In the childcare industry, it can often be a struggle to keep employees on hand (especially good ones). But when you have the correct strategies in place, you can successfully hire and maintain the best staff for your business.
In this article, you’ll learn about some of the best strategies (that actually work) for keeping your childcare center staffed with good employees!
Hiring The Right People
One of the most crucial things you will need to do is hire the right people to work for your childcare center.
Think about this…you would not want your employees to be short-tempered because that would not work well with being in charge of children all day.
The people that you decide to hire will need to be flexible and patient to work with children. Then once you have the right people on your team, you’ll need to utilize strategies that will keep them around.
Off-the-Clock Connections
Workplace bonding is vital to build morale at your childcare center. Of course, your employees can bond at work. However, it is equally as important to prioritize bonding time for your team outside of work.
Provide opportunities for you and your employees to do fun things together: travel, play mini golf, go shopping, take them out to eat at a nice restaurant, or host a game night. Any activity that you can think of that would help your employees relax and get to know each other better will work wonders for building these connections.
When your employees learn to support each other outside of the workplace, they will naturally learn to better support each other in the workplace too.
By scheduling these bonding times outside of the workplace, you are creating a culture of oneness between you and your team. Essentially, you are creating a family!
Value Your Employees
When you have created the right team to regularly manage your childcare center, you will need to let them know that you truly value them.
How do you do that, you ask? By finding small ways to acknowledge their hard work. (Because without your team, your childcare center could not run, right?)
Here are some ways that you can show them your appreciation for their hard work:
- Say “Thank you”
- Provide snacks
- Give gift cards
- Provide coffee/tea
- Have surprise luncheon days
- Have surprise food truck days
- Offer a “Teacher of the Year” award
- Offer leadership opportunities
- Provide benefits packages
- Give birthday gifts
- Host an “Employee Fun Day”
When you provide value to your team, you can provide value to the children and parents of your childcare center. The best part about that is it allows you the opportunity to increase your tuition rates the following school year (which also allows you more opportunities to do nice things for your employees!).
Final Thoughts
And there you have it… you now are equipped with some surefire strategies to keep your good employees around for longer.
By regularly providing opportunities for team building and acknowledging your team for their hard work, you’ll build a strong foundation for your childcare center that not even a classroom full of toddlers can’t knock down!
For more tips on hiring the right employees, check out my FREE guide 21 Essential Interview Questions!