The Importance of an Amazing Onboarding Process for Your Childcare Staff

Is it time for recess yet? I'm so glad you found time to join us here on the Child Care Director's Chair, where Erica Saccocio shares her best practices that she's refined through her passion of directing child care centers over the last 23 years. From parenting interaction systems to save you time, money and stress to profitability, she shares it all from the child care Director's chair.

Hey, guys. Welcome back to another episode of the Child Care Director's Chair. I'm your host, Erica Sakoshio, and today I want to talk about the onboarding process. And, you know, we're all guilty of it. How many times have you hired a new employee, had great intentions on how you were going to train them, the amount of time you were going to train them, you have a whole system in place, and they're there for three days, and by day three, they're already up in a classroom. And if you say not you, I'm going to say you're probably not telling the truth. So we're all guilty of it. And I think that we really need to take a step back. I know that a lot of that has to do with, not that we don't have good intentions, but because of ratio, we are required to get someone in that room as quickly as possible. So you often hear people say, continue to hire, always hire, even when you don't have a spot. Continue to hire and weed out to build the best team. And I believe in that. So I want to talk about onboarding because I, like many of you, have been guilty of it when we've had to do that. And I've been thinking a lot about that lately. And, you know, we make time to do other things. Like when we have staff meetings, we might have to hold them at night or before, you know, before a shift or, you know, on a weekend. And so I think we might have to do the same right now for onboarding because it's super important and we can't keep neglecting it. And that is one of the reasons why staff leave. You know, if they don't feel acclimated, they don't feel included, they don't feel welcome, they're out of there and they can go right to the next center, right around the corner and have a job in five minutes. So, you know, the days of people having to stay are long gone. People are making decisions based on where they feel good, where they feel value, where they feel they know what they're doing, all of those things. And I think rightly so, I feel like they do deserve our time and attention as a new employee. So let's talk about the importance of an amazing onboarding process for your child care staff. I think we all have to agree that we understand that our staff play a critical role and creating a safe and nurturing environment for the little ones in our care. Ensuring that our new hires are properly onboarded is essential for their success and the overall success of your program. So I can't really think of anything that would be more important than putting our time into that. So in the episode, we'll explore why you need to have an amazing odd board process for your child care staff and what will happen if you neglect this critical step. Although I think you already know, the first thing is we're going to talk about is building a solid foundation. An exceptional onboarding process sets the stage for a strong foundation. It helps new employees understand the center's mission, the values and the expectations. By clearly communicating your center's vision and goals, you can align your staff's efforts towards a common objective. Creating a harmonious and productive work environment. Doesn't that sound nice? A positive, productive work environment. I know that you're longing for it. We're all longing for it. The second thing is it really does help you retain top talent. A well structured onboarding process significantly improve staff retention rates. When employees feel supported and valued from day one, they are more than likely to stay committed at the center. A positive onboarding experiences forces a sense of belonging and loyalty. It reduces turnover and associated costs of recruiting and training new staff. Not to mention your existing team for a minute. Your existing team is exhausted. They're tired of covering, they're tired of call outs, they're tired of being short staff. So if that continues, it's not only the new talent coming in that it affects, but it also affects your existing A and B players. You know who. It doesn't affect the C and D players because they could care less. You know, they're leaving on time, they're not staying late, they're not putting in any extra. It's usually your A and B players who really, really, really stay committed. They stay late, they're flexible, they cover someone else's shift, they do all those things. And they're the ones unfortunately who feel the brunt of being short staffed. Not to mention your leadership team who also typically is in classrooms and not being able to, to run your center effectively because they're constantly in classrooms. So it affects, it affects all your top people. So if you don't address that right away, it really is just a domino effect. And I know that many of you, I'm speaking to your soul right now because we've all been dealing with this for quite some time. And I think it is really going to be us as an industry that's going to have to save us. I don't think anybody else is coming, coming to save us. I think we have to do it as a community. So I think that onboarding is definitely part of that. Ensuring compliance. In child care centers, we all must adhere to various regulations and licensing requirements. An effective onboarding process ensures that your staff is well informed about the regulations, including health and safety protocols, child protection policies and emergency procedures. By providing comprehensive training during onboarding, you can ensure that your center remains in compliance and maintains the safety environment for your children. Now, can you imagine that you have somebody on day three and there's an actual fire and you have not shown them how to evacuate the building. You have not shown them where the children need to go during a fire drill. That's on you. And that's your number one responsibility, is to make sure that children are safe. So you have to make sure that you are doing that on day one. Before that person is in a room, you're giving them a tour of the center. Where are the evacuation spots, where are the fire extinguishers, what is the protocol if, God forbid, there's an intruder. All that stuff needs to happen on day one. So I need you to really think about prioritizing. If there is a period of time where you don't have the ability to give all of the mission and the core and all of that, although is important, maybe if you have a limited time, maybe that waits for day two, three or four. Day one is all about safety protocols. Day one is all about knowing custody challenges in a classroom. Who's allergic to what, who has a medical condition, all those health and safety information documents, all of that, they need to know that on day one. So if you have a limited amount of time, you have to start there. The next thing is enhancing performance and productivity. Properly onboarding your child care staff equips them with the necessary skills and knowledge to perform their roles effectively. Through comprehensive training sessions, they can learn about best practice, child development theories, behavior management techniques and more. And this knowledge empowers your staff to provide high quality care. It results in improved performance and increased productivity. And in most states, trainings are now offered for free. Long gone are the days that you had to pay somebody two, three hundred dollars to come in and do a workshop for Your staff after hours. There are so many trainings available online, most of them are free. I know in the state of Rhode island we have a 18 hour orientation for new employees that's mandated that they have to take it within the first 90 days. Days. The other thing is you have to have CPR and first aid within the first 90 days. To me that's a priority. Do you really want to have to worry about a new employee being in a classroom on week four and not knowing cpr? So prioritize what you're going to onboard first with regulations and safety in mind.

The next thing is it fosters teamwork and collaboration. An amazing onboarding process facilitates team building and collaboration among your staff members. By introducing new high ends to existing employees, you encourage a sense of camaraderie and support. Team building activities, although sometimes awkward, are pretty fun during the onboarding process and it can create a positive work culture and where staff members feel comfortable to share ideas, collaborate on projects and support one another. But there is one little piece of advice I have. If you have a team that has worked together for a really long time, they sometimes can be hard on the new folks. They sometimes try to size them up immediately within day one or week one. Oh, she's not going to make it. She's not. Don't allow that. That's tight, toxic. Don't allow that in your facility. It might take somebody a little bit of time to get the, the, the, I don't want to say the vibe, but I guess the vibe of your program and to understand how things work. Just because somebody worked at a different location or at another, you know, another child care facility, it could have been a totally different type of program. If you move from a Montessori school to a play based school, to a Catholic school, those are all different types of program. To a Head Start school, to a family. Child care, like give people some grace. There is going to be a learning curve. And sometimes I almost love, and I think some of you out there who've been training people for a long time, sometimes you almost love people who have never worked in a child care center because sometimes you have to untrain some things that they learned that may not have been best practice at a previous employer. So, you know, I think that when we talk about teamwork and collaboration, you want to make sure that your whole team is on board. Now the consequences of neglecting onboard seems like it would be pretty obvious, but let's just touch base on it. First of all, failing to prioritize a proper onboarding process can lead to several negative outcomes. First of all, new employees may feel disconnected, confused or overwhelmed, which can affect their job satisfaction and performance. And a poorly onboarded staff may struggle to understand your center's policies leading to compliance issues or potential risks to children's safety, which we never, ever want. In addition, without a structured onboarding process, turnover rates may increase, resulting in a constant cycle cycle of recruiting and training, which is exhausting for you, for the children, for the families. So in conclusion, I would say investing in an amazing onboarding process for your child care staff is a wise decision. It yields numerous benefits. By providing a solid foundation, promoting retention, ensuring compliance, enhancing performance and of course, fostering teamwork, you can create a positive and thriving environment for both you and your staff and the children in their care. And remember, a well prepared team leads to happier children, satisfied parents, successful child care center, and you imagine a happy director. So I hope that you found today's tips helpful. If this is your first time tuning in, we so appreciate your support. We ask that you give us a follow share with a colleague. Let us know on our Facebook page.