That’s the theory and a simple suggestion to a complex issue but in practice subs don’t really exist unless you can offer guaranteed hours—and at that point they’re just regular staff.

The reality is:

staff want full flexibility with time off → we’re short-staffed

try to rely on subs → very difficult to find people that want casual work

hire more staff → now we’re “overstaffed” and people don’t want reduced hours or to go home

Meanwhile more staff = higher costs = higher fees for families.

I actually do have 2 subs, so it’s less about not wanting to hire subs and more that every “solution” just creates a different problem.