Espoo to raise the salaries of daycare managers

The salaries of the directors of day care centres will be increased in Finnish-language and Swedish-language early childhood education in Espoo.

“Directors of day care centres carry out demanding pedagogical management work. The directors are also responsible for the administrative work of their unit, employees' occupational wellbeing and personnel management. The salary for the task must be proportional to the difficulty of the work. The workload of the directors of day care centres has clearly increased in recent years,” Harri Rinta-aho, Director of the Growth and Learning Sector, says on the new decision.

Competitive pay also affects the attractiveness of early childhood education as an employer and helps retain employees.

“Espoo has also faced major challenges in the availability of early childhood education personnel in recent years. We want to actively implement ways of improving the situation. One way of doing this is to invest in the remuneration of management work that has become increasingly demanding,” Rinta-aho says.

In Espoo, management and the development of management are seen as critical success factors.

“High-quality management supports staff wellbeing and strengthens commitment to objectives, creating preconditions for the implementation of high-quality early childhood education. Good management has a significant impact on the work satisfaction and resilience of personnel,” Rinta-aho says.

Espoo has sought to improve the attractiveness of early childhood education as an employer for a long time. In the spring, Espoo introduced an incentive bonus to select daycare centres that had had difficulties in filling vacancies.

In addition, there are a number of ways of influencing the availability and permanence of personnel. The City supports career paths and continuing training of early childhood education staff, develops occupational wellbeing and working conditions, and educates staff through apprenticeship cooperation.

“Every early childhood education employee in Espoo needs high-quality management to support their daily work. We must ensure good conditions for the success of management work. In addition to a competitive salary, we will provide directors of day care centres with e.g. a collegial network and opportunities to develop competence and expertise. We will also support any new managers through our mentoring programme,” says Virpi Mattila, Director of Finnish-language early childhood education in Espoo.

Early childhood education is a key service from the point of view of the wellbeing and vitality of the residents and the city. Early childhood education is a key investment in the future, and Espoo needs skilled, professional directors for the future.

“In addition to the meaningful leadership work in the units, daycare managers in Espoo are involved in developing the services of the growing city and are thus at the forefront of the development of early childhood education also at the national level. This is an excellent opportunity to gain an overview of the field and participate in the construction of the future together with a skilled group of professionals. Raising salaries is one way to increase the attractiveness of Espoo and employee retention in Espoo,” says Barbro Högström, Director of Swedish Education and Cultural Services.

Read more about the incentive bonus for ECEC staff introduced by Espoo in the spring:

Espoo to introduce staff incentive bonus in some daycare centres