Pros
My experience has been very positive, rewarding and educational. MHEL has taken on major initiatives to tackle the many challenges facing the early childhood education profession. MHEL updated its compensation scale increasing wages and made the scale public so all employees can understand what steps can be taken to increase one’s pay. MHEL invests in its staff by providing tuition reimbursement, advance degree assistance and professional development during work hours so that staff not only learn but are compensated to do so. MHEL often hires from within thus proving advancement to staff. While all organizations experience challenges in meeting the needs of all team members, MHEL’s management makes an effort to engage the staff by visiting the centers, speaking to staff members, includes staff at all levels in committee work and when possible makes changes to enhance the work experience. I feel strongly that the leadership is working hard to provide a warm and welcoming community for the community and staff.
Cons
Funding for early childhood education is challenging. Organizations like MHEL must constantly work to develop nee funding steams in an effort to enhance the profession and work life balance. Difficult.