Impact Feature Issue on Direct Support Workforce Development

SOREO is a Tucson, Arizona based company that provides in-home supports to approximately 650 people with disabilities. One-third of the people we support have a preferred language other than English, including 26% whose preferred language is Spanish and 7% whose preferred language is Russian. To support the needs and preferences of these individuals and their families we employ a large immigrant workforce, with more than half of our Direct Support Professional (DSP), manager, and administrator positions held by people who have immigrated to the United States. How have we successfully grown our ability to provide services in this culturally and linguistically diverse environment? The remainder of this article will describe some of our challenges and celebrations.

Our Setting

Tucson is 45 minutes from the Mexican border. Prior to the Gadsden Purchase in 1853 Tucson was part of Mexico. Based on the 2000 U.S. Census, 36% of the Tucson metropolitan population is Hispanic or Latino. Arizona was the fastest growing state in 2006, and has the seventh largest Hispanic population (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2002). Between 2000 and 2020 the population of White Arizonans will grow 5% while the population of Hispanics/Latinos will grow 68% (Latino Perspectives Magazine, 2007). In addition, we have a significant Russian refugee population. We have found that people receiving in-home services and supports prefer to have DSPs who are not only well trained, honest, reliable, empathetic and have solid independent problem-solving skills, but who are also linguistically and culturally competent.

Recruiting, Training and Supporting Our Immigrant Workforce

SOREO contracts with the State of Arizona’s Medicaid agency to support people with developmental disabilities, and also contracts with two counties to support people with physical disabilities and seniors. SOREO is the preferred provider in the Tucson area for people requesting a DSP who is linguistically and culturally competent for the Hispanic/Latino population. Twenty-six percent of the families we support prefer to communicate in Spanish. Fifty-four percent of all our DSPs are Hispanic as are 42% of our management and administrative personnel. In addition, Tucson supports a significant Russian refuge population and 6.5% of the people we support prefer to speak in Russian. Among our employees, 12% of DSPs and 10% of our management and administrative team are immigrants from Russia or the Ukraine. It is not coincidental that the percent of people who need supports and have a preferred language of English, Spanish, or Russian matches SOREO’s complement of direct support, management, and administrative staff (see Tables 1-3 below). This is the crux of embracing an immigrant workforce.

Table 1. Geographic Origin of SOREO Immigrant Employees​

Table 2. Ethnicity of SOREO DSPs​

Table 3: Ethnicity of SOREO Managers and Administrators

In communities with an immigrant workforce that has limited opportunities for advancement in other labor markets, agencies prepared to train and support the workforce in their language and at their pace will find that workforce to be hard-working, motivated, and honest. Most immigrant workers chose to come to the United States, giving up the security of their homes because they believed in the “American dream” and wanted a better future for themselves and their families. Immigrant workers who legally reside in the United States have had their backgrounds scrutinized by the United States government before they entered this country. They come with a “green card,” “Resident Alien Card” or as a “Naturalized Citizen.” Those who have not yet become Naturalized Citizens are concerned that they not break any laws because a felony charge could result in their deportation.

Recruitment of immigrant workers to satisfy the demand for trained DSPs has not been an issue for SOREO. We rarely advertise to recruit applicants for DSP positions, do not have vacancies, and our staff typically does not work overtime. We offer a competitive wage, company-sponsored health care and life insurance, 401K, as well as paid time off and paid holidays to full-time employees. SOREO does not require applicants to have a high school diploma or speak English. We offer accommodations to support an immigrant worker during training and as they slowly develop proficient skills in English. Because of these things, SOREO has a reputation in Tucson as an employer of choice.

Training and supporting a non-English speaking immigrant workforce has unique challenges created by both the language barrier and cultural differences. Providers who launch recruitment initiatives to embrace an immigrant workforce must be prepared to offer accommodations to support that workforce. Agencies with an immigrant workforce must offer bilingual supports throughout the agency, including having bilingual administrative and clerical staff available in all departments, and bilingual supervisors. All supervisors at SOREO were promoted from the position of DSP, and while 50% did not speak English when they were hired, 100% of current supervisors are bilingual. Supervisors are available 24 hours a day as no single supervisor could speak all the languages spoken within the agency. The standard rotating roster for an on-call person was not effective. An agency that wishes to support an immigrant workforce must have an accessible bilingual team of supervisors available to help DSPs solve problems and to act as a role model.

SOREO also offers other supports to our immigrant workforce. All training materials, forms, newsletters, applications, and job descriptions are translated into Russian and Spanish. SOREO provides 40 hours of mandated training before a DSP is allowed to work directly with an individual or family. This training is offered in English, Spanish and Russian. SOREO has also taught it, with the assistance of translators, in Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese. DSPs who are not proficient in English are encouraged to attend ESL classes. During the time that they’re learning English, they are trained to complete their paperwork and tracking documents in their native language; once the document comes to the office it is translated into English by the supervisor. SOREO mandates competency-based DSP training through the online College of Direct Support (CDS) for all English speaking DSPs. If the DSP is not proficient in English they complete their training in a standard classroom in their native language. SOREO also sponsors DSPs who wish to pursue credentials from the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals.

It was challenging to find competent translators to translate all our training materials into multiple languages. The development of training materials for people who had emigrated from Mexico was the most difficult. Expert professional translators either attempted to translate literally or they translated into “formal” or “proper” Castilian Spanish. Some translators were offended when we insisted that training materials were to be translated into the Mexican dialect. Translation of training material into Russian was also challenging. The Russian language does not use an English alphabet so we had to purchase special software and a different keyboard so we could physically produce the documents that we needed. The use of translators is expensive, slow and challenging. We have to screen and test translators carefully. The simplest method is to have them translate a page of information that is pertinent to a DSP’s job and then ask a bilingual supervisor and a DSP to read the translated materials and see if they can understand what is being said. We have learned that we cannot assume because someone says they are a translator or they have an advanced degree that they can translate material so that it is meaningful to our workforce.

Finally, we match the DSP applicants to the preferences and needs of the individual and families they will support. Some people have a specific preference regarding language and/or culture. Failure to honor that preference will result in the failure of the DSP to satisfy the needs of that person. To support effective matching SOREO has a policy that the family/individual may choose their DSP and may terminate services from a DSP for no reason at all. A DSP who is not comfortable providing supports to an individual or family may also request a change and may terminate their services to that person or family. This accommodation supports the choices of the people we support and of the DSP.

Conclusion

Currently 650 individuals and their families receive services from SOREO. During 2006 we experienced a 78% growth in services. Our families, funding entities, and DSPs choose SOREO. As agencies face tougher competition to recruit, hire and retain a trained workforce perhaps they may consider the path that SOREO has pioneered and embrace an immigrant workforce.