Welcome back to “Daycare Onboarding Made Simple,” our course on onboarding that will have your staff excited and ready on day one. This is part two of Lesson Four: Creating a Daycare Staff Handbook. In this video, I’ll cover Parts 4 through 6 of what you should include in a daycare staff handbook.

Recap from Part 1

In Part 1 of Lesson Four, we covered:

1. About the Daycare
2. Staff Information
3. Delegation and Decision-Making
4. Program Details
5. Guidance and Socialization
6. General Policies and Procedures

Now let’s continue with Parts 4 through 6.

Part 4: Personal and Professional Behavior

• Confidential Records: State that each employee’s records will be kept confidential.
• Professional Demeanor: Explain the importance of using good judgment in each employee’s behavior.
• Dress Code: Provide a dress code or policy. Here are some standard recommendations:
  • Jewelry should be conservative; avoid long-chain necklaces or pendants as they can be a safety hazard for small children.
  • Earrings should be small, conservative, and secure to prevent children from grabbing and pulling.
  • Shoes must be neat and in good repair at all times. Tennis shoes or flats are best; open-toe or open-heel shoes, including flip-flops, are not recommended for safety reasons.
  • Clothing should be clean and in good repair, suitable for engaging with children in various activities. Avoid clothes that are too revealing.
  • Emphasize the importance of wearing an employee name tag or identification. Indicate what to do if a name tag is forgotten or lost.
  • State that smoking is not permitted at or around the daycare facility.
• Food and Hot Beverages: Provide guidelines such as:
  • Food brought from home should not be eaten in the presence of children; consume it on your designated lunch break.
  • If your center serves meals family-style, recommend that staff eat the same food as the children and serve as role models by eating nutritiously in front of them.
  • Indicate where allergy information is posted.
  • Staff should avoid drinking hot beverages around the children to prevent burns. Other beverages should be kept in closed containers and away from the children.
  • State that alcoholic beverages are not allowed.
• Respect for Children: Keep respect for all children at the forefront of decisions regarding food.

Part 5: Music and Television

• Television Usage: Recommend not using television or at least limiting it to special occasions. If television is used, limit it to 20 minutes at a time and only G-rated movies and content.
• Radio Usage: Listening to talk radio or actual radio stations should not be allowed. Suggest using app-based music sites only.
• Personal Phone Calls: Recommend that personal calls for staff be conducted either before or after a shift or during lunch breaks. Limit cell phone use while staff are with the children, allowing personal cell phones only for emergency purposes offsite. Address the use of phones for daily note apps.
• Staff Schedules: Indicate where schedules are posted and when they are posted. List the procedure for requesting time off and calling in sick, including how much notice is required and how notice should be given (phone call, email, text, etc.). State if staff need to find their own substitute and have a policy for excessive absences.
• Pay Periods and Paychecks: Explain pay periods and how paychecks will be distributed. Provide the process for setting up direct deposit.

Part 6: Health, Safety, and Emergency Procedures

• Orientation: Look into whether licensing requires new employees to have a certain minimum number of hours of orientation. Cover your daycare’s orientation process and any coaching or mentoring processes.
• Gross Misconduct: List offenses that may require immediate disciplinary action or termination, such as neglect or physical abuse of a child, withholding of food or nap, yelling, or using harsh tones. More examples are provided in the lesson workbook.
• Conflict Resolution: Explain your procedure for resolving conflicts and refer to your employee chart.
• Benefits: If your center provides insurance, list the availability guidelines. If you offer free or discounted childcare tuition for staff’s children, explain the details. Outline your vacation policy, list holidays the center is closed, and explain sick leave policies, including any bereavement days.
• Accident Reports: State when accident reports will be written, when parents will be notified, and when emergency services will be called.
• Health Needs: Explain that children with diagnosed special health needs must have a current care plan signed by a healthcare provider and parent or guardian, updated yearly. Emergency medication or equipment must be available at all times and offsite during childcare hours.
• Emergency Procedures: Cover procedures for accidents requiring immediate medical attention, evacuations, shelter locations for weather-related events, and lockdown situations. Explain how to handle natural disasters.
• Exclusion Due to Illness: Provide detailed exclusion policies for common illnesses and list illnesses that parents need to inform the center about immediately. Explain the procedure if children become ill while at daycare.
• Hand Washing: List all times when children and adults are required to wash hands.
• Handling Body Fluids: Explain the procedure for cleaning up body fluids and handling exposure incidents.
• Public Health Issues: Include policies for public health issues, specifically COVID-19 procedures.
• Medication Policy: Require written permission and instructions from a healthcare provider and parent or guardian for administering prescription and over-the-counter medications. Written parental permission is required for applying over-the-counter products.
• Cleaning Procedures: Indicate the products to be used for cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting, and explain the procedure and frequency for cleaning items and surfaces.

Conclusion

In this two-part lesson, we took a comprehensive look at six key areas to address in your staff handbook. Creating your staff handbook will make the training process and onboarding even easier. Be sure to download the lesson workbook below this video. It will walk you through creating all six handbook sections. Use it before moving on to the next lesson.

Coming up next, we’re going to tackle training and tune-ups: how to avoid dependency and determine who stays and who needs to move on. I’ll see you there!