Factors associated with preschool workers' willingness to continue working

Area of Science:

• Early Childhood Education
• Human Resources Management
• Sociology of Work

Background:

• High turnover rates among preschool workers present a significant social challenge in industrialized nations.
• Ensuring stable early care and education environments requires understanding and addressing the factors influencing staff retention.
• Previous research identified general workplace factors affecting turnover intention, but specific drivers for preschool workers remained unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify specific factors associated with preschool workers' intention to continue their employment.
• To investigate the relationship between various demographic and work-related factors and the willingness of preschool staff to remain in their positions for at least five years.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 1137 preschool workers in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan.
• Multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed to determine predictors of willingness to continue working.
• Participants' data were analyzed, with willingness to remain employed for 5+ years as the primary outcome variable.

Main Results:

• Overall, male sex, older age, good mental health, strong social support, and high work engagement positively influenced retention.
• For workers under 39, male sex, good mental health, social support, and work engagement were significant.
• For workers over 40, permanent employment and work engagement were key factors. Work engagement was the sole common factor across both age groups.

Conclusions:

• Factors influencing preschool workers' retention vary significantly based on age categories.
• Work engagement is a critical, universally important factor for preschool staff retention across different age groups.
• Interventions aimed at improving preschool worker retention should consider age-specific strategies alongside promoting work engagement.