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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Preschool Director Needs Help!
Unregistered 02:57 PM 03-29-2012
I own and operate a Preschool/Child Care Center and I'm having staffing issues. The turn over is killin me and I wondered if other Directors have the same problem. Any insight anyone can offer???
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Michael 02:59 PM 03-29-2012
Similar thread on turn over staff: https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32135
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small_steps 07:40 PM 03-29-2012
I was a center director for a few years and yes...turnover is high in childcare. I'm not sure that I have any tips on what can be done to eliminate some of that turnover. I know that I've worked staff for two different schedules. One daycare I worked at I worked the staff 1/2 days, and the other center staff worked full days. Full time seemed to have a lower turnover rate than the part time just because many would leave the part time in need of more hours. The last daycare I directed paid just a little bit more (maybe $.75 to $1.0 more per hour) for teachers.
Monthly staff meetings and other things that keep up the communication between the teachers and directors is always helpful.

What reasons are teachers giving you for leaving? Maybe if you tell us what they are giving as excuses we can give a few more ideas.
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Ariana 09:45 AM 03-30-2012
Have you taken any organizational behavior courses? Do you appreciate your staff and help them by getting on the floor with them instead of staying in your office? Staff appreciation goes a long way. I personally haven't been a supervisor but have worked in several centres and the ones I stayed in were ones where I felt I was appreciated and listened to. I'm not saying that this is the case in your situation (I don't know you!) but often people don't want to work for people who treat them like dirt.

http://www.wikihow.com/Reduce-Employee-Turnover
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cheerfuldom 10:05 AM 03-30-2012
Talk to your current staff and see what it is going to take to keep them there. Most likely it is going to be more pay, more appreciation and lower kid ratio (which means it might be time for a tuition increase for parents). There is no easy solution and what you have described happens at probably 90% of daycare facilities.
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SimpleMom 10:13 AM 03-30-2012
Great pay, benefits, low ratios, staff involvement, work the floor with the staff. That's what kept me at the Center I worked for. I loved the staff and the Director's even moreso. Ratios were low, pay was great (for childcare), and they had benefits. ONly left cuz I moved.

Even then, the turn-over was there, but there were steady main teacher's in each room.
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godiva83 10:38 AM 03-30-2012
I was a supervisor of about 10 F/T and 4 P/T staff prior to having my DS.

We had higher turn over in our occasional staff, simply because I could not offer them F/T positions. All our F/T staff were long timers what worked for me was, staff : supervisor involvement. I wasn't afraid to come in and help out where I could, I would help set up class rooms, clean, and overall just be present and supportive. It is hard work being an ECE you need to support your staff.
The pay was exceptional, plus benefits and wage enhancements yearly, also bonuses when I could.
Burn out is high in this profession and when you have good staff you do all you can in your power to keep them.
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Sugar Magnolia 10:55 AM 03-30-2012
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I own and operate a Preschool/Child Care Center and I'm having staffing issues. The turn over is killin me and I wondered if other Directors have the same problem. Any insight anyone can offer???
Nope. I don't have that problem. I also own and operate a center, key word being operate. I am the director, but in the classroom 100% of the time. Open communication, willingness to work hard right next to my staff, being open to suggestions, and above all: PAY. PAY WELL, AND ON TIME. I pay $10/hour.
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permanentvacation 11:13 AM 03-30-2012
I am not have have never been a director of a center. However, I have owned my own home daycare and had employees here and have been an employee of three centers. I am qualified to be a director of a center and have toyed around with the idea which included having discussions with current directors of a few local centers to get a feel for the job. I have also been in manangement of a furniture store, a retail store, and the manager of a hotel. So even though I haven't been a director of a center, I've been the mananger of staff and had to keep employees happy with their jobs.

What I have learned through my experience is...

The younger employees seem to leave their jobs at daycare centers more often than the employees aged 30 and up. Not discriminating, just something that I have noticed.

Of course, rate of pay does matter. So do things like employee benefits, employee appreciation/respect from directors as well as co-workers, whether or not as a whole, everyone (co-workers, directors, parents, and children) gets along and the workday is pleasant, cleanliness of facility, work load, work hours, the feeling that what they do during the day really matters/is important/ that they make a difference and that they are good at their job, being able to advance in their place of business, etc.

Often, there is no real ability to advance in a center beyond being a teacher. Most directors and assistant directors stay in their position for many years. So once you are a teacher and getting that rate of pay, you are pretty much stuck in that job title and rate of pay for many years with no chance of advancing in your career. So for someone who likes to climb the ladder and advance their skills, they are not truly able to do that in a center. One center I worked at allowed a couple of the teachers, who obviously wanted to advance, to help out in the office for a couple of hours each week. That made those teachers happier.

Not that you want to hear this, but is is you? Are you too hard on the staff? Are you too lieniant on the staff? Even though you are the boss and have to be business-like, are you friendly and fun at times as well? Is your center unorganized?

Is there favoritism going on? Either from director to staff, or within classrooms between teachers and aids?

Are some staff members taking advantage of others by taking a longer lunch, more bathroom breaks, simply not doing their share of the work, etc.

Are some of the staff gossipers? If so, the ones who do not appreciate gossip will not want to continue working with that going on.

You might want to put up a suggestion box so people can unanomously give their suggestions and opinions of what should be changed.

Is the business as a whole well organized?

I would suggest that you let your staff know in advance that you will hold a meeting in x amount of days to discuss the overall concerns of working in the center. Let them know that you want to have an honest discussion of what makes them happy about working there and what they do not like about working there. By letting them know in advance, the ones that actually care about working there might take some time to think about the situation and jot down their concerns to mention during the meeting.

Let them know during the meeting that they can come to you individually at any time to discuss any concerns that they might have.

I would also let them know that you honestly do plan on making changes to make the center a more desireable work place. Hopefully by letting them know that you truly are going to work towards making a difference in the things that they are not happy with, hopefully the employees will stick around and give you some time to make changes instead of just up and quitting.

I would also let them know that you are going to put up a suggestion box so they can let you know their concerns without anyone knowing who said what.

I would take some time (whether a couple of days or 2 weeks) to really look at my center as if it were the first time I looked at it. Starting with driving by the center on the road. Then turn around and honestly look at the building and grounds as you enter the parking area. When you enter the building, notice EVERYTHING from the color of the paint, whether or not it is chipping off the wall, the lighting, the items on the wall, how welcomed you feel when entering the center, etc. Then go from room to room and spend time in each room looking and noticing how each room makes you feel; welcomed, happy, pleasant, or uneasy, negative. Try to see things through the teachers and aids eyes. Get a feel of their work load, the behavior of the children that they are working with, whether or not the teacher and aid seem to get along with each other, the organization of the room, EVERYTHING. Do the same with the office and every room you have in the building. Go to the teachers' supply room if you have one and see if it is well-organized and well-stocked. Basically really LOOK AT and GET A FEEL FOR your entire company and see if you notice things that you think need to be changed.

Put yourself in their shoes for a while. It is very easy to forget what it's like to be the employee when you are the boss.
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Bookworm 08:03 PM 03-30-2012
I work in a center and everything PermanentVaction said is true. Especially the part about the under 30 group. The low pay is also a factor for high turnover. If you do call a meeting, letting your employees know that you have their back will go a long way in improving your relationships with them.
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kendallina 08:32 PM 03-30-2012
Lots of great things have already been mentioned. I'll add just two more thoughts...


1. Hire the right people. Some of the employees that I've hired have been fantastic and others have been awful (I've learned from those mistakes of hiring people that are just not a good fit, you can often tell in the interview). You will spend sooo much time and energy on those awful employees. Never hire just because you need somebody, make sure it's the right person, even if that means that you have to step into ratio or make adjustments elsewhere until you find that right person. No amount of good 'directing' will help an employee that doesn't care to begin with. And CHECK REFERENCES before hiring someone!

2. Train new hires very very well. Spend time with them. Demonstrate how things should be carried out. If they do something that isn't within your philosophy of doing things, explain how and why you'd prefer things in another way. Meet with them (and each of your employees) monthly at least for a few minutes or longer if needed.

3. One suggestion for staff meetings...we used to do a chart at the beginning of every staff meeting. On one piece of chart paper we wrote "What's Working" and the other one said, "What's not Working". Then, one person writes on the chart paper as people start talking about what's working and what's not.
Under What's Working, I often had teachers compliment each other, show appreciation for other teachers or the cooks, etc. They would often discuss successes that they've had with the children (it's a great way to reflect on what they're doing and learn from others that found strategies that are successful).
Under What's Not Working, we talked about anything that just wasn't working...i.e. 'my group is ready to go outside at 9:30 and your group is still outside", then the teachers can work together to figure it out (it was not my role as director to figure it out for them, it was their job and often others teachers would step in and offer suggestions....I usually stayed pretty quiet during the problem solving part of this activity). The point is, get them communicating with eachother and not holding things in or complaining

Good luck!
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