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This episode of the Independent School Moonshot Podcast was originally released in January 2024 and is sponsored by Blackbaud.

Blackbaud helps independent schools unify admissions, advancement, academics, and finance so leaders spend less time chasing data and more time leading. Visit blackbaud.com to learn more.

Episode Summary:

What if the secret to solving teacher turnover isn’t just pay and benefits, but experience design?

In this episode, Suzette Parlevliet and David Willows, co-founders of Yellow Car, share how schools can rethink the employee journey using the same intentional design often applied to families and students.

From attraction and recruitment to induction, engagement, and retention, they unpack how schools can move beyond process-driven HR to people-centered experiences that foster belonging, motivation, and happiness.

Independent school leaders will discover practical ways to reshape hiring, reimagine retention, and measure what truly matters in workplace culture.

This isn’t about perks or surface-level fixes; it’s about cultivating a story, rituals, and systems that make faculty and staff feel valued and connected at every stage of their journey.

• Schools must design the employee journey with the same intentionality as the student and family experience from recruitment to departure.
• Process-first approaches often alienate staff: Flipping the lens to people-first creates stronger culture and retention.
• Titles matter: a “Director of People and Culture” signals different priorities than an “HR Manager,” shaping whether a school focuses on relationships or administration.
• Retention hinges on delight and surprise, not just meeting expectations; meaningful rituals and shared stories build lasting bonds.
• Happiness is measurable: Tools like Yellow Car’s Felt Experience Indicator help schools track belonging, connection, and joy across the employee lifecycle.

• Map your school’s employee life cycle (attraction → recruitment → induction → engagement → retention → departure).
• Audit staff experience using surveys, focus groups, or tools like the School Experience Audit to identify silos and disconnection.
• Assign ownership of employee experience to a designated leader, ideally with a title that centers culture and people.
• Redesign recruitment as a two-way experience where candidates also “interview the school.”
• Begin a listening practice—leaders commit to one employee conversation a week, building a culture of listening and understanding.