Working day after day with young children can be very stressful both physically and mentally. It is imperative to the daycare manager that staff members showing signs of burnout are identified and assisted. By doing this, the daycare director can mentor staff while helping them develop professionally, and can ensure great classroom experiences happen for children and staff.

Here are 8 classic signs often on display when a staff member feels like the classroom is running low.

1. If a teacher is chronically late for work, something is wrong. There are variations of this behavior. A person can be late at the front door and have a catalog of credible explanations for the lateness. Another may arrive promptly at the front door to punch the clock, but disappear into the bathroom or supply closet and arrive late for classroom. Both signs indicate that the staff member has really lost that enthusiasm and energy that are so vital to classroom work.

2. If a teacher finds it difficult to complete reports, or there are missing reports or overdue reports, red flags should go off for the principal. Teachers who are actively involved in their students’ learning progress find time to record such data. The occasional late report can happen, but routinely taking that report off the teacher’s to-do list is a great sign.

3. Staff absence logs, whether scheduled or unscheduled, can also be a notice. A well-recognized employer is the staff member who is absent only on a Friday or Monday. This creates a 3 day break. A staff member may also call out the day before or the day after a holiday to create an extended time away from the daycare. And another staff member can schedule a dental appointment on the day of the class field trip or the day of the parent meeting. Principals can log these absences to see if they show any patterns.

4. Employees suffering from burnout in the classroom will often show a clear disinterest in what their class is doing. Principals can listen in on informal conversations and often learn of the teacher’s actual involvement or lack of involvement in classroom activities.

5. Teachers who feel stressed in the classroom often find many reasons to leave the classroom. That could mean going to the bathroom frequently; going to the office to copy something, needing to schedule a parent conference during the day when it could be scheduled outside of school hours.

6. Employees who express dissatisfaction with their co-workers or their parents often express dissatisfaction with their work situation. Everyone needs to receive a paycheck, so a direct expression of frustration about the employment situation is not always possible. The next easiest target may be a coworker or a parent.

7. Each school has extracurricular activities in which teachers can participate. If a staff member repeatedly refuses to participate in these events or doesn’t have good feedback to make about these events, it probably means there is dissatisfaction simmering underneath.

8. Educators who are stressed at home by personal issues often bring that stress to work. If the principal can identify a teacher who is bearing the burden of personal problems, it’s often a good idea to talk with that member to see where the principal can be of help.

Teaching is a very difficult job. It takes a good network of professionals to help each other during a time that can be stressful for the classroom teacher. The payoff is quality classroom activity, happy and healthy staff, and a much lower turnover rate in programs. It is definitely worth the effort.