Keeping talented and caring staff in child care is no easy task. "If only we could pay them more....." is a common, and reasonable, lament. Although paying child care providers more money is an important goal, there are other strategies that directors can use everyday to inspire staff to develop their unique talents and, ideally, to increase their commitment to their work.
Studies from the business world suggest that job commitment represents a combination of rewards, costs, alternatives, and investments (Rusbult & Farrell, 1983). For example, job rewards are typically money, public recognition, or good feelings about one's performance. Costs are frequently the feeling of no control over one's work or negative relations with co-workers. Job alternatives are other equally, or more, attractive work options. Investments are often one's personal feelings about work or extra time and money spent on training. When job costs and alternatives outweigh job rewards and investments, the likelihood increases that a person will lose job commitment and seek other work.
The purpose of this article is to offer ideas to directors for improving job rewards and investments with the ideal goal of increasing staff commitment to their work. Directors are in a wonderful position to inspire staff. They shape the daily work environment, which is an important part of how well staff care for children (Bloom & Sheerer, 1992). A satisfying work environment is generally related to better staff caregiving.
Effective leadership is a great starting point for improving job rewards and investments to quality child care. Effective leaders encourage staff to take a role in the business and to continue growing professionally (Bloom, 1995; Rosener, 1990; Beal, 1996). Encouraging staff to play a part in the child care program occurs through creating a cooperative work environment, group decision making, open information sharing, and active discussion about the reasoning behind decisions. Promoting staff development involves active listening, paying attention, creating opportunities for individual growth, and acknowledging the unique strengths of each staff member.
The following are ideas for how directors can increase the rewards and investments that staff experience from their work.
Think back to a time when you received a compliment that meant a lot to you. Who gave you the compliment? What was it about? How did it make you feel then? How does it make you feel now? Carrying these words and feelings inside of us and remembering them during difficult times is a very powerful coping strategy. As a child care director, you have a golden opportunity to help your staff develop a collection of positive messages that stays inside of them.
You can do this by "catching your staff doing something right" and telling them what you see and how it makes your feel (Blanchard, & Johnson, 1982). For instance, "Katy sure is having a tough day. I saw you take a few extra minutes to comfort her after nap time and I could see that it helped her feel better. Knowing how much you care for the children reassures me that our center is doing a lot to support families." Effective praise and encouragement is specific and detailed, often private, centered on process, genuine and sincere, and based on an individual's strengths (Hitz & Driscoll, 1988).
Sometimes it is fun to let staff know how much you appreciate their work with acts that are not connected to specific incidents. These small gestures go a long way to letting your staff know that you want to stay in touch with them. Leave a Hershey's Hug near their workstation in the morning with a note, "Start the day with a hug". Keep a birthday list and box of cards in your desk so that you can easily remember birthdays and deliver cards signed by everyone. When you travel, send postcards or buy inexpensive souvenirs to share when you return.
Create opportunities for your staff to develop their unique talents. If a staff member plays an instrument or sings, encourage her/him to plan and carry out a variety of musical activities. If writing poetry is another's talent, encourage him/her to create some language-based poetry experiences for the children. These opportunities can also be used to help staff evaluate their plans against pre-set objectives so that they have ideas for improvement. During these times, you can serve as a guide to your staff and allow them to be the final judge of the experience.
Directors can also model for staff the importance of engaging in ongoing personal and professional evaluation of their caregiving efforts (Frede, 1995). One way to do this is by working together to create a self-assessment tool that charts a staff person's professional development. Directors and staff can meet individually to review goals, evaluate progress, and to set new goals for the future.
Providing quality child care is a demanding and emotionally taxing job. Providing quality child care is also one of the most personally and professionally rewarding careers that one can pursue. Child care directors are in a great position to actively help staff experience the rewards of supporting children and families and to encourage staff to invest in providing quality care. Ultimately, we hope that these efforts will help directors have "Staff for Keeps".
References
Beal, Cynthia, (1996). Do unto teachers as you would have teachers do unto children. Child Care Information Exchange, 11, 96-99.
Blanchard, Kenneth & Johnson, Spencer. (1982). The One Minute Manager. New York, NY: Berkley Publishing Group.
Bloom, Paula Jorde. (1995). Shared decisionmaking: The centerpiece of participatory management. Young Children, 50.
Bloom, Paula Jorde & Sheerer, Marilyn. (1992). The effect of leadership training on child care program quality. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 7, 579-594.
Frede, Ellen C. (1995). The role of program quality in producing early childhood program benefits. In R.E. Behrman (Ed.), The Future of Children: Long-Term Outcomes of Early Childhood Programs. Los Altos, CA: The Center for the Future of Children.
Hitz, Randy & Driscoll, Amy. (1988). Praise or encouragement? New insights into praise: Implications for early childhood teachers. Young Children, (July), 6-13.
Rosener, Judy B. (1990). Ways women lead. Harvard Business Review, 68, 119-125.
Rusbult, Caryl, E & Farrell, Dan. (1983). A longitudinal test of the investment model: The impact on job satisfaction, job commitment, and turnover of variations in rewards, costs, alternatives, and investments. Journal of Applied Psychology, 68, 429-438.