Recruitment, Selection, and Retention Resources
Understanding organizational culture and how it enhances job satisfaction and making changes and enhancements as needed can lead to higher levels of job retention. High-quality staff training is another effective tool for staff retention. A comprehensive employee training and onboarding plan supports employees in knowing their roles and responsibilities and feel confident on the job.
Recruitment
Recruitment is the process of seeking potential job candidates. This involves sharing the position details with potential direct support professionals and outlining the qualities and qualifications required for the job. Recruitment efforts also inform potential job candidates about the organization’s mission, vision, and values.
Recruitment PSAs
Public service announcements (PSAs) raise awareness about a specific topic or cause. Many people do not know what it means to be a DSP and may not even understand that supporting people in living full lives in their community is a real job. A PSA is a great way to spread the word about who DSPs are and what they do.
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Targeted Marketing Flyers
Targeted marketing is researching and understanding your prospective audiences’ interests and needs so you can focus your recruitment efforts on the specific audience segment most likely to be interested in working in direct support. The following marketing flyers can be customized with organizational branding and information.
Recruitment and Hiring Bonuses
Organizations are increasingly utilizing recruitment and hiring bonuses to attract new employees. To ensure fairness to both new and current employees, organizations can combine a recruitment bonus with a hiring bonus so that both groups have access to the incentives. It is advisable to pay recruitment and hiring bonuses shortly after hire and also 6-12 months after hire. This approach aims not only to attract people to start the job but also to retain employees in the long term.
A recruitment or employee referral bonus is an incentive or reward for a current employee who recommends a candidate for employment. Recruiting new employees through current or former employees, and others who know and understand the job of a DSP, reduces turnover and the number of new hires who leave due to unmet expectations.
A hiring or signing bonus is an incentive for a job candidate who has received a job offer. The purpose of this bonus is to persuade the candidate to accept the job offer. Unlike recruitment bonuses, the goal of the hiring bonus is not just to attract more applicants. Instead, the goal is to increase the number of new hires who stay for 6 to 12 months or longer.
Selection
Selection is the process used to choose the best candidate for a position in the organization. Selection goes beyond just filling the job position. It examines the candidates’ compatibility with the organization’s mission, vision, and values. This process also evaluates the candidates’ ability and willingness to learn the skills required to perform the job duties and the training and support they may need.
Structured Behavioral Interviews
The structured behavioral interview is a technique that can help increase direct support professional and frontline supervisor retention by helping organizations get to know the candidate better and select the candidate that best matches the position. A structured behavioral interview and score guide are valuable tools not only for learning about the candidate but also for allowing them to understand the employer’s mission, vision, and values.
Through behavioral and situational questions, the interviewer assesses candidates’ responses to behavioral and situational questions, gauging how they handle challenging situations or make decisions when faced with equally positive or negative choices. Each candidate’s answers are evaluated based on specific criteria, and a scoring guide is used to ensure consistency in evaluating responses across all interviewers.
The Institute on Community Integration offers this set of behavioral and situational interview questions to gauge the knowledge of external frontline supervisor candidates.
Realistic Job Previews
The realistic job preview (RJP) is a tool that can help increase retention by giving candidates a look at what the job is really like before they accept a job offer. It is an opportunity to share the mission, vision, and values of your organization as well as the services and supports you provide. The key to an effective RJP is that it is realistic, showing all aspects of the job, both positive and challenging. It highlights the duties, responsibilities, schedule, pay, and benefits of the job. The purpose of an RJP is to help a candidate make an informed decision about continuing with the interview process or to accept a position.
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Retention
Retention refers to an organization’s ability to keep its employees. Understanding retention is crucial for choosing workforce strategies that minimize turnover. An organization should also assess employee retention in relation to the efforts it makes to keep employees, typically by examining how long employees stay with the organization (e.g., 0-3 months, 3-6 months, or 6-12 months). The duration of employee tenure indicates which retention strategies are needed. These strategies may involve recognizing employees’ work, offering mentoring or coaching opportunities, providing professional development, and involving employees more broadly within the organization.
Orientation and Onboarding
New direct support professionals will thrive in an organization if they can quickly connect with the organization and their co-workers. It is crucial for new employees to feel welcomed and supported in their roles. An effective onboarding process during the initial stage of employment can help the new employee adapt to the organization. While most organizations provide orientation, it is usually based on mandated or required training that includes learning job expectations, earning certifications in required skills such as CPR and medication administration, reviewing policies and procedures, and learning about the individuals they will support. DSPs want to know what is expected of them, and supervisors need to clearly communicate and demonstrate these expectations. Onboarding encompasses orientation, training, coaching, and mentoring within a specified timeframe. Effective orientation and training not only enhance the performance of DSPs but also increase the likelihood that new employees will stay in their positions for a longer period.
Direct Support Professional and Frontline Supervisor Competency Sets
Direct support professionals and frontline supervisors must possess and implement a wide variety of complex skills. The DSP and FLS competency sets are based on a comprehensive job analysis conducted to identify the specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes required of them on the job. The competency sets are used in all areas of recruitment, selection, and retention. They are essential in setting clear performance expectations, coordinating job analyses, assessing performance, providing feedback, and training employees. Competency sets may be used to weed out underperforming employees and reward employees who meet or exceed performance expectations.
Assessing Retention Outcomes
This resource provides formulas for measuring tenure, turnover, vacancy rates, and the percentage of employees leaving within six months of hire. Accurately calculating your turnover is critical to evaluating the most effective intervention strategy for your organization. This tool can also determine the vacancy rates for your organization overall and specific program areas.