!HELP!
A Series for School Leaders
How do I retain staff? I'm not sure if it's burn-out or something else
Retention of quality staff is a consideration any successful organization must address. Although a moderate level of staff turnover can be good for an organization because it can bring to the district fresh ideas and approaches, every organization needs to have a strategy in place to retain high quality staff. Ignoring high levels of employee turnover can be detrimental to internal morale and can harm a district’s reputation.
With more than half of teachers leaving the profession in their first five years and a diminishing number of individuals selecting teaching as a profession, education leaders across the country are grappling with a persistent teacher shortage. This diminishing workforce may be related to burn out according to a recent study by Gallup. The Gallup Panel Workforce Study was conducted in February 2022, with 12,319 full-time employees, including 1,263 K-12 workers and found that more than four in ten K-12 workers in the U.S. (44%) say they "always" or "very often" feel burned out at work, outpacing all other industries nationally.[1]
This unwanted and high teacher turnover is having a negative impact on school districts, including increased recruiting, hiring, and training costs; low teacher morale due to increased workloads or shifting responsibilities; and lower productivity because new teachers may lack requisite experience and/or may not be fully trained.[2] The loss of experienced teachers is significant because there is extensive research that demonstrates that teaching experience is associated with student achievement gains and other measures of success, such as school attendance. More experienced teachers have a positive impact on the performance of their peers and are more likely to confer benefits to their colleagues, their students, and the school as a whole.[3]
Studies have shown the most common negative reasons for leaving a job, not solely teaching, include the following:
*Poor salary and benefits
*A lack of training and development opportunities
*Dissatisfaction with management
*Not getting along with colleagues
*The journey to work
*Lack of work/life balance
As school districts examine specific causes for teacher departures, these six areas should be examined to determine their applicability to their own staffs. There is much that leaders can do in these areas to mitigate the negative impact on their work force. Surveys and exit interviews can be utilized to seek input for opportunities to improve working conditions. And why not conduct ‘stay interviews’ during the school year to identify what is going well in your teachers’ eyes and what could be improved. These methods, however, are only effective if the results are taken seriously and specific actions are taken to address the concerns. Asking teachers what they think without responding is worse than not seeking input in the first place.
An impactful way school leaders can establish an atmosphere of supportive trust with teachers is to enable them to design a unique growth plan for their future. Professional learning opportunities should meet individual needs and goals and should not be one-size-fits all. This type of collaboration builds a positive school culture by creating teacher “voice and choice”. Other ways to build a positive culture are providing continuous and relevant feedback, rewarding teachers for their hard work, acts of kindness (snacks, supplies, free lunch, technology), and asking your community for discounts or gift cards for your teachers.
School leaders who are most successful at retaining novice teachers understand the importance of a strong mentor/mentee program and they create programs that facilitate meaningful interactions throughout the first years of teaching. Beyond supporting teachers new to the profession, strong leaders give teachers specific feedback. This can occur through formal and informal professional learning communities; job-embedded professional learning; or classroom observations such as instructional rounds, modeled after the medical field. Most importantly, leaders ask teachers for feedback and bring them into the decision-making process. A comprehensive approach to teacher retention that accounts for each stage of the teacher pipeline is necessary to improve the attractiveness of the profession and to avoid burn out.
It may be important for your school district to conduct a total compensation analysis to determine if your salaries and benefits are competitive with neighboring districts. Even if your district is unable to increase teacher pay which becomes an ongoing expense, there are other ways to incentivize teachers to increase their longevity. Hiring or retention bonuses, stipends, or higher education opportunities can impact teachers’ income without creating continuing expense. Many districts have developed 4-day week calendars or periodic shortened school days which allow teachers to participate in professional learning and planning during non-teaching time. Others have developed partnerships with governmental agencies to assist with securing housing when this was an issue.
No matter which methods you choose to impact teacher retention, combating teacher attrition starts with supportive leadership. When teachers feel respected, taken care of, and have the support of leadership, they are far less likely to suffer burn out and far more likely to stay.
[1]https://news.gallup.com/poll/393500/workers-highest-burnout-rate.aspx
[2]https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/03/25/new-studies-find-that-for-teachers-experience.html
[3]https://www.frontlineeducation.com/blog/teacher-retention-strategies-for-schools/
Contributed by consultant Dr. Cindy Elsberry
Retention of quality staff is a consideration any successful organization must address. Although a moderate level of staff turnover can be good for an organization because it can bring to the district fresh ideas and approaches, every organization needs to have a strategy in place to retain high quality staff. Ignoring high levels of employee turnover can be detrimental to internal morale and can harm a district’s reputation.
With more than half of teachers leaving the profession in their first five years and a diminishing number of individuals selecting teaching as a profession, education leaders across the country are grappling with a persistent teacher shortage. This diminishing workforce may be related to burn out according to a recent study by Gallup. The Gallup Panel Workforce Study was conducted in February 2022, with 12,319 full-time employees, including 1,263 K-12 workers and found that more than four in ten K-12 workers in the U.S. (44%) say they "always" or "very often" feel burned out at work, outpacing all other industries nationally.[1]
This unwanted and high teacher turnover is having a negative impact on school districts, including increased recruiting, hiring, and training costs; low teacher morale due to increased workloads or shifting responsibilities; and lower productivity because new teachers may lack requisite experience and/or may not be fully trained.[2] The loss of experienced teachers is significant because there is extensive research that demonstrates that teaching experience is associated with student achievement gains and other measures of success, such as school attendance. More experienced teachers have a positive impact on the performance of their peers and are more likely to confer benefits to their colleagues, their students, and the school as a whole.[3]
Studies have shown the most common negative reasons for leaving a job, not solely teaching, include the following:
*Poor salary and benefits
*A lack of training and development opportunities
*Dissatisfaction with management
*Not getting along with colleagues
*The journey to work
*Lack of work/life balance
As school districts examine specific causes for teacher departures, these six areas should be examined to determine their applicability to their own staffs. There is much that leaders can do in these areas to mitigate the negative impact on their work force. Surveys and exit interviews can be utilized to seek input for opportunities to improve working conditions. And why not conduct ‘stay interviews’ during the school year to identify what is going well in your teachers’ eyes and what could be improved. These methods, however, are only effective if the results are taken seriously and specific actions are taken to address the concerns. Asking teachers what they think without responding is worse than not seeking input in the first place.
An impactful way school leaders can establish an atmosphere of supportive trust with teachers is to enable them to design a unique growth plan for their future. Professional learning opportunities should meet individual needs and goals and should not be one-size-fits all. This type of collaboration builds a positive school culture by creating teacher “voice and choice”. Other ways to build a positive culture are providing continuous and relevant feedback, rewarding teachers for their hard work, acts of kindness (snacks, supplies, free lunch, technology), and asking your community for discounts or gift cards for your teachers.
School leaders who are most successful at retaining novice teachers understand the importance of a strong mentor/mentee program and they create programs that facilitate meaningful interactions throughout the first years of teaching. Beyond supporting teachers new to the profession, strong leaders give teachers specific feedback. This can occur through formal and informal professional learning communities; job-embedded professional learning; or classroom observations such as instructional rounds, modeled after the medical field. Most importantly, leaders ask teachers for feedback and bring them into the decision-making process. A comprehensive approach to teacher retention that accounts for each stage of the teacher pipeline is necessary to improve the attractiveness of the profession and to avoid burn out.
It may be important for your school district to conduct a total compensation analysis to determine if your salaries and benefits are competitive with neighboring districts. Even if your district is unable to increase teacher pay which becomes an ongoing expense, there are other ways to incentivize teachers to increase their longevity. Hiring or retention bonuses, stipends, or higher education opportunities can impact teachers’ income without creating continuing expense. Many districts have developed 4-day week calendars or periodic shortened school days which allow teachers to participate in professional learning and planning during non-teaching time. Others have developed partnerships with governmental agencies to assist with securing housing when this was an issue.
No matter which methods you choose to impact teacher retention, combating teacher attrition starts with supportive leadership. When teachers feel respected, taken care of, and have the support of leadership, they are far less likely to suffer burn out and far more likely to stay.
[1]https://news.gallup.com/poll/393500/workers-highest-burnout-rate.aspx
[2]https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/03/25/new-studies-find-that-for-teachers-experience.html
[3]https://www.frontlineeducation.com/blog/teacher-retention-strategies-for-schools/
Contributed by consultant Dr. Cindy Elsberry
!HELP! is a series of common scenarios that confront schools today and our attempt to help schools and administrators deal with them. We will add new scenarios periodically. If you have a suggestion of one you would like to see, please let us know.
Contact us for further and individualized assistance.
This provides only general information.
Contact us for further and individualized assistance.
This provides only general information.