Child Care Employee Orientation

How do you bring a new employee into your program; making sure that they feel welcome and understand how to be a successful employee?  A formal orientation process will show the employee that you value them enough to have a plan in place to help them start their new job.  It also ensures that every new employee receives the information that they need to do their job according to your program standards.  

Minimally, your New Employee Orientation should include:

• A welcome and acknowledgement of the individual’s importance to your program
• An explanation of where the employee falls within your organization; who they report to, who reports to them, and where they can find support
• Basic paperwork necessary for employment
• Most important policies and procedures (child supervision, health and sanitation, emergency and safety procedures, child abuse prevention, etc.)
• Planning and implementing an appropriate program
• Program evaluation
• Professionalism

It’s really easy to get desperate for a new employee and just plug them into your schedule immediately.  However, that doesn’t give the person a chance to get to know your program, understand how they fit into it, and what you expect of them as an employee.  Even a couple of days dedicated to orientation will pay off in spades with a more confident, prepared employee.  If you don’t already have a New Employee Orientation compiled, you can find ours here.

Misty

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