376: The Onboarding Mistake that Makes New Childcare Staff Quit Fast with Marie Young

Why does Gen Z leave childcare, and what can leaders do differently to make them want to stay? Kate Woodward Young and Marie Young share an honest mother-daughter conversation about Gen Z staff retention, onboarding, leadership, communication, and workplace culture in early childhood education.

From handling difficult conversations to matching teachers with their strengths and passions, they explore practical ways childcare directors, owners, and lead teachers can better support younger educators, build trust, and create teams where staff feel valued and want to grow. If you’re struggling with teacher turnover or retaining Gen Z employees, this episode offers a fresh perspective and actionable ideas.

Contact Marie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-young-59a7161a9/

Check out this episode's sponsor:  tryplayground.com/partnerships/childcareconversations

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Child Care Conversations, the podcast where early childhood leaders like you get real-world strategies, honest talk, and a whole lot of support. Whether you're running one center or many, we're here to help you lead with confidence and clarity. This episode is brought to you by this quarter's sponsor, Playground, the all-in-one child care management software. We're all about managing monkeys and saving you time at your center. With this platform, you can. We're proud to partner with a team that's as committed to your success as we are. Learn more at TriPlayground.com. Now, let's get into today's conversation. One we think you're really going to love.

Kate Woodward Young 0:47

Welcome back to this week's conversation, and I'm actually excited. This will be a fun one. You get a mother-daughter interview. And so uh yeah, so uh today's co-host is Marie Young, and we are going to talk about what it's like to have onboarding and be parts of onboarding organiz with organizations when some of the people in the group have had lots of experience, and some of the people maybe not so much. And she's got a surprise opportunity for where you might want to think about um recruiting, or even what to ask for or look for when you are looking for specifically younger teachers, younger instructors. So, Marie, welcome to the podcast. Thank you. I know that you've you've been around just a little bit. Um tell folks uh how you got into the industry and a little about your experience working with young children.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Yeah. And to add a little bit to the introduction, since we were trying to decide what topic to do, the reason we're doing this now in September is because you're probably getting to your first few weeks in and noticing that maybe some of your staff uh either aren't around anymore, some feel more comfortable than others, and there's probably reasons why. Even if you asked the same interview questions and maybe two individuals gave you very similar answers, there could be a reason why one is doing much better than the other one. So uh, well, I have been the podcast producer for this podcast since like episode 10. And while that might not be the most relevant to the conversation now, uh, I have listened to a lot of these staffing podcasts and just know how popular they are and how much both directors and teachers appreciate these episodes. I have been working with kids since I was a kid. I was in Girl Scouts and a very large troupe. Uh my Girl Scout troop had over 50 girls. And as soon as I was a junior, which is the green vest, I was helping the daisies and the brownies, who are the younger girls.

Kate Woodward Young 3:08

Okay, so hold on. I'm just gonna help people who may not know what that means. Yes. So when you were in fourth grade, you actually started working. So you were nine or 10, and you started working with kids who were five and six. So let me I just figured I'd frame that for people.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

I don't remember how old I was. So they do it by grades, and I was homeschooled, so I don't know what age I was, but uh yeah, so I've been paid to work with children, is how I'm wording it, since I was 14 when I was hired to train children obstacle course racing. And I have worked at childcare centers, I now teach children uh aerial circus arts, and I really enjoy working and helping kids with movement and activity, and it is a lot of fun. But each place I have worked at has had a different onboarding, a different training, and I think that's good. Every place should have it different, but there were definitely ones that uh had more positive training towards what I was doing there and helped me when I was had less experience, and then how they adapted as I gained more experience in the industry.

Kate Woodward Young 4:38

Well, you know, I think what's really interesting is that you do have um, we're gonna talk and reflect on roughly six different types, six different places that Marie has uh worked over the last eight years as a college student. A lot of times college students have summer jobs. So if you go back, if you're listening to this episode and go, well, that seems a little odd, think of yourself as a college student or a high school student and think about how many jobs you might have had. So that is part of why I thought this would be a really valuable conversation, because in every situation, she had supervisors who had been supervisors before. So they were not necessarily brand new supervisors, and supervisors with experience. So, although they all had experience, they all did the job very differently. And so let's talk a little bit about um, I'm gonna go with your two most recent rounds of uh onboarding orientation, because they're a little more what our listeners probably think of as traditional. Uh so for one, it you you got the lovely joy of um doing a background check in the state of Texas, having worked in another state. So if you've never had to navigate that, and if your state isn't one of those, Texas makes it interesting. And so that automatically meant that you weren't 100% sure before you showed up to onboarding if you were really onboarding, because your background check was still a little wonky. So you get there and you are in a situation where you've got, if I if I'm remembering right, so correct me if I'm wrong, you had some experienced uh staff who were part of that program, and then you had some who were coming in just for the summer. Um, and you you thought you were coming into one role, and that's the lens you attended onboarding through. Yes. Um, but we know reality changed. So let's start with uh uh so you came in thinking you were gonna be what an assistant teacher in a classroom? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

I went in knowing that I was uh I was a college student. I was over 18, so I wasn't like the youngest, but I there I was definitely on the uh younger side still of teachers who were there. And I could definitely tell that there were some who have done this summer onboarding probably for decades, who were just kind of sitting and hanging out. And then that there were others um who had even less experience, like this was their first time working at a childcare center sitting right next to me, and we all went through the exact same PowerPoint training, and at one point um we discussed, oh, this is what lead teachers do. Everyone should know what they do, but that the lead teachers kind of knew who they were. And so I paid attention. I was curious what their role was, but it definitely wasn't something that I asked questions on or tried to figure out every aspect of because I was told I was going to be an assistant teacher, work with someone with a little more experience, and that I would just be like helping in one of the rooms. Some of the teachers knew exactly what room they were in. I did not. I had no clue what room I was gonna be in. I was just like, I'm gonna listen to everything and hopefully whatever I learn applies to wherever I'll be at.

Kate Woodward Young 8:28

And a lot of times that happens. So as uh as a director who would be hiring staff, a lot of times we think we know exactly where we're gonna put them, and then something happens. Uh, somebody gets sick, somebody ends up with monos, somebody breaks a bone, um, somebody just doesn't show, right? And so sometimes we do our best. So uh talk to me a little bit about how long was your onboarding or your your program training? Was this something that happened over the course of a day, a few days? What did this look like? And I know you mentioned PowerPoints.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Yeah, it was a PowerPoint, and I remember being there for like maybe three to four hours.

Kate Woodward Young 9:10

Oh, so not even a full day? No. Okay. And so did you have much training in minimum standards, or do you know, and did you then do some like shadowing of teachers in classrooms? Not that I know of, no. Okay. Were you handed like a staff handbook and said, here you go? I don't think they had a handbook.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Oh, I'm pretty sure the PowerPoint was like emailed to me so that I would have the PowerPoint available. But I remember going through some minimal standards, like not minimal, minimum standards, but uh probably not all 300 pages.

Kate Woodward Young 9:53

No, definitely not. Okay. So uh you went through some sort of an orient what what they've called an onboarding. I would probably call it more orientation, or did you also have a day with the other?

SPEAKER_00 10:04

I think they called it an orientation. Okay. And then there was no onboarding.

Kate Woodward Young 10:09

Okay. So did with that that three to four hours, is that also where you filled out all your paperwork?

SPEAKER_00 10:14

I think I did most of that beforehand. Okay. All right. Well, I filled out most of the paperwork. And we did walk around, like get a tour of the center, and like we're shown where the toys were, but again, it was kind of in the lens of the lead teachers need to know where these things are to plan out for their weeks. Right. Okay.

Kate Woodward Young 10:34

So uh initially you thought you were going to be kind of an assistant in a classroom. And um, how long did that last?

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Well, lasted the like few weeks in between that orientation and the start of summer of when I showed up to my first day, and the lead teacher for my classroom no showed.

Kate Woodward Young 10:56

Oh, yes. So your school got ghosted literally. So no call note show. No call note show. You went from you got you immediately got promoted.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Yeah, I had about 15 minutes to do what the lead teacher is supposed to do. So I had to luckily I had my computer with me. Uh, or no, I think I used the director's computer uh and I designed a a letter to the to the parents. I created the the craft plan, which uh a lot of the teachers brought crafts from home. I didn't know that. And so I was basing everything off of what they had there, which was mostly toys. And so we did an all toys week mostly, uh, until one of the teachers was like, Hey, do you want to do this activity? And I was like, Yeah, that works. Um and had to, you know, create the plan. Luckily, you know, uh I had the twos, so not the worst, but the floater who was supposed to be helping like throughout the rooms became the assistant teacher. And so neither of us had a lot of experience with planning out of classroom, and so we may do, and honestly, it was fine. I was not I was put in a lead later on in that summer. They ended up moving some teachers around uh and then after I had a little more experience at that center, I got to try again. But it was definitely something I was not prepared for. And honestly, I don't know if I would have been prepared for the assistant role as well as I wasn't completely sure how the schedule worked or uh especially with the twos where some kids are potty trained, some kids are not, because we had the older twos, um trying to figure out diapers and bathroom times was challenging. And so I've learned a lot since then, and um have listened to more podcasts, and I've worked with children more, and I I had that whole summer and learned a fair deal, but that was the first week.

Kate Woodward Young 13:09

All right. So so baptism by fire. So yeah, um, and in this particular case, Marie stuck around, and part of that was Marie had a relationship with the the director and with even some of the kids in the school. So this was something that she kind of was like, I I want to do this. And you also knew you were just doing it for the summer. So if you have some staff who um have an experience like this and it's been in the last month, uh please, please, please go back in and check on them and make sure they're okay and double check to see that they're um are they gonna stick around? Because I think what happens is that sometimes we as directors or leaders go, oh, they're doing fine, they managed it. And we get focused on make doing the next whatever we need to get done instead of stopping, pausing, turning around and asking, because otherwise, that might be why you're listening to this episode, because all of a sudden, those teachers who you hired in August who you you took through some sort of orientation, who because people got sick or no-showed or took other jobs, their job is not what they signed on for. And they may not be telling you, um, because again, uh, a lot of times we have folks who maybe they've had one job before or maybe no jobs before. So they may not be comfortable going to the boss and going, um, yeah, this ain't gonna work. Like if you want me to stick around.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

Yeah. And this, I never like to tell people what to not do, but from a perspective of the employee, like I said, I had a week uh later on in the summer where I got to try again. I still had no additional training, and I was still given an assistant teacher who had even less experience than the one I had the first week. Oh and I in that that assistant teacher ended up switching with a different assistant teacher who had a little more experience to match with me, and was pretty much told it was my fault. There was a an incident of like uh like a bathroom incident, like not even something I could have fully controlled, and apparently I didn't handle it properly. I was not trained how to handle it properly, and I my assistant teacher made it sound like she could handle it and that she would get help if she needed, and she did, but apparently it overwhelmed her. She was the one that she was kind of given something was thrown on her lap that was unexpected, and she could not handle it, and so she moved classrooms, which is completely fine. I think that's very healthy, and I'm glad that she recognized that.

Kate Woodward Young 15:59

I'm glad she recognized and just moved classrooms because I'm sure that probably has it was then put on me.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Yeah. It was then put that like I didn't handle the situation properly, and I was like, well, I don't know how to handle the situation properly. And so I think having some empathy for people in that position and just being aware that childcare, as everyone knows, is not the same every day or every week. It is kids are different, parents are different, teachers are different, weeks are different, maybe they're in a different mood. The kid could be going through something at home. You never know what's gonna happen. There, there's so many things that could be different. And that adapting is so important in this industry, but it's one of those things that everyone is learning.

Kate Woodward Young 16:50

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

So I would that's my little reminder of just like have empathy and let it be a learning experience instead of a blame.

Kate Woodward Young 17:01

I like that. Learning experience instead of blame. And I think that that's something as educators, we do need to take that pause. And we do need to remember as leaders, um, regardless of how old we are as leaders, remembering the age difference of our teachers, because in this particular situation, um, and we've all had programs like this where we could be in our 20s or 30s, and then we could have staff who are literally, you know, 18, 19, 20, as well as staff that are in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. So um it's not so much different ways to um manage different staff. It is acknowledging that your staff run the entire gamut and that you could have literally a 50-year age span um amongst your teachers, but at least probably most programs probably have a 20-year, um, which is going to be um a struggle. I know I struggle uh in one of my leadership roles where I had staff who were the same age as my kids. And um I was um called out by one of them that I was parenting them. And I was like, well, yeah, you're the same age as my kids. Um, but it did pause me to reflect as um a as a supervisor to go, okay, so how might I have done this differently? And so um, and in that particular situation, I wish that that person had come to me directly instead of the way it got to me. Uh, because then I would have been able to ask, okay, so help me tell me more. What should what would have been a better way for me to handle that? Right. So as a as a director, uming that maybe you're not perfect when it comes to managing your staff and always ask, okay, so you're looking a little stressed. Obviously, you're not feeling prepared. Marie, what what would have been more helpful to you during the orientation? Now, Marie may not know, may not have known then, but she definitely knows now. So let's talk about um overall kind of some of the different types of programs you've worked with. What were things that stuck out as this was a great piece of my onboarding? So, not necessarily the whole onboarding um good or bad, but what were some pieces that stood out to you? Because currently you are still, um, so without giving away Marie's age necessarily, uh Marie is of legal age to be a director in the state of Texas, and probably the average age of a lot of your staff and maybe even a lot of your parents, depending on where in the country you're located. So, knowing that, what are some what are some what are some things that really have stuck out with all your different types of bosses, the different types of youth programs you have been in a educational role in? What what stands out?

SPEAKER_00 20:00

So we're I really want to talk about where I currently work. Uh now the currently the the youngest age is seven, but we did do one summer where we had kids who are four. So we've had and this is a uh a like a summer camp. It is not a like it is not a childcare center during the year. It is a summer camp that kids can come to like from eight to five child care during the summer. Um, and it is an activity, it is fun, and I really enjoy it. I was hired to work summer there in December. So I was hired far in advance. Now I still had one semester of college left in a different state. So I did a lot of my training virtually because I had more experience with children. I had very specific curriculum I had to learn, which they all had virtually online. So I went through all their curriculum, and then when I visited home uh where I was going to work, they had in-person trainings one-on-one with me to make sure I understood. And if there was any part of the curriculum that I didn't understand, I could ask questions and go through it.

Kate Woodward Young 21:16

So so you were out of state and worked at virtually. How did that work for those that were in the state and and subsequent years? Because this is your first year working for them.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

Yeah. So this was my first year working for them. People who've worked there before have had this same training. They don't go through the same training over and over again for the curriculum themselves. Those who had less experience than I did, because I was able to look at the videos virtually and be like, ah, yes, I understand this, I know this, but not everyone, not all the teachers did. And so they had classes that they took for months and were paid for all of the training um to take all these classes to learn the curriculum that we were going to teach.

Kate Woodward Young 21:58

Okay. So let me I Hold on, I just want to verify. So, what you're saying is that you were hired in December and you were given six months of training before you were expected to be in charge of a group of kids, just on the curriculum, or did you also get some training on how to manage groups of kids, some of the the extra activities? Because we know the curriculum is usually only a couple of hours during a day, right? So you've got other things that happen. Were you given training in those pieces as well?

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Absolutely. And the up to about a two months prior, so not six months, but two months prior, they took um we had trainings because what we did was movement based. So we had to be able to properly warm up and cool down the children. That was an hour in itself, was just that. And then we had behavioral coaching because a lot of that the kids that come to our camp have some form of behavioral needs or uh neurodivergents who who aren't always able to like pay attention super well. And so we had I think that class was two and a half to three hours with options of continual learning if you felt like you needed it.

Kate Woodward Young 23:16

And and have you had that training every single year?

SPEAKER_00 23:20

Yes. That training I have had every year with updates of the previous summer. Uh this is I just finished my third summer, so uh every year we learn something new about the kids coming in and we adapt the training because they've they're a program that's been around for 13 years doing summer camps, and they understand that the kids 13 years ago, while some of them are still are now teaching there, uh they're not the same. The kids aren't the same. They're they're different generations, they have different needs and want.

Kate Woodward Young 23:57

They had COVID.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

They had COVID. They have phones now. That's like not every kid had a phone in their pocket. And so they've created new guidelines. And that's what I enjoyed. They created guidelines and policies so that everyone is on the same page.

Kate Woodward Young 24:13

Oh, okay, wait, wait, wait. So, you know, for those of you who've heard my workforce development um conversations, if not, um I'm happy to share some of my lifeguarding episodes, but go back and listen to my lifeguarding rant. And that is part of where some of this came from, because even before Marie's first job, I guess it wasn't before her first job, but while she was in her first job, she actually on her own took two different courses on how to be a basically a personal trainer to children under the age of 17. So she went out on her own, got additional training, paid for her to herself, um, and she did this at both of her first two jobs. I don't know about you, but this should tell you that there are there are people out there who will do this. So I talk a lot about lifeguards doing it and that ongoing professional development. Here is another industry that has as a youth adjacent that is doing regular professional development. They are not required, but they know this is how they're going to retain their staff. And I want you to hear what Marie said. This is her third year there. So Marie not only was so impressed the first year by having six months of prep, they kept in touch with her. They did really what I would say are absolutely best practices. If you've never read uh Joey Coleman's book on um how to how to, I don't remember the exact title, so we'll make sure it's in the show notes. But he has a great book on that employee, that that space between hire and start and how to make sure that you keep them involved and and and engaged and want to come to work for you. And a lot of folks in our industry get stuck with wanting full-time employees that they want them to be previously trained and all of that. And the problem with being previously trained is that they may not be trained the way you want them trained. And so that's where those standard operating procedures and handbooks and videos are are very, very helpful for the staff to go back and visit. Marie, thank you so much for for coming and giving some of that insight. Um, I'm sure we will have you on again. We're missing one point. Oh, oh, okay. Wait, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

Well, we were gonna, because we talked about this early on, and we're only at 26 minutes. So we have a few more minutes that we can go. Uh out of all the training that I've done that has been paid, that has helped motivate me to like she was talking about how I went out of my way to get more training, uh, the place that I probably was trained the most, and that I talked about a little bit early on was when I was in Girl Scouts. And that the training I got from the the leaders and the older girls in my program on how to work with the younger girls and the younger individuals, of just making sure you listen to them, making sure you uh handle the group and that they can gr have their attention, ways to get their attention. These are things that I learned at my current place of work that they taught. But I already knew a lot of that because of Girl Scouts, because of working with the younger girls there. And that was something that I really have appreciated knowing and have even brought to places I work, being like, hey, this is something that I knew how to do, and now I can help teach others.

Kate Woodward Young 27:45

And it's so funny that you say that because yes, you're right. I'm so glad that you closed the loop because we started there and we just drifted off into someplace else. And I was surprised. And I actually learned um how to teach adults in Girl Scouts. So I was teaching adults in Girl Scouting before I was um able to drive and was doing um leadership workshops on how to do songs and how to keep kids engaged. I was teaching adults when I was 15. So um I am so glad that you brought that around. So think about this. When you are setting up your interviews, maybe even when you are writing a job description or a job want ad, why not say, did you love singing or selling Girl Scout cookies? I mean, I can tell you, you want somebody to close a tour, you need some Marie's because Marie can close a tour and she knows how to sell that box of cookies. So think about what are the skills and is there a way, whether it's within 4-H, whether it's in scouting, whether it's in Girl Scouting, if there is a youth organization that you know there are kids managing other kids or kids be mentors or inspiring other kids. Leaders. Absolutely. Go ask them. Yeah, absolutely. If somebody has been a volunteer Girl Scout leader, even if they have been um maybe a home-based parent for a couple of years, you know, if they start telling you about their experience with Girl Scouting, stop and pause and listen and let that be a green flag for you.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

So one last part on this. Uh-oh, uh-oh. Here she goes. Because this is something that uh if you want these staff to stay around, if you want them to go get that continuing education to make your center better, compensate. I once found out in my very first job that I was getting paid less than someone else because they had a high school degree and I did not. And whatever you think is best, but at the time I was taking college dual enrollment classes. I had been working there almost a year longer than that other individual. I had my CPR and first aid certification and that youth personal trainer certificate, and was working on more. And I actually left that location because yes, I did get a raise after I brought up my concerns, but my current place already pays me if a certain admin rate, it's not the same hourly rate, but it's an admin rate to go take and learn, do furthering education. Or I've had places that had me have a higher starting rate because I was a Gold Award Girl Scout. The military does it. If you are wanting to hire these leaders and have staff that will stick around, then maybe they get a little pay bump at the start. Uh if they were a Gold Award Girl Scout or even an Eagle Scout, because that is so beneficial to your program in the long run. These are the people who are gonna be the directors if they like children and stay there. Maybe they'll be owners of child care centers in the future, but they're starting now. And if you can keep that relationship going and compensate them in a way that shows that they have more experience than just a person who had no jobs in high school and just maybe did some babysitting, there are differences there.

Kate Woodward Young 31:24

So I love that because one of the things that if you've ever heard Carrie do an in-live training um specifically around human resource issues, and I always love it because people are like, is that legal? Can you really do that? And she goes, Well, does the US Army do it? So basically, if the US Army or the US military does something, guess what? That means you can too. So think about your advertising. Because the last time I checked, I have never seen an advertisement for the US military that says, hey, if you want to peel potatoes, come work for us, right? And that you have to have all this training before, right? No, it's like we're gonna give you adventures and we're gonna train you, right? They make it sound exciting. So the same thing here. And the U.S. military does give gold awards, Girl Scout, um, Boy Scout, Eagle Scouts. Um, they even have um, if you're part of Civil Air Patrol, if you were part of 4-H, they've also got some other incentives with some of the other youth leadership programs. So ask, why not ask and why not put that publicly in? And here's the the the little closer. Some Girl Scout councils around the country actually have programs called Sprouts. Um, Daisy's is popular in um every council across the U.S. And Daisies can be um kindergartners. So if you've got a school age program, um look to Daisy curriculum as something that you can incorporate once a week, once every other week in your program. Because again, what a great opportunity for the parents to go, my child has already got that activity. It means I don't have to drive them there at 5:30 when I pick them up. So it's one less place the parent has to take the children after they pick them up. Now, that doesn't mean that they won't fill that spot with something else, but ideally, wouldn't it be great if all those school age girls who were in your program got to be part of Girl Scouts? Maybe the boys get to be part of scouting, maybe you find 4-H is a better fit for your community. It doesn't have the same types of curriculum structure, but there are junior master gardeners, which is part of Texas Agri-Life and part of the 4-H curriculum programs.

SPEAKER_00 33:33

All right, another one is the Society of Women Engineers.

Kate Woodward Young 33:37

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 33:39

And um doing STEM. So I will plug them a little bit as well.

Kate Woodward Young 33:43

Absolutely. We're gonna make Marie put all that in the show notes. So today's episode will be produced by Marie Young and Childcare Conversations. And so there will be all kinds of resources, I am sure, in the show notes. And if you want to connect with Marie, she will have her LinkedIn profile as well. You can also always find her if you want to send us a message on your podcast player of choice. Just say message the show. And guess who actually gets that message? You got it, our producer. So uh thank you so much for joining us, and we can't wait to have another conversation.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Thanks for tuning in. We love bringing you real talk and fresh insight from the world of early childhood education. Be sure to follow us on social media to stay connected and catch all of the latest episodes. And if you're planning a conference, training, or special event, Kate and Carrie would love to speak to your audience. You can learn more about their keynote sessions and workshops at kateandcary.com. If you learned something today, share the show and leave us a review below. We'll see you next time on Childcare Conversations.