In this video, we’ll be reviewing "personnel costs, payroll and salaries, and benefits”.
You can use grant money from this option to pay for things like
personnel costs, employee benefits,
retirement costs and contributions, educational costs,
child care costs, paid sick or family leave,
employee transportation costs, and support for accessing the COVID-19 vaccination.
Let’s take a look at each of these components to see what they might look like in practice
and how we can document paying for them. Personnel costs can include things like
payroll, salaries,
salary increases for child care center employees, family or group family child care
providers and their employees, or enrolled legally exempt group program employees,
premium or hazard pay, staff bonuses,
hiring additional people to provide support and relief to current employees, and
paying for memberships in professional organizations, like the National Association for the Education of Young Children, or NAEYC.
Make sure you’re following the New York State Child Day Care Regulations and
the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) when documenting how you pay your employees.
Make sure you document when employees have gotten or will get
premium or hazard pay. You should also keep record of your employees’ timesheets.
You can also use these grant funds to pay for employee benefits like health,
dental, and vision insurance.
You have a variety of resources to help you begin providing or expanding these kinds of
benefits. Start with your local Child Care Resource and Referral agency (or CCR&R),
enrollment agency, union representative,
or WHEDco. Or you can get more information about insurance at the link on your screen.
You can find information on the CCR&R that can help you
through a link in your application. You can also use money from this option
to cover retirement costs and contributions for you or your employees. You can consult your bank,
an accountant, or financial planner for guidance on setting up and adding to retirement accounts.
And ask your employees what ideas they have to increase morale and decrease turnover.
Tom Copeland, the nation’s leading expert on the business of family child care,
also has information online to help with retirement planning.
As always, make sure you’re documenting retirement-related expenses
and following any relevant IRS rules. Continuing your professional development
is always an important part of providing high-quality, developmentally appropriate care.
You may have had to go through additional training during the pandemic, like for new cleaning and
sanitizing procedures. Or you may be looking for new professional development opportunities.
You can use funds from this option to cover educational or scholarship costs,
invest in the future of your program, prepare for staff vacancies, and training.
You can learn more about OCFS-approved scholarship and training opportunities from the OCFS website,
and the Early Childhood Education and Training Program (or ECETP) website.
Your CCR&R, enrollment agency, union representative, or WHEDco
can also help you find OCFS-approved professional development opportunities.
You can also use funds from this option to help your employees pay for their child care costs.
Make sure you’re getting and filing paper or electronic
copies of employees’ child care expenses.
You, or your employees, may have needed, or will need time off to care for themselves
or sick family members. You can use this money to help cover those costs.
You can learn about New York State’s requirements for paid family and sick leave
at the addresses on your screen. You can also get more information from your regulator,
union representative, or enrollment agency.
Funds from this option can also be used to help your employees pay for getting to and from work.
You can document these expenses by getting receipts for transportation costs like gas,
parking, public transportation, taxi cabs, and ridesharing services, like Uber or Lyft.
You can get paper receipts, create handwritten receipts,
or take screenshots of receipts from ridesharing apps.
Another way this money can be used is to help staff get vaccinated against
COVID-19. These expenses can include costs like paid time off for vaccine appointments,
paid sick leave for side effects, and transportation to and from vaccine appointments.
Once again, make sure you document any paid time off and get receipts for transportation expenses.
You can learn more about the vaccine and where to get it by talking to your family doctor,
health care consultant, or by going to the address on your screen.
Remember, documenting your expenses is your responsibility. You don’t have to send in your
receipts or invoices to get this grant money, but you do have to document how you spend it.
This information should be kept on file, in a folder or electronically for at least five years.