A positive workplace is important for employees in an early childhood education (ECE) program. When your staff feel valued and are involved in their work, their excitement leads to higher productivity and loyalty to the program. A supportive work atmosphere improves employee morale. It also affects an employee’s engagement and willingness to stay. You can save on the expenses of hiring and training when you retain staff. ECE programs should nurture engagement by using approaches that encourage a sense of purpose. Engaged employees provide better outcomes for the children and families they serve.

In this guide, learn about the terms, strategies, and practical approaches related employee engagement. The promising practices in this guide will support a positive work environment and lead to overall job satisfaction.

Terms to Know

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement refers to an employee’s level of commitment to your organization and its goals. Employees show their engagement by how they act toward your organization. They are willing to make the extra effort in their performance. Engaged employees are enthusiastic about their work and workplace. They connect deeply with their colleagues and the children and families they serve. Engagement improves employee retention and organizational success. It can lead to improved outcomes for children, families, and communities.

Employee Retention

Employees who are engaged are more likely to stay with their organization. If they feel connected to your program’s mission and purpose, they are less likely to seek other opportunities. This reduces turnover and the costs of recruiting, onboarding, and training new hires. Lower turnover leads to a stable workforce. It encourages teamwork and collaboration and leads to improved organizational performance.

Strategies and Tools to Consider

Employee Engagement

Wages and benefits offered to staff are an important part of engagement. But there are other aspects of organizational culture that also play a role.

Employee Engagement Metrics

One way to measure the effectiveness of engagement approaches is through metrics. Analyzing engagement metrics can lead to improved organizational culture.

Employee engagement metrics allow you to evaluate engagement at higher levels, such as people performance, financial, and operational. Each of these areas is made up of scores that, when taken together, give an overall measure of employee engagement. These metrics include:

Effective Practices

There is no one-size-fits-all way to improve employee engagement. Consider sharing these effective practices with human resources (HR) staff and managers:

• Measure employee engagement levels through weekly or monthly surveys or focus groups.
• Review and share employee feedback.
• Use the findings from employee feedback to take action.
• Encourage commitment by updating compensation packages, offering bonuses, paying off student loans, offering flexible hours, or breaks.
• Offer growth and advancement opportunities.
• Ask employees what makes them stay.
• Invest in taking care of your employees and their families.
• Include employees in shaping change.

Employee Retention

Employee Retention Plan

To retain your top talent, develop an employee retention plan. Such a plan is a key marker of an organization destined for long-term success.

When you create an intentional plan to retain talent, you save time and resources needed to recruit, hire, onboard, and train new staff. Encourage your employees to stay by creating an effective employee retention plan. Include strategies to improve productivity.

Follow these steps to create a workable employee retention plan:

• Evaluate current employee retention strategies.
• Document what you currently do and don’t do.
• Review relevant metrics.
• Ask your employees for feedback on their desires. Don’t make assumptions about what your employees want.
• Meet with employees individually and build consensus.
• Choose which strategies you’re going to implement. This will depend on the findings from your evaluation, the program’s services plans, and employee expectations.
• Start by trying one or two strategies.
  • Don’t try to do it all at once.
  • Pay attention to how employee engagement metrics change over a year.
• Continue adding and testing to see what works.

Stay Tools

To keep talented, engaged employees, use stay tools, such as the stay interview. Different from hiring or exit interviews, a stay interview — typically a one-on-one meeting between a manager and employee — explores what makes an employee stay with an organization. They discuss what’s going well, what’s not going well, and what could change. A major focus in these meetings is an individual’s professional and life goals. A stay survey may be useful when a meeting or an interview is not practical.

Proven Strategies

Implementing employee retention approaches can be costly but not as costly as hiring and training a new employee. Here are a few proven strategies to reduce costs and encourage employees to stay:

• Offer professional development opportunities based on an employee’s career needs.
• Create career advancement opportunities.
• Document the employee experience (EX) journey, from pre-hire to post-exit.
• Appreciate and recognize your employees for their work in real-time.
  • Consider changing the ways you show your appreciation.
• Make sure your employees don’t feel overworked and overwhelmed.

Employee Experience Journey

The EX describes the entire journey an employee takes with your organization, beginning at pre-hire and continuing to post-exit. The employee experience includes where someone works and the tools they use. It also encompasses the resources available to them and their relationships with their coworkers. See the graphic below for an overview of an employee’s journey.

1. Know Thyself: Be Clear About Your Identity
It is most important to know who you are as an organization. Understanding your values, mission, and culture is vital. Knowing who you are as an organization shapes an employee’s experience and ensures that every interaction feels genuine and true to its values.

2. First Impressions: Attract and Recruit
The second phase is the initial contact between potential employees and your organization. It’s like the first meeting in a friendship — both sides get to know each other and explore whether you want to continue this journey together.

3. Make It Official: Hire
Phase three requires a clear and structured hiring process. In this phase you communicate your purpose and values and set the tone for what new hires can expect. This creates excitement about joining the team.

4. Welcome Aboard: Onboard Experience
Phase four is all about onboarding, which introduces new hires to your organizational culture. It helps them feel supported as they settle into their roles. A positive onboarding experience can make all the difference in helping them feel valued from the start.

5. Engage: An Ongoing Experience
Engagement doesn’t stop after onboarding. Actively involving employees in their work builds a sense of community and commitment. It enhances their overall experience and improves their chances of staying with your organization.

6. Paths to Growth: Develop Professionally
Phase six focuses on career advancement. Employees should see clear chances for professional development within your organization. This motivates them and shows that your organization is invested in their future.

7. Feedback and Recognition: Performance Reviews
Phase seven emphasizes the need for fair and honest performance reviews. Regular feedback and recognition of excellent work helps employees see their value to your organization.

8. Track Progress: Measuring Success
In phase eight, your organization should have routine ways to assess employee progress. This allows both managers and employees to identify strengths, set goals, and celebrate achievements together.

9. A Positive Farewell: Exit Experience
Finally, phase nine is about how employees leave your organization. A positive departure is essential. Providing networking opportunities and maintaining connections ensures that employees leave with goodwill as ambassadors.

You can create an environment where employees feel valued and motivated throughout their employment. A positive EX not only improves retention but also boosts overall morale and productivity!

Culture of Engagement

A culture of engagement is a set of values, behaviors, and practices that promote increasing levels of engagement as part of the culture. The main characteristics of this engagement culture include:

• Regularly measuring engagement and acting on the results.
• Collaboratively working to improve engagement at every level of the organization.
• Making engagement efforts visible across your organization.
• Hiring, evaluating, recognizing, advancing, and training with the goal of maintaining engagement.
• Ongoing communication about engagement with leadership.

Last Updated: July 21, 2025