Covid-19 exacerbated and brought to light many of the issues the child-care industry has faced for decades, such as staffing and funding. Marnie Forestieri, CDA, author of The Business of Child Care Series and CEO and founder of Young Innovators Academy, shares how child-care leaders can successfully navigate the changing child-care landscape, and even have an opportunity to reshape the child-care industry for future generations.
I'm excited about the new child-care landscape in the United States because the Covid crisis exposed the vulnerability of the system. I think it’s offering us a great opportunity to begin a national conversation on how to shape a better world for the next generation, because we can not continue to underestimate the importance of early childhood educators or child-care providers.
With the Covid crisis, a lot of child-care centers had to close permanently and obviously the workforce was reduced. But it also started a national conversation about the opportunity to reshape the post pandemic child-care landscape in our county.
One of the biggest organizational risks right now during periods of high economic growth is to attract workers to the industry and that is becoming even more challenging. Shortage of labor and child care is intensifying. I always say that candidates can actually read between the lines— our job descriptions. This is a really high-stress job. When you combine the requirements and responsibilities of the job with the mode of salary and lack of benefits, well you're competing with less stressful environments.
So what are the selling points as an employer? Well, that's one of the answers in the chapter of recruiting and designing the employee's journey in The Basics of Leading a Child-Care Business.
The business of child care is evolving from a traditional child-care setting into an education business. Now we all can become part of that conversation to offer the next generation the landscape and the opportunity they deserve.
