are much more likely to stay, helping you retain your child care educators. Having a positive environment with happy workers is something that children and parents also pick up on. Seeing those who care for their children every day feeling happy and supported makes a big difference.
Hours and Wages
Make sure you are providing regular and consistent hours as well as a healthy and livable wage. If hours are up and down, this can create a sense of instability for employees. Knowing they have a guaranteed number of hours, regular breaks, and a competitive wage are big factors when it comes to retaining child care workers.
Minimize Extra Demands
Child care educators are ideally in the industry because they truly love working with children. Try to minimize extra demands on your staff so they can focus on being with the children. Staying organized can go a long way in preventing adding burdens onto their plates. Utilize ChildFriendly to make communication, planning and record-keeping much easier and faster.
Putting into practice these tips for finding and retaining child care workers can help your business grow and succeed without unnecessary setbacks. A healthy and positive environment benefits everyone.
