On Turnover in Human Services

Abstract

Within the field of behavior analysis, turnover can impact an organization adversely due to the loss of expertise and the required replacement expenses. Turnover in behavior analysis remains poorly understood, and few investigations have studied why employees separate and how to mitigate unwanted turnover. The purpose of this discussion article is to provide an account of turnover, as well as to make recommendations to behavior-analytic service providers regarding how to perform analyses and intervene to decrease employee turnover.

Training human service staff to implement behavioral skills training using a video‐based intervention

“…Having a greater number of staff trained on empirically supported training procedures may also minimize the likelihood of newer and less experienced staff being placed into training roles. This variable may be of importance to human service organizations given their susceptibility to experiencing high rates of staff turnover (Bogenschutz et al, 2015, Wine et al, 2020).…”

Geographic Access to Registered Behavior Technicians among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Beyond telehealth, recruitment of quality frontline practitioners is important to ensuring geographic access. For this to occur, ABA service organizations will need to carefully study the reasons employees separate and mitigate turnover by seeking ways to improve training, supervision, pay, and other aspects of the job for front-line staff (Kazemi et al, 2015;Wine et al, 2020). Since its establishment in 2014, more funders are adopting the RBT credential as a standard.…”

Untitled

“…Considering the intensive and one-to-one nature of ABA-based services, (Behavior Analyst Certification Board, 2014) as well as the latest reported prevalence rates of ASD, which estimate 1 in 59 children in the USA received the diagnosis (Baio, et al 2018), there is an increasing need for ABA providers. Turnover rates for community-based direct-care staff working with individuals with developmental disabilities have long been problematic and reported as high as 70.7% to 77% per year (Kazemi, et al 2015;Wine, et al 2020). In line with the health care industry, there is a loss of productivity and costs of hiring and training…”