Staff Recruitment, Retention, Training & Strategies for Community Human Services Organizations

Staff Recruitment, Retention, Training & Strategies for Community Human Services Organizations by Sheryl A. Larson, Ph.D. Research Associate Research Director and Amy S. Hewitt, M.S.W., Ph.D. Research Associate Director of Interdisciplinary Training Research and Training Center on Community Living Institute on Community Integration University of Minnesota Minneapolis with invited contributors CONTENTS About the Authors . .vii About the Contributors . .ix Foreword K. Charlie Lakin . .xi Acknowledgments . .xix Introduction . .xxiii 1 Recruitment, Retention, and Training Challenges in Community Human Services: A Review of the Literature . .1 Sheryl A. Larson, Amy S. Hewitt, and Beth A. Knoblauch I Finding and Hiring Employees 2 Recruiting Direct Support Professionals . .21 Sheryl A. Larson and Amy S. Hewitt 3 What Is This Job All About? Using Realistic Job Previews in the Hiring Process . .47 Sheryl A. Larson, Susan N. O’Nell, and John K. Sauer 4 Selection Strategies . .75 Sheryl A. Larson and Amy S. Hewitt II Socializing and Training Employees 5 Orientation, Socialization, Networking, and Professionalization . .105 Amy S. Hewitt, Sheryl A. Larson, Susan N. O’Nell, and John K. Sauer 6 Linking Training and Performance Through Competency-Based Training . .125 Susan N. O’Nell and Amy S. Hewitt 7 Out of the Classroom and On to Employee Training Programs that Work . .153 Susan N. O’Nell, Amy S. Hewitt, and John K. Sauer 8 Fostering Commitment and Skill Through Mentoring Programs . .177 Amy S. Hewitt, Traci L. LaLiberte, Jody Kougl-Lindstrom, and Sheryl A. Larson III Motivating and Supporting Employees 9 Staff Motivation and Recognition . .197 Traci L. LaLiberte, Amy S. Hewitt, and Sheryl A. Larson 10 From Grumbling to Getting Along: Creating and Using Teams to Enhance Retention . .215 Amy S. Hewitt, John K. Sauer, and Lori Sedlezky v vi • Contents 11 Supporting and Training Supervisors . .239 Amy S. Hewitt and Sheryl A. Larson IV Assessing Problems and Designing Solutions 12 Creating Organizational Change Initiatives . .271 Elizabeth Lightfoot, Amy S. Hewitt, and John K. Sauer 13 Assessing and Evaluating Workforce Challenges . .287 Sheryl A. Larson, Traci L. LaLiberte, and Patricia Salmi 14 Selecting and Implementing Strategies for Change . .321 Sheryl A. Larson, Lynda Anderson, and Amy S. Hewitt V The Bigger Picture 15 Strategies for Policy Change . .343 Sheryl A. Larson and Amy S. Hewitt References . .363 Index . .377 ABOUT THE AUTHORS Sheryl A. Larson, Ph.D., Research Associate and Research Director, University of Minnesota, Institute on Community Integration, Research and Training Center on Community Living, 214B Pattee Hall, 150 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 Sheryl A. Larson has 23 years of experience in providing services to individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities as a residential counselor, behavior analyst, program evaluator, consultant, personal advocate and researcher. She earned a B.A. in psychology and elementary education from Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota, Col- lege of Education and Human Development. Her dissertation examined factors asso- ciated with turnover in small group home settings. She is Research Director and a principal investigator at the Research and Training Center on Community Living, where she has worked since 1987, directing projects involving survey and intervention research, secondary analysis of large data sets, and research synthesis on residential services, personnel issues, disability statistics, and community integration for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Dr. Larson has authored or co- authored more than 100 publications on those topics. Recent books include Using Survey Data to Study Disability: Results from the National Health Survey on Disability, co- edited with B.M. Altman, S.N. Barnartt, and G.E. Hendershot (Elsevier JAI, 2003), and Staff Recruitment and Retention: Study Results and Intervention Strategies, co-authored with K.C. Lakin and R.H. Bruininks (American Association on Mental Retardation [AAMR], 1998). Dr. Larson currently directs two National Institute on Disability and Rehabilita- tion Research (NIDRR) field-initiated projects, including one to create a national technical assistance model to support front-line supervisors and another to conduct analyses using the National Health Interview Survey to describe characteristics of and outcomes for people with disabilities living in their own or family homes. She has worked with her colleagues at the University of Minnesota to develop statewide workforce plans and to provide technical assistance on workforce issues to providers and families in several states. She has made more than 150 presentations at national, state, regional, and local conferences and workshops, including workshops on staff recruitment and retention for more than 3,000 managers and supervisors. She is an AAMR Fellow, President of the AAMR Community Services Division, a consulting editor of Mental Retardation and Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability and has par- ticipated in NIDRR and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant review panels. She received a Presidential Award from AAMR for workforce research. She serves on the Minnesota Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities as the higher education representative and is on the Board of Directors of No Place Like Home, a program providing supportive housing to adults with disabilities. vii viii • About the Authors Amy S. Hewitt, M.S.W., Ph.D., Research Associate and Director of Interdisciplinary Training, University of Minnesota, Institute on Community Integration, Research and Training Center on Community Living, 214D Pattee Hall, 150 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 Amy S. Hewitt has an extensive background and work history in the field of developmental disabilities and has worked in various positions over the past 23 years, including as a residential Program Director and Director of Training. She is currently Research Associate and Director of Interdisciplinary Training at the University of Minnesota, Institute on Community Integration, where she directs several federal and state research, evaluation, and demonstration projects in the areas of direct support professional (DSP) workforce development and community human services for people with disabilities. Dr. Hewitt is a national leader in the area of workforce development and community supports for individuals with developmental disabilities. Dr. Hewitt’s current projects include the College of Direct Support, a national training curriculum development project that currently offers training to more than 100,000 DSPs throughout the United States; Mobilizing for Change, an Administration on Developmental Disabilities field-initiated project to develop an on-line training curriculum for frontline supervisors (College of Frontline Supervision); Removing the Revolving Door, a national project to develop and implement a train-the-trainer technical assistance model in five states to teach others how to effectively work with organizations to reduce DSP turnover and vacancy rates; Kansans Mobilizing for Workforce Change, a systems change project to improve retention and recruitment of DSPs in community human services organizations; and The Illinois Comprehensive Workforce Development Initiative to Achieve Improved Individual Outcomes for Citizens with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, a statewide systems change project to reduce direct support professional turnover. Dr. Hewitt has authored and co-authored many curricula, journal articles, and manuscripts. She is a managing editor of Frontline Initiative, a national newsletter for DSPs; a contributing editor for LINKS, a newsletter of ANCOR; and guest editor of Mental Retardation, a journal of the American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR). She is currently a board member for Arc Hennepin-Carver and for Friend- ship Ventures. She is a founding member and past Co-chair of the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals and a past board member of the AAMR. ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS Lynda Anderson, M.A., M.P.H., is a doctoral candidate at the University of Min- nesota. She has more than 20 years of experience in the field of developmental disabilities. She has worked as a program director, service coordinator, advocate, and policy planner and in other related capacities in the field of developmental disabilities. She was a graduate student at the Institute on Community Integration. Beth A. Knoblauch, M.A., lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her family. She was a graduate student at the Institute on Community Integration. She co-authored the College of Direct Support curriculum and supported work in the area of direct support professional workforce development. Jody Kougl-Lindstrom, M.S.W., Adult Developmental Disabilities Unit Supervisor, Ramsey County Human Services Department, 160 E. Kellogg Boulevard, 7th Floor, St. Paul, MN 55101 Jody has worked in the field of helping with people with disabilities in various capacities for more than 11 years, including as a direct support professional, job coach/counselor, and service coordinator. She is a supervisor of service coordinators for people with developmental disabilities in Ramsey County, Minnesota. Ms. Kougl-Lindstrom was a graduate student at the Institute on Community Integration. Traci L. LaLiberte, M.S.W., B.S., Doctoral Candidate,

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