Helping early childhood educators thrive: insights from human resource management

Purpose Early childhood education (ECE) workers (educators and caregivers) play an important role in fostering an effective learning environment for children. However, the alarming turnover in this profession has made it incredibly difficult for ECE programs and employers to retain and support this segment of the workforce. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative inquiry is to answer how early childhood workers experience workplace thriving. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees of a community-funded childhood education and care program. A stratified random sampling technique was used to interview the employees who (i) had successfully completed the probationary period; (ii) qualified as ECE workers based on their job description or the human resources coordinator’s assessment. Interviews were conducted till the point of data saturation. Thematic analysis revealed how ECE workers professionally thrive at multiple levels. Findings The findings were clustered into five broader spheres in alignment with the social-ecological framework. The personal sphere showcased workers’ passion, work meaningfulness, value system and skill transferability. The microsystems included children, parents, workplace friends and managers as influencing actors. In the mesosystems, leadership processes and managerial support emerged as salient factors. The exosystems captured organizational objectives, job characteristics and work environment. Finally, in the macrosystems, industrial norms, labor market dynamics, and community-building informed workplace thriving of this population. Originality/value The current research applies the social-ecological lens to analyze the factors that help ECE workers professionally thrive. The social-ecological framework not only identifies multi-level recommendations but also the human resource management (HRM) interventions at the levels that need the most attention. The current research is among the first to analyze ECE workers’ professional thriving from an HRM viewpoint.