“I can’t remember the number of times my board of directors has suggested we develop a policy about something!  The HR Toolkit is a handy reference when a policy is needed and research time is short. The fact that the policies are specific to the ECE sector is extremely helpful when looking for guidance or searching for a template.”

--Susan Willis, Executive Director, Mount Pleasant Child Care Centre, Halifax

“The toolkit provides a quick resource where I can access information that will take me through the steps to implement a specific HR initiative—for example, developing job descriptions, a performance review program or a compensation system.”

--Ronna MacPherson, Human Resources Manager, Andrew Fleck Child Care Services, Ottawa

“Time-poor and budget-crunched ECEC employers often find themselves attempting to develop human resource policies on their own and from scratch, all the while worrying whether or not they are ‘getting it right’. The comprehensive range of information, tools and resources contained in this ECEC-flavoured HR toolkit will give employers an enormous kick-start and a boost of confidence that they can do it and are not alone—others have gone before them and can help!”

--Arlene Ross, HR Toolkit Project Steering Committee Chair; Executive Director, Global Child Care Services, Ottawa

“The toolkit can form the basis of some good assignments for ECE diploma students, who also need to understand organizational practices and constraints. Policies, employment standards, letters of offer, evaluations and performance appraisals are useful to know about, as is getting the bigger picture and the scope of the human resources aspect of an organization.”

--Susan Willis, Early Childhood Administrator Continuing Education Course Coordinator, Mount Saint Vincent University; Faculty, Nova Scotia College of Early Childhood Education, Halifax

“Through this toolkit, frontline managers in the child care sector will be able to access a wealth of HR management theories and practices. In addition, this toolkit will enable them to find easily adaptable HR tools and templates.”    

--Lily Chen, HR Toolkit Project Steering Committee Member and Human Resource Direction, the Association of Neighborhood Houses of British Columbia, Vancouver

“Provincial organizations sometimes receive requests from members about things such as how to evaluate their executive director, build a better board or develop organizational policies. These organizations will be able to refer their members to the toolkit, and send them a link that provides more information, how-tos, and in some cases templates. It’s a great resource.”

--Karen Ohlson, former Board Member, Manitoba Child Care Association; Executive Director, KIDS Inc., Winnipeg

“In our administration leadership course one of the modules is human resources and we talk a lot about organizational behaviour, culture and aspects of policy development. The toolkit will be an excellent resource for this course because it contains the philosophical background and practical tools that can be used.”

--Susan Willis, Early Childhood Administrator Continuing Education Course Coordinator, Mount Saint Vincent University; Faculty, Nova Scotia College of Early Childhood Education, Halifax

 “The information in the toolkit helps promote understanding of labour issues specific to the ECE sector and generally, with sections on labour practices and employee standards that can be used to support positive union-management relations. Unions will find the examples of language that has been negotiated into collective agreements in the sector particularly interesting, especially language related to retention.”

--Margot Young, HR Toolkit Project Steering Committee Member; Researcher,  Canadian Union of Public Employees, Ottawa

“Tracking our [Andrew Fleck Child Care Services] employment activity for the number of new hires, staff leaves, staff changes and terminations on a monthly and yearly basis gave us important data. We had supporting statistical information to present to the board when requesting additional staffing support. We were better able to plan for typical recruitment cycles. And specific staffing challenges were easily identified by department or program.

--Ronna MacPherson, Human Resources Manager, Andrew Fleck Child Care Services, Ottawa

“Our employees appreciate the monthly contribution we make to their RSPs. Since the amount increases with seniority, the employees’ total compensation package increases, and they are rewarded for staying with our organization. The RSP has helped decrease turnover as well as increase our employees’ awareness of the importance of retirement planning—especially important in a female-dominated sector.”

--Susan Willis, Executive Director, Mount Pleasant Child Care Centre, Halifax