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Direct Care Staff Exodus - Part 2
Table of Contents
The Real Cost of High Direct Care Staff Turnover
Monetary Cost of High Direct Care Staff Turnover
A study by the Center for American Progress found that it cost on average 16 percent of annual salary to replace employees in high-turnover, low-paying jobs (earning under $30,000 a year). For example, the cost to replace a $10/hour DCS would be $3,328. This amount does not include the fact that the average frontline supervisor spends 18% of her hours managing and training new and exiting DCS. The high cost of turnover can be attributed to many different factors which can be intangible, and are often untracked. These factors include: the expenses of separating with an employee, the cost of paying current staff overtime to cover open shifts, training and orientating new staff and the cost of interviewing, recruiting, advertising, screening and completing criminal background tests for new employees (Iowa Department of Human Services, 2011).
Time Cost of High Direct Care Staff Turnover
Even with the best will in the world, new DCS will be less efficient than more experienced employees, which leads to a loss of productivity. As personnel time is the most expensive cost item for IDD/special needs service businesses, it only makes sense to apply efforts to retaining seasoned staff who get things done.
Wisdom Withdrawal
This is a very important but undervalued consequence of high DCS turnover. This means that experienced workers have company knowledge and insight that is difficult and sometimes impossible to replace. This may include who to contact and how to deal with certain third party vendors, why things are done a certain way, the results of non-documented past change initiatives, what newer employees should do and how to approach certain senior staff members and sometimes just company folklore. These experienced DCS employees can serve as sources of wisdom for their colleagues and even senior executives and when they leave they take this know-how with them.
Other Non-Monetary Costs of High Direct Care Staff Turnover
Many people served and their families build strong relationships with their staff. When these staff members are frequently resigning and being replaced by new, inexperienced staff, the company often loses the trust of the consumer and the families they serve. As these consumers grieve the loss of some of their closest staff members this impacts their mental health and well-being and as a result they may have difficulties establishing trusting relationships with the new staff members. The new DCS’s unfamiliarity with duties can also lead to an increased potential for workplace injuries and as more experienced employees shoulder an increased workload, they may experience a deterioration of working conditions which ultimately could lead to more turnover.
What Best Practices Can You Introduce Now To Improve Your Retention Rate?
- Benchmark your employee retention rate – You must have a quantified starting point so you can identify improvements (or deteriorations) appropriately and compare to national averages. Maybe you’re doing a lot better than most!
- Use proven retention strategies, not guesswork – these are jobs that tend to pay low wages and often have little in the way of workplace benefits or policies to help workers address conflicts between work and family. Look into affordable ways to help your staff navigate the realities of life that we all face while still giving you value for the money you pay them.
- Don’t assume employees are happy (create a high-feedback environment) – make sure DCS (and all staff) feel safe providing feedback and suggestions for improvement. Anonymous surveys, suggestion boxes or mailed questionnaires might be a good place to start if trust/recognized integrity issues are a challenge at your workplace.
- Implement a health benefits program, like a qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangement (QSEHRA). Benefits play a large role in employee retention, and employees want benefits personalized to their needs.
- Conduct exit interviews, review any feedback without bias (or defensiveness – yes, sometimes it hurts!) and implement permanent changes that improve the working environment for other staff because this increases productivity, which improves your bottom line.
“There are only four kinds of people in the world – Those who have been caregivers, Those who are currently caregivers, Those who will be caregivers, And those who need caregivers.” –Rosalynn Carter
Final Points...
Patient care is the core of all that providers do. A big part of that care is provided by direct care staff. It’s important not to take this key employee group for granted as no-one could run an IDD or Special Needs service without them. Let’s do the best we can to reward and retain great DCS today. Focused EHR is a value-added time-saving online practice software that is easy for DCS to use and saves them money and time spent posting, faxing and mailing service delivery logs and other documentation. Call Focused Software for more infomation TODAY!!
Call NOW – (281) 884 3537 ext. 107
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References:
Micke, Heather, “Causes and Solutions for High Direct Care Staff Turnover” (2015). Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers. Paper 494.
There Are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees – Center For American Progress https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/CostofTurnover.pdf
Larson, S.A., Tolbize, M.S.A., Kim, O., and York, B. (2016). Direct Support Professional Turnover Costs in Small Group Homes: A Case Study. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, Research and Training Center on Community Living.
Photograph:
Engin Akyurt (Abandoned wheelchair)
