Direct Care Worker Retention: Strategies for Success

This paper, written by the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, documents the research and programs shown to increase the retention of direct care workers in long-term care.

Aging services providers and other long-term care stakeholders can use this report to learn more about the factors that lead to increased retention and about the various retention strategies and programs currently in place.

This report is organized into two main sections. Section III includes key research findings in the professional literature that show which factors lead to an increase in direct care worker retention. Section IV describes key retention strategies and programs shown to have a positive impact on direct care worker retention.

Both Sections III and IV cover the following areas:
• Competitive wages and health insurance benefits
• Culture change
• Workplace/job design, management practices and trained supervisors
• Comprehensive training
• Career advancement opportunities
• Importance of cultural competence

Section V includes additional tools and resources related to direct care worker retention.
Section VI is the list of references


http://www.directcareclearinghouse.org/l_art_det.jsp?res_id=300510

Staff Stability Toolkit

Developed for Quality Partners of Rhode Island, this toolkit incorporates experiences and lessons learned in over 400 nursing homes. It is designed to serve as a resource for homes just getting started with efforts to reverse turnover as well as employers who have already started to address recruitment and retention and need further assistance in a specific area.

It incorporates and applies concepts and practices based on the work of Susan Eaton, Ph.D. who, in 2002, completed a study comparing practices at high and low turnover nursing homes in the same labor market. Strategies and techniques based on her findings have been successfully piloted in Better Jobs Better Care - Vermont (BJBC-VT); a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) funded Improving Nursing Home Culture Pilot (INHC); with nursing homes nationally through the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) program and in New England through workforce development programs.

http://www.riqualitypartners.org/2/Site/CustomFiles/Qlty_DocMgr/Staff%20Stablility%20Tool-kit_FINAL2_081208_smm.pdf

12 steps for creating a culture of retention: a workbook for home and community-based long-term care providers

This workbook offers 12 concrete steps to guide long term care agencies in developing excellent recruitment, selection and retention practices. It is produced by PHI (http://www.phinational.org/), an organization which works to improve the lives of people who need home and residential
care.

The 12 steps that frame this workbook are based on the principle of “quality care through quality jobs”: Direct-care workers must have quality jobs to provide the highest quality care for consumers. The workbook includes case studies.

Section One looks at recruitment and selection and Section Two looks at a culture of retention.

http://www.directcareclearinghouse.org/download/12-Step%20Workbook.pdf