Why Your Best Daycare Teachers Are Quitting (It's Not Just the Pay)

Childcare has the highest turnover rate of any profession in education. The national average hovers around 30% annually, and in some markets it's over 40%. Everyone blames pay. And pay is part of it — but it's not the whole story. Because some centers with average pay keep their teachers for years, while others with competitive wages still churn through staff every semester.

The difference isn't money. It's whether your teachers feel like they're being managed or being supported.

The #1 reason good teachers leave: they feel disrespected

Not overtly. Nobody's yelling at them. But disrespect in childcare is quiet:

• A time-off request that sits unanswered for a week
• A vacation denied with no explanation
• Finding out a coworker got the same days off you were told weren't available
• Being asked to cover a room during your lunch break "just this once" — again
• Having no idea how many vacation days you have left because nobody tracks it

None of these are fireable offenses from your team's perspective. They're just... draining. And after enough of them, a $1/hour raise at the center down the street looks like a fresh start.

Three things directors who retain staff do differently

1. They respond to time-off requests within 24 hours

This sounds small. It's not. When a teacher submits a request and hears nothing for days, she's not just waiting — she's planning her life around uncertainty. Will she be able to attend her kid's recital? Can she book the flight? Is her director ignoring her or just busy?

The best directors respond same-day. If the answer is yes, great. If it's no, they explain why: "We already have two people off that day and we'd be below ratio." If they need to check, they say "I'll have an answer by tomorrow morning."

The response itself matters less than the act of responding. It says: I see you. Your time matters. You're not an afterthought.

2. They have transparent, consistent rules

Favoritism — real or perceived — is poison. And in the absence of clear rules, every decision looks like favoritism to someone.

"She got Thanksgiving week off? I asked for two days and got denied."

Maybe the reason is perfectly legitimate (she asked in August, you asked in November). But if that rule isn't written down and visible to everyone, the legitimate reason looks like a personal choice by the director.

A one-page time-off policy that says "first come, first served, max [X] people off per day" eliminates this entirely. The policy decides, not the director. And the director stops being the bad guy.

3. They track balances accurately

Nothing erodes trust like a dispute over vacation days. "I thought I had 5 days left." "Our records show 3." Now you're in a he-said-she-said about a spreadsheet that's been manually updated since January.

If you promise accruals, track them to the day. If that's too much overhead, simplify the policy: "10 days per calendar year, available January 1." Either way, every staff member should know, at any time, exactly how many days they have. No asking. No waiting for you to check a file.

Accuracy is respect. Inaccuracy is "we don't care enough to get this right."

The compounding effect

Each of these is small by itself. But they compound. A teacher who gets fast responses, trusts the rules, and always knows her balance feels managed well. And a teacher who feels managed well will stay at your center even when the one down the road offers $0.50 more per hour.

Because what she's really calculating isn't dollars per hour. It's: "Will I be treated fairly? Will my time be respected? Will I be able to plan my life?"

If the answer is yes, you've built something no competitor can steal by writing a slightly bigger number on a job posting.

One question to ask yourself

If you lined up your staff and asked each one: "How many vacation days do you have left this year?" — would they know? Would their answer match your records?

If not, start there.