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Investing in staff retention in an era of high turnover can bolster both budgets and quality. Staff turnover impacts programs in many ways — requiring managerial time for recruiting and hiring, and needing to onboard new staff. An Association for Early Learning Leaders (AELL) blog post suggests four effective strategies to improve staff retention:

1. Recognize staff — above all, knowing and noticing what your staff does well sets a strong foundation for ensuring staff feel valued. Take notes when good things happen, and share these back in regularly scheduled meetings. In addition, notice and celebrate both work and personal milestones.

2. Focus on team building — boost team morale with events and activities centered on staff interests. Consider happy hours, hikes, potlucks or community service events.

3. Give staff tools for success — ensure that your team has easy access to the tools they need to do their jobs, whether it’s caregiving, teaching, documentation or communicating with families.

4. Support professional development —  offering workshops or staff development experiences, providing stipends or time off to attend courses or workshops, and seeking creative ways to offer mentoring are all ways to invest in the team you have today and inspire them to stay.

For more insights on supporting your team, Ed.Flicks video clip library from Exchange  includes a series on "Supporting Teacher Performance," such as "Morale and Performance," "Creating a Supportive and Nurturing Environment, and "Recovering from Morale Challenges."

And AELL’s 38th Annual National Conference "How Successful Directors Lead" takes place April 28-30, in Dallas, Texas.

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