You deserve a raise.
Right now, after reading that first sentence, you are doing two things; 1. You are nodding your head, and, 2. You are now very interested in this article. Good, I'm glad I have piqued your interest. Because, seriously, you DO deserve a raise.
Daycare is serious business. We work long hours, accept mountains of responsibility, pay overhead, wipe poop, swab up puke, dodge balls of snot sneezed across the room, manage parents, run the business side and often have periods of little income. Such is the life of the self-employed daycare provider. On those points alone we do deserve a raise.
I was recently researching average Canadian annual salary and wage increases when preparing for this article. I already suspected that as home daycare providers we were well below the standard for annual increases but I was astonished to know by how much we are behind. Most daycare providers do not increase their fees each year. At best, we meekly send out a new contract once every two years with an piddly increase of one dollar per care day and hope to high heaven we don't ruffle any feathers. All the while the parents have been enjoying an annual increase each and every year.
Did you know that in Canada in 2008 the average annual increase for a non-unionized employee was 3.9 per cent? Or that in Ontario, minimum wage will increase from 2009 to March 2010 by 8 per cent? How much did your annual increase amount to last year? My guess is not much.
It's high time we started to ask for and demand what we deserve. It's bad enough that the job of childcare has always been one of demeaning compensation and little respect. There is no glory in being viewed as a home daycare provider. I could announce at a party that I am a politician and gain more instant respect then I would admitting that I am helping to shape tomorrow's leaders. We deserve more and dammit - it's time to get it.
I know in my area the average daily rate is around $35 a day. At a minimum of the national average of 3.9 per cent that would be a fee increase of $1.37 per day. And of course, one must not forget that the national average of increases is for those workers who go in, punch the clock, get a pay cheque on Friday and never look back at the doors that spit them out Friday at five o'clock until next Monday at nine. We don't have that luxury. We don't get to use the company toilet paper at no cost, or wash our hands in the company sink with the "free" company water. No, instead we pay for someone else to use those things. We also pay for someone else to eat our food, which invariably increases in price each year. My heat bill, hydro bill, phone bill, property tax, and cost of daycare supplies go up and up year after year. That guy working for his pay cheque does not have to factor any of those expenses into his annual increase. And I won't even get into what our fee increase should be if we took into account the eight per cent minimum wage inflation.
So, $1.37 a day? How many of you increased you fees by at least this amount each and every year? I'm going to guess that there are not a lot of us reading this post raising our hands right now. Most daycare providers I know are hesitant to raise their rates a dollar every two years let alone $1.37 or more every year. Why are we not doing this?
Why do we not feel worthy of a raise? Can you imagine a school teacher (who by the way earns an average of $75,000 a year in Ontario!!!) not getting an annual increase at contract renewal? Wow, we wouldn't have teachers sitting in classrooms if that happened. They would be outside every school waving signs to and fro if that were to occur. But we humble home daycare providers just sit back and bitch and complain that we make too little and pay out too much. It's our own fault. We have only ourselves to blame.
I've heard all the excuses......"the parents will leave", "I don't like confrontation", "I'm too afraid", yadda, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah.......
As a general rule I abhor unions. I view them as legal blackmailers who hold the social framework hostage when they don't get their way. But, they do work. Perhaps daycare providers need to take a lesson from them. Unions get what they want because they are united. They collectively agree to stand their ground and not give in. We should be doing this too. It would certainly be a lesson to the $20 a day provider down the street who learns you are filling up your daycare for double her fees.
I was once at a conference of non-daycare professionals and listening to a speaker whose topic was 'value and your self-worth'. What I took away from that hour was that there is perceived value in everything. And that, when you have markedly higher fees than existing similar businesses the general population perceives that your product or service must be superior. The same logic goes for those who mistakenly set fees too low. Most people, smart people, will assume there must be something wrong with the product or service. This philosophy is well known in marketing. If you don't believe me just google "perceived value" and investigate the matter for yourself.
As is my personality, my mind is always going mach speed. I am always thinking many months into the future. For weeks I have already planned out my new 2010 contracts and the fee increase that will accompany them when handed out to parents in December. My fees will increase by two dollars a day. And, because all of my families are part-time that will equate to an annual increase of $300 per child. And if one single parent complains about that pittance of a raise they can find themselves a new provider. If I am not worth an additional $300 over a two year time period (as I did not raise fees in 2009)then I have vastly over valued myself or the parents truly do not understand what it is I do all day.
I challenge you, today, to think about this. How much will your annual increase be next year? If it's anything more than zero I applaud you. And if it's zero you need to re-read this article.
For concerns, advice or suggestions I welcome your email at judytrickett@yahoo.ca
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