Pilot Program Report Card: Recruitment & Retention Strategies

In 2024 ANCOR asked its providers (as part of its annual survey) what programs are more likely to be cut due to staffing challenges? The top two responses were 36% of residential services and 29% in day habilitation. In addition 90% of the respondents reported having moderate to severe (DSP) staffing challenges over the past year. A five year retrospective look at our DSP staff recruitment and retention tells a slightly different story. We have consistently been able to successfully receuit DSP candidates; but we had some trouble with DSP retention. In September 2024, we launched a pilot training program in which we hired a number of staff whose primary language was Haitian creole. By many measures, it has been an incredible success. It required looking at the workforce very differently and to make the kind of creative investment dictated by this workforce crisis. This included making use of translators during trainings and staff meetings, professionally translating key materials to include new hire orientation documents and training resources, as well as relying on some of our managerial and nursing staff who are bilingual (English and Haitian creole) to provide direct coaching and instruction. IRI also provided structured ESL workshops “off shifts” and paid the staff overtime to attend. These ESL sessions were delivered during five consecutive weekends by a trained librarian and a licensed reading teacher as well as one of our residence managers who is fluent in both languages as well as a teaching disposition which made her approachable and effective. In addition, SCIP and AMAP sessions were translated in the “here and now” to allow staff to gain the much needed competencies to do their jobs as well as delivered by nurses and nursing leaders who were also bilingual. Finally, as a testament to the success of the pilot program, 6 out of the 10 best DSP awards were won by pilot program participants. At the one year mark, we have learned a lot and we are making some changes to allow for more trainings, refreshers, and more small group teaching of individualized plans. The return on investment (ROI) is clear, we have hired and retained some staff who we exposed to “competency based learning” and have been able to deliver kind and competent supports to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This was a team effort and we want to particularly thank the English only staff who have also taught and were patient with their new colleagues. This is the IRI way.