Courses and Certificates, Who Pays for Them?

[Baby Beluga]

It is crazy how it varies state to state and business to business. We have to pay for our CPR/First Aid certification, because it is required to apply, but it is super cheap and offered through the community health centers (sometimes for free). Otherwise, the center pays for and arranges additional training and pays for your time (this was my experience a few years ago...may have changed). They were very in need of childcare workers, so they reduced any hurdles to be a part of the profession. On a side note, I work as a server a few nights a week for a major restaurant chain and we have to take a sanitation/restaurant safety test through our local health clinic, but they pay for it and for our time to take the test, as well. I wonder if there is an actual legal requirement of businesses to provide that training at their expense or if it just varies as a benefit of hiring?

I think a large part of that depends on the type of business and whether it is a franchise or a large cooperation.

I used to lease apartments for a nationwide property management company. They paid for all trainings, compensation while attending those trainings and we had a yearly uniform stipend. We had health insurance, 401k options and were given commission on top of a regular salary. (Come to think of it...why did I leave this job? )

I worked in a center, which was a franchise but was also part of a cooperation. We had to pay for all trainings ourselves, we were not compensated for attending the trainings and we had to buy our own uniforms, which had to come from the center approved catalog - and were CRAZY expensive. We had ZERO health insurance, no 401k. Pay was better then the majority of the centers though.

When I look up childcare job postings in my state many say you need to have "or be willing to obtain" a fingerprint clearance card, CPR, First Aid and Food Handlers certifications, and a TB test. Some even say to not apply if you do not already have these certs.

It is interesting to look at and certainly makes you wonder why the benefits (salary, retirement options, health ins, etc) of working in childcare are so little.