Work Discretion, Job Crafting
and Turnover in Early Care and
Education Programs
Eileen Appelbaum
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
eappelba@rci.rutgers.edu
ESRC Workshop on Childcare/Eldercare
University of Manchester
February 26, 2007
Research Team
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Eileen Appelbaum Rutgers University, 391 George Street, New
Brunswick, NJ 08901, 732-932-4614, eappelba@rci.rutgers.edu
Sherry Cleary, NYC Early Childhood Professional Development Institute,
The City University of New York, 101 W 31st Street, NY, NY 10001, 646344-7248, sherry.cleary@mail.cuny.edu
Brenda Ghitulescu Rochester Institute of Technology, 811
Northumberland Way Monmouth Junction, NJ 08852, 732-438-1923,
brenda_ghitulescu@yahoo.com
Christie Hudson, School of Social Work, University of Pittsburgh, 339C
Mervis Hall, Pittsburgh PA 15260, 412-624-7812, chudson@pitt.edu
Deb Lancaster, Rutgers University Graduate School of Education, 391
George St., 3rd floor, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, 732-572 -971,
lancaster@smlr.rutgers.edu
Carrie Leana, Professor of Business and Public Affairs, University of
Pittsburgh, 342 Mervis Hall, Pittsburgh PA 15260, 412-648-1674,
leana@pitt.edu
Anushri Rawat, Katz Graduate School of Business, 329 Mervis Hall,
Pittsburgh, PA 15260, 412-648-1622, arawat@katz.pitt.edu
Sharon Ryan, Rutgers University Graduate School of Education, 10
Seminary Place, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, 732-932-7496,
sr247@rci.rutgers.edu
Karen White, Rutgers University CWW, 391 George Street, New
Brunswick, NJ 08901, 732-932-4614, kswhite@rci.rutgers.edu
Research Strategy and Methods
Insights re: practice,
theory construction,
hypothesis development
Sense making [1] via
intensive case studies –
qual & quant methods
Literature:
thin, mainly
descriptive
Source: Australian Graduate
School of Management
Sense making [2], [3] –
(dis)confirm using quant
methods, survey analysis
Consolidate theory,
identify new issues
Compelling Problem
HR management—
role & contribution
Compelling Problem
 Greater stability of childcare workforce =>
 Better educational/developmental outcomes for
children
 Especially those in low-income families
 Or children otherwise at risk for low performance
 Yet, staff turnover among childcare workers is
very high – est. 26-41% in childcare centers
 Due to low wages and benefits
 May also be related to how work is organized
 Differs from other low-wage, low-status work
 Jobs can be rewarding
 But are they?
What We Know/Don’t Know
About Childcare Work
 Know: characteristics of the jobs of childcare
teacher, aide
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Low pay, Low status
High child-to-staff ratios
High employee discretion
High turnover
Opportunities for discretion (job crafting)
 Don’t know:
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Work process in ECE
How discretion is enacted as workers craft their jobs
Effects of job crafting on quality of care
Effects of job crafting on job sat and commitment
Differs from Other Low-Wage,
Low-Status Work
 Childcare workers
 Engage in long-term relationships with
children and their parents
 Experience great combined demands:
physical, emotional, and intellectual
 Exercise greater autonomy and individual
judgment
 Not as rigidly monitored
 Have opportunities for “job crafting” – imbue job
with meaning
 May have greater control over work hours,
schedules
Differs from Other Low-Wage,
Low-Status Work
 Childcare work
 Has large economic impact
 Lays foundation for children’s subsequent
educational achievement, motivation,
social development
 Provides support for working parents
 Yet, little is known about the actual
work process in early care and
education (ECE)
What We Don’t Know About Early
Care and Education Work
 What is the actual work that childcare workers
perform?
 Physically? Emotionally? Intellectually?
 How much discretion do workers have in different
provider settings?
 Why do workers stay in these low paying, low
status jobs?
 How do they imbue their jobs with meaning and
motivation (role of job crafting)?
 How does job crafting affect
 Turnover, absenteeism, stress?
 Quality of care and outcomes for children?
 How can the use of discretion to achieve
positive outcomes be promoted?
Intensive Case Studies
 Two research teams
 Rutgers University – New Jersey
 University of Pittsburgh – Pennsylvania
 Each team includes experts in management practices/work
organization & in early childhood education/pre-K teacher
preparation
 Comparison of states
 NJ ranks near the top in U.S. in terms of access to pre-K,
quality of teacher prep
 PA ranks near the bottom
 Purpose of the case studies
 Develop interview Q for Program/Center Director
 Develop survey instrument for teacher/aide
 NJ team carried out open-ended interviews with director, 2
teachers, 2 aides/assistant teacher at 13 sites
 PA team carried out focus groups with directors, teachers,
aides/assistant teachers
Theory Construction &
Hypothesis Development
Model Linking Work Structures, Processes, and
Outcomes for Employees, Centers and Children
Work Context:
1. Structure ( e.g.,
pay, benefits,
subsidies,
teacher/child
ratios)
2. Process (e.g.,
workplace
policies and
practices;
center
leadership;
educational
opportunities)
3. Individual Flex
(e.g., work
schedule,
tasks)
Job Crafting: Changing
the boundaries and
conditions of the job
1. Tasks: how work is
conceptualized and
carried out
2. Relationships: how
and with whom one
interacts
3. Meaning: how one
ascribes meaning and
significance to one’s
work
Work Outcomes:
1. Archival Data
a. absenteeism
b. turnover
c. performance/
quality (ECCR)
2. Survey Data
a. motivation
b. job satisfaction
c. intention to turnover
d. stress/burnout
Actors/Beneficiaries/Outcomes
of Job Crafting
Beneficiary
Individual
Employee
Work
Group
Employer/
Childcare
Center
Children &
Parents
Individual
Employee
Expand job
boundaries,
meaning of
work
Group
citizenship;
build effective routines
Innovation;
org.
citizenship
behaviors
Stronger
relations;
high qual.
care & ed
Collective
Work
Group
Enhance
human K &
professional
identity
Enhance
collective ID
& problem
solving
Org. learning; Consistency
diffusion of
of excellence
best practice
Actor
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides
Individual Job Crafting –Task

F2. How often do you ever change the classroom schedule on
your own? (For example: change when you take the children
outside or when you do certain activities)
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□
□
□
□
□
□
Never If Never, Go to #F4
About once a month or less
A few times a month
About once a week
A few times a week
Every day
F3. How often do you change your classroom schedule on your
own to reduce wasted time?
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□
□
□
□
□
□
Never
About once a month or less
A few times a month
About once a week
A few times a week
Every day
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides
Individual Job Crafting –Task

F4. We are interested in the day-to-day decisions you make in
doing your job. How often you do any of the following?
 Introduce new approaches on your own to improve your work in the
classroom 
 Change minor work procedures that you think are not productive
(such as lunch time or transition routines)  Change the way you do
your job to make it easier for yourself 
 Rearrange equipment or furniture in the play areas of your
classroom
 Organize special events in your classroom (such as celebrating a
child’s birthday, etc.)
 Purchase materials with your own money for the classroom
 Bring in other materials from home for the classroom (such as
empty jars and egg cartons)
 Adapted from Amy Wrzeniewski’s 2005 job crafting scale, unpublished
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides
Individual Job Crafting –Task

F5. Sometimes the work done by teachers and assistants/aides
doesn’t involve working with children or being in a classroom.
How often do you do each of the following?
a. Spend time advising or encouraging a child’s parents on issues that
affect the family (such as custody disputes between parents)
b. Help the center director to solve unexpected work-related problems
c. Work outside of normal working hours (such as work during breaks,
stay late, take work home, etc.)
d. Volunteer to work on special projects or committees
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides
Job Crafting – Relational/Communication
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G1. How often do you talk to each of the following groups of
people in your center about work related issues?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
(other) Assistants/Aides
(other) Teachers
Director
Other Professionals (social workers, nurses, etc.)
Volunteers
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides
Job Crafting – Relational/Communication
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G2. For each of the following issues, please answer who are
you most likely to talk to about it.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
A discipline problem with a child
A difficult or overly demanding parent
Questions about the curriculum
Ideas about activities
Materials for activities
Questions about child development
Questions about a child with special needs
Your own personal problems
Problems you are having with co-workers
Problems with your immediate supervisor
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides
Job Crafting – Relational/Communication
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G3. Overall, how close do you feel to each of the following
groups of people in your center?
[very close, moderately close, a little close, not close at all]
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
(other) Assistants/Aides
(other) Teachers
Director
Other Professionals (social workers, nurses, etc.)
Volunteers
Children in your classroom
Parents of children in your classroom
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides
Job Crafting – Relational/Communication
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G4. At your center, how often do you do each of the following?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

Attend formal staff meetings
Have informal staff discussions
Receive written memos/notices/e-mails about center issues
Have individual meetings with the director
Attend in-center presentations or workshops
G5. Sometimes culture or language differences can cause
problems in workplaces, but sometimes not. How often do
each of the following happen in your center?
a.
b.
c.
You experience difficulty talking with co-workers due to culture or
language problems
You experience difficulty talking with parents due to culture or
language problems
You experience difficulty talking with children due to culture or
language problems
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides
Job Crafting -- Cognitive

H1. Next, we are interested in how you feel about your job.
Please answer how much you agree or disagree with each
statement
[strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, strongly agree]
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
My work gives me the opportunity to do things for other people
My job makes me feel like I’m contributing to the community
My work has a positive impact on children and parents
My work has a positive impact on my co-workers
My job positively affects children in ways that really last
I think of myself as a professional in this job
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides
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H3. How do you feel about the center where you work and the
early childhood education profession as a whole? Please
answer how much you agree or disagree with each statement.

Organizational Commitment 
a.
b.
c.
d.
I wouldn’t want to work in any other center than the one I do now
I would recommend this center to parents seeking a place for
their child
I usually look forward to each working day at this center
I feel loyal to this center
 adapted from Bryk & Schneider 2002
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides
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H3. How do you feel about the center where you work and the
early childhood education profession as a whole? Please
answer how much you agree or disagree with each statement

Professional Identity  
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
When someone criticizes early childhood education, it feels like a
personal insult
I am very interested in what others think about early childhood
education
When I talk about early childhood education, I usually say “we”
rather than “they”
Early childhood education’s successes are my own successes
When someone praises early childhood education, it feels like a
personal compliment
If a story in the media criticized early childhood education, I would
feel embarrassed
  adapted from organizational identification scale from Mael & Ashforth 1992, also used by
Elsbach & Bhattacharya 2001
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides

Work Orientation (job/career/calling)

H4. Please answer how much you agree or disagree with
each of the following statements about your job:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
I expect to be in a higher level job in this field in five years
I would choose my current work life again if I had the opportunity
I enjoy talking about my work to others.
I view my job primarily as a stepping stone to other jobs
My primary reason for working is financial – to support my family
and lifestyle
If I was financially secure, I would continue with my current line of
work even if I was no longer paid
When I am not at work, I do not think much about my work
I never take work home with me
My work is one of the most important things in my life
My work is a chance to give back to the community
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides
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Emotional Labor 

H5. Throughout the workday you can feel lots of different
emotions, for example, happiness, sadness, etc. For this
question, think about everyone you have contact with in an
average day, including the children in your center, co-workers,
parents, and the center director. How often you do each of the
following? [never, rarely, sometimes, often, always]
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Resist expressing my true feelings
Try to actually experience the emotions that I must show
Hide my true feelings about a situation
Pretend to have emotions that I don’t really have
Make an effort to actually feel the emotions that I need to display
to others
Really try to feel the emotions I have to show as part of my job
 emotional labor scale from Brotheridge & Lee 2003
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides
 Turnover Intention 

H6. We’re interested in how people think about their future
plans. How much do you agree or disagree with each of the
following statements?
a. It is likely that I will actively look for a new job in early childhood
education in the coming year
b. It is likely that I will actively look for a new job in another field in the
coming year
c. I often think about quitting my job
d. It would take very little change in my present work circumstances to
cause me to leave this center
e. There is not too much to be gained by sticking with this center
beyond the coming year
 Standard turnover intention scale from Becker 1992
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides

Emotional Exhaustion 

H7. How often do you feel each of the following? [never, once
a month, few times a month, once a week, few times a week,
every day]
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
Emotionally drained from your work
Physically used up at the end of the workday
Fatigued when you get up in the morning and have to face
another day on the job
That working with children all day is really a strain for you
Burned out from your work
Frustrated by your job
That you are working too hard on your job
Like you’re at the end of your rope
Physical aches and pains due to exertion at work
That your job makes you physically tired.
 Emotional exhaustion scale from Maslach’s 1981 burnout inventory
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides

Collective Job Crafting

J1. Do you work with other teachers or assistants/aides in your
classroom?
J2. Think about things you do together with your co-workers in
your classroom. How often do you decide together to change
the classroom schedule? (For example: change when you take the

children outside or when you do certain activities)


J3. How often do you decide together with your co-workers to
change your classroom schedule to reduce wasted time?
J4. In a classroom, sometimes tasks or activities are done
together, and sometimes one person starts and another person
finishes [task interdependence] 
a.
b.
In your classroom, how often do you start a task or activity that is
finished by someone else?
In your classroom, how often do you finish a task or activity that
was started by someone else?
Adapted from Dean and Snell 1991
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides
Collective Job Crafting

J5. We are interested in the day-to-day decisions you make with your
co-workers in the classroom. How often do you make the following
decisions together?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
Decide together with your co-workers to change minor work procedures that
you think are not productive (such as lunch time or transition routines)
Decide together with your co-workers to change the way you do your job to
make it easier for yourself
Decide together with your co-workers to rearrange equipment or furniture in
the play areas of your classroom
Decide together with your co-workers to purchase materials with your own
money for the classroom
Decide together with your co-workers to bring in other materials from home
for the classroom (such as empty jars and egg cartons)
Work together with your coworkers to introduce new approaches to improve
your work in the classroom
Work together with your co-workers to organize special events in your
classroom (such as celebrating a child’s birthday, etc.)
Work together with your coworkers outside of normal working hours to plan or
finish work
Work together with your coworkers to help the center director solve
unexpected work- related problems
Work together with your coworkers on volunteer projects and committees
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides

Task Interdependence 

J6. How often do you depend on the co-workers in your classroom to
get your job done?
J7. How often do the co-workers in your classroom depend on you for
information needed to perform their work?
J8. How much do you agree or disagree with the following?


a.
b.
Success in the classroom depends on cooperation between me and my
coworkers
My co-workers and I need to rely on each other to get our jobs done.

Socialization/Informal Learning

J9. Often, a person learns about different aspects of their job
informally from co-workers (not as part of a formal training program,
workshop, formal supervision, or staff meeting). How much have you
learned about the following topics informally from your co-workers?
a.
b.
c.
Roles and responsibilities at work
Roles and responsibilities at work
Needs of specific children and their families
Adapted from Campion, Medsker & Higgs 1993
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides




Job Satisfaction
K1. Overall, how satisfied do you feel with the following:
a.
The approach your center takes in working with the children
b.
The amount of work you are expected to do
c.
Your pay compared to workers at a similar level in the field
d.
The physical space available in the center
e.
The benefits you get at this center
Discretion 
K2. Centers sometimes differ in how much freedom and flexibility teachers and
assistants/aides have. Please answer each of the following thinking about how
this center works
a.
How often does the classroom teacher usually plan all activities for the
children?
b.
How often can you decide on your own how to go about doing your work?
c.
How often does your center allow you to be creative?
d.
When you have a new idea, how often can you try it out?
e.
How often are you able to change a set process when you work?
f.
How often is there one specific “right way” to do things in your job?
 Discretion scale adapted from Jehn 1995
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides

Individual Flexibility

M1. Individual employees can have employment
arrangements that are different from their co-workers. For
example, you might go to a training based on your personal
interests that the rest of the staff did not attend, or request to
work different work hours to meet your family needs. For each
item listed below, please mark whether you asked for and received this special
arrangement when you were hired, since you’ve worked at this center, or if
you’ve never asked for it
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Training opportunities different from co-workers
On-the-job skill development different from coworkers
Special arrangements for your personal child care needs different
from co-workers
Schedule different from co- workers
On-the-job activities different from co-workers
Scales Used in Survey – Teachers & Aides

Individual Flexibility (continued)
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
Better pay than co-workers
More time off than co-workers (for example, for family needs,
vacations, etc.)
Flexibility in starting and ending your work day
Reduced work hours Reduced work demands
Flexibility in moving to another classroom
Assistance with career development different from co-workers
Special arrangements in terms of what is expected of you at work
Reliability Coefficients
 Scales previously used by Brenda Ghitulescu in her
research on special education teachers (member of our
research team)




Discretion: alpha = 0.79
Task interdependence: alpha = 0.71
Professional identity: alpha = 0.73
Commitment: alpha = 0.87
Research Design
 Two-state demonstration study of 60 Center directors, 180
teachers, and 180 aides/assistant teachers (PA, NJ)
 Interview director, collect archival data
 Observe classrooms
 Survey teachers & aides/assistant teachers in work setting
 Test instrumentation and measures
 Develop/elaborate explanatory model
 Develop and test hypotheses that predict measures of
turnover (actual turnover, intention to turn over) and quality
of care (ECCRS)
 Independent variables include:




Directors’ management practices, leadership (director interview)
Work processes
Discretion/job crafting – individual and group
Coordination and communication
Research Design
 Interviews, surveys carried out in classrooms across a
variety of childcare settings in NJ and PA
 Focus is on 3- and 4- year old classrooms
 Ensure consistency in examining the nature of the job across
sites
 Public policy interest in universal public pre-K
 Intermediate goals
 New insights into effects of work process on staff retention
and quality of care
 Improve capacities of directors of ECE centers to manage
programs and staff
 Play pivotal role in creating work environments that lead to
positive experiences for staff, children in their care
 Long term goal
 Refine instrumentation, measures for definitive national
study of relationship between how work is organized,
managed and outcomes – staff turnover, quality of care