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Article

Why Do They Leave? The Counterplans to Continue Working among Preschool Workers in Japan: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Rehabilitation Sciences, Nishi Kyushu University, Kanzaki 842-8585, Japan
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Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Children 2023, 10(1), 32; https://doi.org/10.3390/children10010032
Submission received: 1 December 2022 / Revised: 21 December 2022 / Accepted: 22 December 2022 / Published: 24 December 2022

Abstract

:
Three institutions predominantly care for preschool children in Japan: kindergartens, authorized childcare institutions, and nursery centers. Recently, the turnover rates of preschool workers in these institutions have been high, and Japan has been facing a shortage of kindergarten teachers. The study aimed to provide concrete counterplans to reduce preschool workers’ turnover rate. To determine the causes of turnover, we conducted a cross-sectional survey. We recruited preschool workers from several kindergartens, authorized childcare institutions, and nursery centers in Japan to fill out a survey regarding counterplans for employment. Of the 1002 surveys, 551 (541 women; 10 men) complete surveys were received (response rate: 55%). A total of 295 participants answered that they were unwilling to continue working for longer than five years and completed the questionnaires. The Jiro Kawakita method was used to categorize and analyze the four sections of the counterplan questionnaires. The results showed that the main reasons for high turnover were overtime work, low salary, and difficult human relations. To solve these issues, the counterplan ideas such as workshop ideas and conditions conducive to continuing working longer were related to human relations, work conditions, and mental health.

1. Introduction

The three institutions that care for preschool children in Japan are kindergartens (3–5 years old), authorized childcare institutions (from birth to 5 years old), and nursery centers (from birth to 5 years old). According to the Cabinet Office of Japan, kindergarten is defined as a preschool that offers education-based playing and singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school; it is an ambulatory institution that cares for babies and toddlers whose guardians are working. An authorized childcare institution is a center that has both kindergarten and nursery center functions. Recently, the turnover rates of preschool workers in these institutions have been high [1,2]. The importance of reducing the turnover rate among preschool workers is increasing in developed countries, including those in East Asia [3], and Japan has been facing a shortage of kindergarten teachers. These workforce changes have resulted in insufficient childcare in these institutions [4].
Researchers have attempted to solve this problem by identifying individual and environmental factors that correlate with preschool workers’ willingness to continue working. In particular, a previous study found that sex, age, mental health, social support, and work engagement were associated with teachers’ willingness to continue working [4]. Another study suggested that age, family environment, work responsibilities, mental health, and work engagement were significantly associated with the willingness to continue working. Accordingly, welfare benefits and individual support systems can be key elements in encouraging teachers to continue working and improve their job satisfaction, mental health, and wellbeing. In addition, balanced work conditions and workers’ high agreement with workplace childcare/education policies may reduce turnover [5].
Although earlier studies have provided suggestions for reducing the turnover rate, more concrete counterplans should be investigated to implement them. Thus, the main objective of this study was to determine the reasons preschool/nursery center/kindergarten teachers and workers leave employment and to provide concrete counterplans to reduce the turnover rate in these occupations. It aimed to find counterplans to reduce preschool workers’ turnover rate and contribute to the social issues in Japan.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Participants

This study recruited 1002 preschool workers in Japan as its potential participants. Of them, 451 participants either did not fully answer the questionnaires or did not return them. Thus, 551 complete surveys were received (response rate: 55%). Finally, of the 551 potential participants, 295 answered that they were unwilling to continue working for longer than five years and completed the questionnaires.
Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to the study. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Nishi Kyushu University (approval No. 21VDV15) and complied with the Declaration of Helsinki [6].

2.2. Procedure

The study was conducted in 2018 as a cross-sectional survey. We recruited participants from kindergartens, authorized childcare institutions, and nursery centers in representative cities in Japan. We included only full-time teachers and individuals working in non-managerial positions to ensure that part-time workers with fixed-term contracts and managers would not affect the results. The study questionnaires took approximately ten minutes for participants to complete. All participants provided written informed consent in their workplaces and completed the survey about counterplans that could reduce the turnover rate. All questionnaire responses were self-reported and anonymous, and participants returned the completed questionnaires in sealed envelopes.

2.3. Measures

First, the participants were asked to choose the reasons for their unwillingness to continue working for longer than five years. Second, they were asked about their motivations for leaving and counterplan ideas. The counterplans questionnaire comprised four sections: reasons for considering leaving employment, contents of overtime work, necessary workshops to solve work problems, and ideas for continuing to work longer. These questions were all answered descriptively.

2.4. Data Analysis

All the data collected in this study were descriptive data. Thus, data categorization was required to calculate the result. To this end, four sections of the counterplans questionnaire described in the Measures section (above) were categorized using the Jiro Kawakita method (KJ method), also known as affinity diagramming [7]. The KJ method is widely used in participatory learning as a means to collect and organize information. It extracts and categorizes key words from the results of the questionnaire using text mining.

3. Results

3.1. Willingness to Participate

The reasons for the unwillingness to continue working for longer than five years are shown in Table 1. The main factor was enormous overtime work, followed by low salaries and difficult human relations. The results of the counterplans questionnaire are shown in Table 2, Table 3, Table 4 and Table 5. Table 2 presents the reasons for participants’ willingness to quit a job, with most responses attributing “low salary” for it, followed by “too much overtime work/no payment for overtime” and “human relations”. Table 3 describes the content of overtime work at the workplace and at home. At the workplace, “preparation for events” received the most responses, followed by “administrative work” and “extension of childcare/education”. Most participants chose “administrative work” for the content at home, followed by “preparation for events” and “making teaching materials”.

3.2. Workshop Idea Categories

The workshop ideas were divided into the following eight sections by types of ideas: “children’s guardians”, “taking care of children”, “understanding children”, “place to share suffering”, “basic skills for work”, “mental health”, “the way of working”, and “others.” The ideas to solve job problems with the highest percentage were “the ways to take care of/support children’s guardians”, followed by “the ways to take care of children requiring support” and “create places to share suffering and advisement” (Table 4). The ideas regarding conditions conducive to continue working longer were divided into the following 12 sections based on types of ideas: “employment conditions”, “workforce”, “workload”, “human relations”, “relationship with boss/seniors”, “work environment”, “welfare benefits”, “duty framework”, “taking care of children”, “taking care of children’s guardians”, “mental health”, and “others.” The ideas with the highest percentages were “better salary”, followed by “more workers”, and “easier to have holidays/private time” (Table 5).
Table 4. Categorized workshop ideas to solve full-time preschool workers’ job problems.
Table 4. Categorized workshop ideas to solve full-time preschool workers’ job problems.
Rank No.Workshop Ideas for Proposed Solutionsn (%)
n = 479
Guardians
1The ways to take care of/support children’s guardians41 (9)
15Common understanding between guardians and childcare workers18 (4)
24Workshop for children’s guardians11 (2)
38The ways to support parents and children7 (1)
Taking care of children
2The ways to take care of children requiring support39 (8)
7The ways to take care of children with developmental disorder27 (6)
12The ways to take care of children21 (4)
19Methods of activities for childcare13 (3)
18Case examination of children14 (3)
21Highly professional workshop12 (3)
25Contents of childcare/the ways of childcare11 (2)
31The ways to take care of children in the grey zone/undiagnosed9 (2)
32Methods of playing and hand playing9 (2)
34Practical workshop/experience-based workshop9 (2)
40Skill up7 (1)
Understanding children
29Group discussion10 (2)
41The ways to understand children6 (1)
42The ways to understand disability6 (1)
43Special needs of children6 (1)
Place to share suffering
3Create places to share suffering and advisement35 (7)
4Interaction with other kindergartens and workers working in different places34 (7)
36Interaction with coeval workers9 (2)
37Interaction with childminders8 (2)
Basic skills for work
8Human relations26 (5)
11Communication methods23 (5)
28Methods of coaching freshers and juniors10 (2)
47Common sense/manners5 (1)
Mental health
13Refresh for workers’ mind21 (4)
16Resolution of stress for workers15 (3)
17Mental health for workers14 (3)
20Exercises/dance for workers13 (3)
27Psychology10 (2)
30Counseling10 (2)
45The ways to think6 (1)
46Relaxation6 (1)
The ways of working
9Workshop for directors and bosses26 (5)
14Methods for efficient work18 (4)
22High quality workshop inside of kindergarten12 (3)
23The ways to work/work system11 (2)
26The ways of class governance10 (2)
33How to work9 (2)
35All-hands workshop9 (2)
44Cooperative framework6 (1)
Others
5Workshop is burden30 (6)
6The problems cannot be solved with workshops29 (6)
10Others24 (5)
39Workshop is unnecessary7 (1)
The numbers on the left indicate the ideas’ ascending ranking by n (%). The ideas were divided into eight sections based on the types of ideas. The workshop ideas to solve job problems with the highest percentages were “the ways to take care of/support guardians”, followed by “the ways to take care of children requiring support” and “create places to share suffering and advisement”.
Table 5. Categorized ideas of effective conditions for preschool workers to stay longer in the job.
Table 5. Categorized ideas of effective conditions for preschool workers to stay longer in the job.
No.Workshop Ideas to Solve Job Problems/Improve Conditions n = 716
n (%)
Employment conditions
1Better salary310 (43)
3Easier to have holidays/private time83 (12)
6Overtime work is paid57 (8)
10Easier to have paid holidays44 (6)
11Can leave work on time37 (5)
23Two days’ holiday in a week16 (2)
49Have holidays on weekdays7 (1)
50Increase in paid holidays7 (1)
58Can have long vacation6 (1)
59No work on days off6 (1)
Workforce
2More workers95 (13)
18More subsidiary/workers for miscellaneous duties26 (4)
61More full-time workers6 (1)
Workload
4Less or simplification of administrative work/document work81 (11)
5Less take-out work76 (11)
7Less/simplification of kindergarten festivals48 (7)
8Less/no overtime work47 (7)
9Less workload46 (6)
12Can do document work in work time35 (5)
20Effective and equal assigning tasks20 (3)
34Less workshops10 (1)
38Less/simplification of making materials/preparation of childcare9 (1)
69Can prepare for childcare in work time5 (1)
Human relations
13Good human relations32 (4)
30Atmosphere to enable advice seeking13 (2)
32Better communication with guardians/children/colleagues12 (2)
41A friendly workplace9 (1)
42Place to share suffering9 (1)
45Agreement among coworkers8 (1)
54Discussion between workers7 (1)
56Teamwork of workers7 (1)
72Common understanding of children between workers5 (1)
Relationship with boss/seniors
25Directors and boss understand the field15 (2)
39Good relationship with boss9 (1)
44Boss listens to opinions of workers8 (1)
52Evaluation and praise by directors and boss7 (1)
57No power harassment7 (1)
65Can tell opinions and discuss with not only juniors but also seniors 6 (1)
71Boss listens to workers’ suffering and takes care of it5 (1)
Work environment
14Governance of duty hours32 (4)
15Readjustment of work framework/work contents29 (4)
16Readjustment of staffing standards28 (4)
17Can have break time27 (4)
37Less burden on the ones in charge9 (1)
47Good workplace atmosphere8 (1)
51Efficient work7 (1)
60Use of timecard6 (1)
62Digitalization/use artificial intelligence6 (1)
67Fun workplace6 (1)
74Management well5 (1)
Welfare benefits
19Can balance work with family life/marriage and giving birth26 (4)
21Better welfare (allowance of house/sustenance/commutation/maternal leave, etc.)19 (2)
26Better compensation package for workers14 (2)
Duty framework
22Abrogation of one person being in charge/Having multiple persons in charge17 (2)
24Have cooperative framework16 (2)
40Small class9 (1)
63Concert of policies/restructuring of workplace6 (1)
Taking care of children
29Have specialists for special needs/visits by advisors13 (2)
46Acceptance of and environment for handicapped children8 (1)
66Place and time to take care of guardians and children enough6 (1)
68Skill-up/improvement of childcare quality6 (1)
70Sufficient workshops5 (1)
73Improvement of facility and environment for childcare5 (1)
Taking care of guardians
31Check actual needs of childcare service (guardians’ days off/weekends/extended childcare)12 (2)
35Better understanding of kindergarten policy by guardians10 (1)
43Understanding of expertness and evaluation by guardians and society9 (1)
48Less taking care of guardians8 (1)
64Place to make guardians understand about children (developmental disorders, etc.)6 (1)
Mental health conditions
36Good mental health10 (1)
53Counselor7 (1)
55Work engagement7 (1)
Others
27Others14 (2)
28Improvement of the way to train up freshers13 (2)
33Advancement in social status of kindergarten teachers12 (2)
The numbers on the left indicate the ideas’ ascending ranking by n (%). The ideas were divided into 12 sections based on the type of ideas. The ideas of effective conditions to continue working longer with the highest percentages were “better salary”, followed by “more workers”, and “easier to have holidays/private time”.

4. Discussion

This study investigated the reasons for unwillingness to continue working for longer than five years to provide concrete ideas to reduce the turnover rate among preschool teachers in kindergartens, authorized childcare institutions, and nursery centers. The primary factors for unwillingness to continue working for longer than five years were overtime work, followed by low salary and human relations, which were consistent with the findings of previous research [5]. Additionally, the reasons for wanting to quit a job with the highest percentages were low salary, followed by too much overtime work/no payment for overtime and human relations, which were similar to the factors for unwillingness to continue working for longer than five years [5]. Preparation for events was indicated as the content at workplace with the highest percentage of responses, followed by administrative work and the extension of childcare/education. The contents at home with the highest percentages were administrative work, followed by preparation for events and making teaching materials. These results indicate that workers may have high levels of stress resulting from the need to work a lot, even in their private time, with low salaries in workplaces with difficult human relations.
To solve these issues, we asked the participants about their counterplan ideas. The results showed that the workshop ideas to solve job problems were related to “children’s guardians”, “taking care of children”, “understanding children”, “place to share suffering”, “basic skills for work”, “mental health”, and “the way of working.” In addition, the ideas of conditions most conducive to continue working longer were related to “employment conditions”, “workforce”, “workload”, “human relations”, “relationship with boss/seniors”, “work environment”, “welfare benefits”, “duty framework”, “taking care of children”, “taking care of children’s guardians”, and “mental conditions.”
Integrating these ideas, we found common keywords for solving the problems: human relations (with children’s guardians, children, boss, and colleagues, a place to share suffering), work conditions (salary, workforce, holidays, workload, and welfare benefits), and mental health. As such, the focus should be on a reward system, welfare benefits from the government or workplace, work conditions, human relations, and mental health. Additionally, preschool workers need places to share their suffering and learn to care for children and their guardians.
First, an analysis of work conditions suggested that a supportive work environment and better welfare benefits (e.g., flexible work options and paid maternal or paternal leave) and home telecommuting allowed them to continue working [8,9]. Similarly, efforts should be made to improve the conditions in both work-related and outside-work areas [10]. For example, Bhattacharya and Ramachandran reported that heavy workload-related pressures compel workers to leave work [11]; thus, supervisors should attempt to maintain the right workload balance [12].
Second, in terms of human relations, some studies have reported that challenging workplace relationships can lead to workplace stress across occupations and that providing counseling support for human relations can lead to better mental health [13,14,15,16,17]. Third, in terms of mental health, a survey indicated that a greater involvement in their work might reduce workers’ stress and increase job satisfaction.
Finally, another study suggested that better government implementation of stress management plans could benefit the workers’ psychosocial needs [18]. However, a randomized controlled trial found that nondirective social support focused on workers’ intrapsychic challenges was significantly associated with fewer health problems [19,20,21,22]. Furthermore, nondirective social support, which focuses on workers’ intrapsychic challenges, often improves positive health behavior, health outcomes, life satisfaction, self-esteem, hope, and optimism [20,21,23].
Hence, a better reward system (e.g., higher salary), welfare benefits (e.g., maternal leave) from the government or workplace, work conditions (e.g., less overtime work), human relations (e.g., compliments from the boss), and mental health (e.g., places to share suffering) affect their willingness to continue working. This study also has certain limitations. In particular, we recruited participants from one prefecture in Japan; therefore, the findings may not be generalizable across Japan or in other countries. Additionally, the study was limited in its ability to explore differences in responses across key demographic categories such as gender, age, experience in the field, etc., which must be considered in future research. Finally, future research should include participants from other prefectures and countries and attempt more specific questions suggested by the present research (e.g., letting the participants choose important workshop ideas from the given list). Despite these limitations, the findings provide meaningful new insights for addressing the shortage of preschool workers in childcare institutions.

5. Conclusions

The findings of this study suggest that the workshop ideas to solve job problems were related to children’s guardians, taking care of children, understanding children, place to share suffering, basic skills for work, mental health, and the way of working. In addition, the ideas of conditions most conducive to continuing working longer were related to employment conditions, workforce, workload, human relations, relationship with boss/seniors, work environment, welfare benefits, duty framework, taking care of children, taking care of children’s guardians, and mental conditions. As such, better reward systems, welfare benefits from the government or workplace, work conditions, human relations, and mental health can be key elements of counterplans to encourage preschool workers to continue working. In addition, these recommendations may assist in effectively addressing the high turnover rate among preschool workers in Japan.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, M.M. and M.H.; methodology, M.M.; software, M.M.; validation, M.M. and M.H.; investigation, M.M.; resources, M.M.; data curation, M.M.; writing—original draft preparation, M.M.; writing—review and editing, M.H.; visualization, M.M.; supervision, M.H.; project administration, M.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Nishi Kyushu University (approval No. 21VDV15) and complied with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to the study.

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to a lack of participants’ agreement to put the data in public but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their appreciation to the participants of this study.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Table 1. Reasons for limiting willingness to continue employment to five years or less as a full-time preschool worker.
Table 1. Reasons for limiting willingness to continue employment to five years or less as a full-time preschool worker.
Reasons for Willingness to Leave Employmentn = 502
n (%)
Too much overtime work258 (51)
Low salary233 (46)
Human relations144 (29)
Marriage122 (24)
Differences in childcare/education policies between workplace and oneself100 (20)
Difficulties in taking care of children’s guardians90 (18)
Pregnancy/giving birth77 (15)
Difficulties in taking care of children74 (15)
Unsatisfactory welfare benefits57 (11)
Working time/day problems54 (11)
Inadequate levels of satisfaction at work53 (11)
Other reasons52 (10)
Health problems48 (10)
Family problems39 (8)
Changing jobs41 (8)
The reasons with the highest percentages were “too much over time work”, followed by “low salary” and “human relations”.
Table 2. Categorized reasons for considering quitting a job as a full-time preschool worker.
Table 2. Categorized reasons for considering quitting a job as a full-time preschool worker.
No.Reasons for Possibly Quitting the Job n = 344
n (%)
1Low salary70 (20)
2Too much overtime work/no payment for overtime52 (15)
3Too much workload51 (14)
4Human relations50 (15)
5Difficulties balancing family life and work49 (14)
6Too much take-out work43 (13)
7Relationships with directors/bosses/seniors37 (11)
8Work on holidays34 (10)
9Mental stress31 (71)
10Differences in childcare/education policies between workplace/others and oneself28 (8)
11Difficulties in taking care of children’s guardians20 (6)
12Framework of workplace20 (6)
13Working time/day problems19 (6)
14Health problems19 (6)
15Difficulties obtaining days off18 (5)
16Too much document work16 (7)
17Other reasons16 (7)
18Marriage13 (4)
19Power harassment13 (4)
20Difficulties in taking care of children12 (3)
21Inadequate levels of satisfaction at work11 (3)
22Lack of workers11 (3)
23Other challenges11 (3)
24Complaint for directors10 (3)
25Difficulties procuring childcare/education at work9 (3)
26No rest time9 (3)
27Contents of work9 (3)
28Pregnancy/giving birth8 (2)
29Weight of responsibility7 (2)
30Differences in concept of values with others7 (2)
31Unsatisfactory welfare benefits6 (2)
32Too many events at workplace6 (2)
33Not acknowledged by others5 (1)
34No confidence5 (1)
35No work engagement5 (1)
The reasons with the highest percentages were “low salary”, followed by “too much overtime work/no payment for overtime” and “human relation”.
Table 3. Categorized contents and context of OT work performed by participating preschool workers in the last 30 days.
Table 3. Categorized contents and context of OT work performed by participating preschool workers in the last 30 days.
No.Tasks Performed in OT Work
in the Last 30 Days
(n = 633)
OT Work Done at Workplace
n (%)
OT Work Done at Home
n (%)
1Preparation for events263 (42)157 (25)
2Administrative work194 (31)419 (66)
3Extension of childcare/education122 (19)2 (0)
4Preparation for childcare/education113 (18)53 (8)
5Meeting42 (7)1 (0)
6Preparation for educational tools/ teaching materials37 (6)54 (9)
7Making teaching materials30 (5)85 (13)
8General work25 (4)3 (0)
9Taking care of guardians24 (4)0
10Cleaning/decluttering24 (4)0
11Others17 (3)9 (1)
12Miscellaneous duties16 (3)3 (0)
13Attendance for events14 (2)2 (0)
14Workshop/research10 (2)6 (1)
15Set up environment8 (1)1 (0)
16Over-thinking7 (1)6 (1)
17Cultivation/education for juniors5 (1)1 (0)
18Playing a piano4 (1)16 (3)
OT: overtime. The contents at workplace with the highest percentage were “preparation for events”, followed by “administrative work”, and “extension of childcare/education.” The contents at home with the highest percentage were “administrative work”, followed by “preparation for events”, and “making teaching materials”.
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Matsuo, M.; Higashijima, M. Why Do They Leave? The Counterplans to Continue Working among Preschool Workers in Japan: A Cross-Sectional Survey. Children 2023, 10, 32. https://doi.org/10.3390/children10010032

AMA Style

Matsuo M, Higashijima M. Why Do They Leave? The Counterplans to Continue Working among Preschool Workers in Japan: A Cross-Sectional Survey. Children. 2023; 10(1):32. https://doi.org/10.3390/children10010032

Chicago/Turabian Style

Matsuo, Moemi, and Misako Higashijima. 2023. "Why Do They Leave? The Counterplans to Continue Working among Preschool Workers in Japan: A Cross-Sectional Survey" Children 10, no. 1: 32. https://doi.org/10.3390/children10010032

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