Australian early childhood education provider G8 Education has increased staff retention across its national network to more than 80%, up from an estimated 65% to 70% four to five years ago. The improvement comes as the company strengthens its workforce strategy amid ongoing sector challenges.
According to HRD, the gains follow a multi-year investment in organisational purpose, values, employee development and leadership. The ASX-listed childcare provider has also been restructuring its centre portfolio while navigating tighter compliance requirements and cost of living pressures.
G8 Education operates more than 350 centres across Australia and employs around 7,500 people. This year, it reduced its portfolio by about 40 centres to focus on a smaller, more sustainable network.
Stewart Silk, Chief People Officer said, "There's been a little bit in the media in the last 12 to 18 months around some of the challenges in the sector.”
He added, "the changing environment and cost of living, pressures of putting their children into care," which he said had also affected occupancy across the business.
New values strengthen employee engagement
Silk credited the improvement in retention to a renewed organisational purpose and values framework introduced in May 2025.
"We shifted our purpose to a new one, which is to nurture the greatness in every child, to grow, thrive and learn," he said.
The company also introduced five new values to shape employee behaviour and decision-making.
"The values have become a guiding North Star for everything we do in terms of rewarding and recognising the right behaviours and how we work and operate."
G8 Education has also revamped its employee listening programme. It moved from quarterly to biannual engagement surveys, with every question linked to its new values.
"What we've been able to do now is we are measuring, I guess, our embedment of our values and actually living our value for our listening program as well," Silk said.
Silk also linked employee retention to customer experience.
"There's a complete correlation between high retention and family satisfaction in our centres," he said.
Training and compliance remain key priorities
Alongside its cultural transformation, G8 Education continues to invest in workforce capability. The company supports around 1,000 employees each year through study pathways, helping them progress from Certificate III qualifications to diplomas and bachelor's degrees.
Silk said compliance remains central to the organisation's operations as the sector adapts to changes in the National Quality Framework and higher qualification requirements for educators.
Centre managers, area managers and operations teams recently attended a professional development summit focused on quality, safety and compliance.
"Compliance has always been extremely important for us and it's a key focus," he said.
Building a stronger talent pipeline
G8 Education is also investing in its long-term workforce pipeline. It combines internal development programmes with government-supported wage and training initiatives, skilled migration and traineeships for school leavers and career changers.
"There's also, in some cases, wage support to support the childcare sector in terms of sustaining higher wages or a better overall pay for team members," Silk said, adding that government funding received through wage and training programmes is passed directly to employees.
He said the company is actively attracting career changers and school leavers through structured traineeships, expanding its talent pipeline beyond traditional recruitment.
"It's a very purpose-led sector and people choose it because they want to work and help support the development of children to give them the best start in life," Silk said. "So it's quite an emotional and impactful sector to work in."
The strategy forms part of G8 Education's broader effort to build a sustainable workforce, improve retention and address long-term skills shortages across Australia's early childhood education sector.