ARE YOU LEAVING HELP ON THE TABLE?

Getting someone "work ready" for a job in preschool is not what it used to be. Ten years ago, fingerprinting and training prerequisites were not a "thing" in order to start work in a child care center.  




Today, it can take days or even a couple of weeks to get some fingerprinted, have their physical and TB taken, and meet the initial training requirements to work in child care. Though all of these added requirements are a great thing for the quality of child care, they add a layer of pressure to meet ratio requirements.






Meanwhile, one of your staff is out for a few days, another one just quit, and you have to scramble to make ratio so that you are not in violation.  As a center owner or director, you definitely want to hire good people for your program.  But, what if someone who's motivated and wants a job has replied to one of your Indeed posts or is referred to you? Do you just tell the person "We're not hiring anymore, check back with us later?" I wouldn't and, here's why.  

It is not only critical that you maintain ratio but, it is important that you be able to give your staff the breaks and time off they need in order to function at their best.  When staffing gets tight, we all know that it is more difficult for everyone in the center. If it's a good applicant or referral, why not send the person to get the requirements and have them get a child care eligibility letter to work at your center? 

At the start of the day, the staff can already tell what kind of day it's going to be if they are short staffed. Your staff can also tell when you have not been actively preparing for staff absences.  In their minds, this is you "looking out" for them. It might pay off to always be active in your pursuit of good staff even you have a good staff. Get some extra people ready to fill in at your center and even offer them same day pay when you need them to help out.  

Our Skweeble App and Enrollsmart platforms offer the ability to stay connected with your "occasionally needed" staff and have them ready to go as soon as possible. Being prepared for staff outages is key to not only meet ratio but keep your staff from getting burned out.  Don't leave good help on the table.

ABOUT ENROLLSMART / SKWEEBLE APP

Skweeble App is a proprietary system that we've developed to help child care centers and other small businesses staff, communicate with their teams, be more efficient, and stay in compliance. To learn whether your center can benefit from Skweeble App or Enrollsmart, complete our contact form and we will send you more information.








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