Reducing Staff Turnover in Childcare Centers: A Practical Guide

Table of Contents

• Why Reducing Staff Turnover Matters in Childcare
• What Is a Healthy Childcare Staff Turnover Rate
• Build Strong Onboarding and Orientation From Day One
• Create a Childcare Employee Retention Plan That Works
  • First 30 Days: Set Them Up for Success
  • Days 30-90: Build Confidence and Belonging
  • Beyond 90 Days: Ongoing Support and Growth
• Pay Fairly, Offer Benefits and Support Work-Life Balance
• Use Childcare Staff Recognition Ideas to Make People Feel Valued
• Ask Better Questions: Childcare Staff Feedback That Drives Retention
• Invest in Professional Development and Career Pathways
• Frequently Asked Questions

Last Updated: October 12, 2026

Why Reducing Staff Turnover Matters in Childcare

Reducing staff turnover in childcare centers is about far more than just solving scheduling headaches.

Children thrive on consistency. They need familiar faces, predictable routines, and adults who know their individual needs and rhythms. High staff turnover disrupts all of that.

And for you as a leader, constant turnover means you're perpetually in crisis mode. You're recruiting, training, covering shifts, managing the stress of your remaining team, and rebuilding relationships all at once.

The good news? Reducing staff turnover in childcare centers is absolutely within your control. It starts with understanding what matters most to your educators, and then acting on it in ways that fit your center's reality.

What Is a Healthy Childcare Staff Turnover Rate

Before you can improve your turnover, you need to know what you're measuring. A healthy childcare staff turnover rate gives you a baseline to work from and helps you spot whether your situation is typical or whether something needs urgent attention.

Different roles in your centre may have different turnover patterns. Some educators move through roles as they build experience. Others stay for years. Understanding both the overall picture and the patterns within your team tells you where to focus your energy.

The key is tracking it consistently over time so you can see whether your efforts are actually working.

Build Strong Onboarding and Orientation From Day One

Your first 90 days with a new educator set the tone for everything that comes after.

Many centers skip this step or do it haphazardly, then wonder why new staff don't stay.

Here's what matters most in those early weeks:

Days 1-3: Welcome and Orientation Start with genuine welcome, not just paperwork. Show them around, introduce them to the team, let them meet the children. Give them a clear picture of your center's rhythm, values, and expectations. Pair them with a mentor or buddy, someone who can answer questions without judgment and help them feel part of the team from day one.

Week 1-2: Structure and Support Make sure they have a clear schedule, know who to ask for help, and understand the routines. Assign someone to check in with them daily. Watch for signs of overwhelm and adjust support accordingly.

Weeks 2-4: Building Confidence Gradually increase their responsibilities as they gain confidence. Give them specific feedback on what they're doing well, not just what needs improvement. Help them build relationships with children and families.

Create a Childcare Employee Retention Plan That Works

An employee retention plan isn't a fancy document that sits in a drawer. It's a practical roadmap for how you'll support each educator through their first year and beyond.

The structure that works best divides your first 90 days into three clear phases, each with specific focus areas and check-in points.

First 30 Days: Set Them Up for Success

Your goal in the first month is to help your new educator feel safe, welcomed, and clear about what's expected.

Run weekly check-ins, brief, informal conversations where you ask how they're settling in, what's going well, and what they need more support with. Don't wait for a formal one-month review. These conversations should happen naturally, ideally with their mentor as well.

Make sure they have everything they need: access to policies, clarity on routines, introductions to families, and a sense of where they fit in your team. Small things matter, knowing where to find supplies, understanding your communication channels, knowing who handles what.

Days 30-90: Build Confidence and Belonging

By week four, your new educator should be moving beyond survival mode into actually enjoying their work. This is when they start to build real relationships with children and families, and when they either feel like part of your team or start to feel like an outsider.

Check in fortnightly during this phase. Ask about specific moments they're proud of, challenges they're facing, and whether they feel supported. Give them feedback on what you're noticing, the connections they're building, the way they handle transitions, how they're engaging with families.

Introduce them to your team's culture and values in action. Invite them to contribute ideas. Help them see themselves as part of something bigger than just their own classroom.

Beyond 90 Days: Ongoing Support and Growth

After 90 days, your educator should feel settled and confident. But this is when you shift from onboarding to retention, from helping them survive to helping them thrive.

Move to monthly check-ins where you talk about their professional development, what's working, what they'd like to learn, and where they see themselves heading. This is your chance to understand what matters to them and to show that you're invested in their growth.

Pay Fairly, Offer Benefits and Support Work-Life Balance

Let's be direct: early childhood educators are chronically underpaid. You probably know this already.

But within whatever constraints you have, how you approach compensation and benefits matters enormously.

Fair pay for your center means paying competitively with other centers in your area, and paying more for experience and qualifications.

Beyond the base wage, benefits that matter most to educators are usually:

• Paid time off that actually feels adequate (not just the bare minimum)
• Paid sick leave that educators can actually use without guilt
• Childcare discounts or subsidies for their own children
• Flexible scheduling where possible
• Professional development time and support

Work-life balance is non-negotiable for retention. Educators who are constantly exhausted, who take their work stress home, who never have time to decompress, will leave.

Look at your scheduling practices. Are educators working split shifts? Are they covering multiple rooms? Are they getting breaks that actually feel restful?

Small changes can make a real difference: protecting break times, reducing unnecessary meetings, being flexible about scheduling when you can, making sure workload is actually manageable.

Culture Booster Cards →

Use Childcare Staff Recognition Ideas to Make People Feel Valued

Recognition is not the same as appreciation, though they work together. Recognition is noticing and naming the specific things people do well.

Many centers do neither. They focus on what needs improvement and forget to name what's working. Educators leave because they don't feel seen.

Here's what matters: be specific, be genuine, and make it regular.

Instead of generic praise, notice the everyday behaviours that align with your values. If your center values teamwork, notice when someone steps in to help without being asked.

Make recognition visible. Share it in team meetings, mention it to families, write it down. When people know their work is noticed, they feel like they belong.

One practical way to build recognition into your culture is to create regular opportunities for it. Research on workplace recognition shows that frequent, specific recognition increases engagement and retention.

If you want to make recognition part of your everyday culture, the BLOOM Appreciation Cards are designed exactly for this, they help you notice and name the everyday behaviors that matter.

Ask Better Questions: Childcare Staff Feedback That Drives Retention

Most centers ask for feedback once a year in a formal review. By then, if someone is unhappy, they're already looking for another job.

Better feedback happens in conversation. It's ongoing, it's two-way, and it's focused on understanding what matters to your team.

Here are some questions that actually work:

For regular check-ins:

• What's one thing that went well this week?
• What's one thing that felt hard or frustrating?
• What do you need from me or the team right now?
• Is there anything getting in the way of you doing your best work?

For deeper conversations:

• What drew you to early childhood education in the first place?
• What do you love about working here?
• What would make your job feel more manageable?
• Where do you see yourself in a year? In five years?
• What skills or knowledge would you like to develop?

When someone is thinking about leaving:

• What's prompting this decision?
• Is there anything we could do differently that might change your mind?
• What would your ideal role or situation look like?

The key is asking questions you actually want to know the answer to, then listening without defending. If someone says the workload is too much, don't argue that it's fine. Ask what would help. If someone says they don't feel valued, don't list all the things you do appreciate. Ask what recognition would actually mean to them.

Feedback only drives retention if you act on it. If you ask for feedback and nothing changes, you've actually made things worse. People feel heard and then invisible.

Invest in Professional Development and Career Pathways

Educators who see a future in early childhood education stay longer than those who see it as a temporary job.

Some of this is formal: training in new approaches, pursuing additional qualifications, attending conferences.

Create clear pathways for growth. What does progression look like in your center?

Make professional development accessible.

Early childhood workforce research consistently shows that educators who feel they're learning and growing stay longer and are more engaged.

When educators understand that you're investing in their growth because you see them as part of your center's future, retention improves.

Reducing staff turnover in childcare centres is about creating an environment where educators feel valued, supported, and seen.

If you're looking to strengthen your team conversations and make recognition part of your everyday culture, explore the Culture Booster Cards and BLOOM resources that help leaders build the habits and conversations that matter most.