Employment and Community First CHOICES Workforce QuILTSS Initiative Survey 2019: Year Two Report

DSP retention is addressed in this survey by considering turnover (crude separation), vacancy rates, and reasons for departure.  The best strategy to ensure a sufficient workforce and address high demand and staff shortages is to keep staff once hired.

DSP Turnover

A key workforce issue nationwide for organizations that employ DSPs is the high level of DSP turnover.  This, paired with the demand for DSPs exceeding the supply of workers, often leads to high vacancy rates.  Turnover, early separations, and vacancy among full-time, part-time, and all DSPs employed overall were computed for this report.

Measuring Turnover

The formula used to compute turnover (annual crude separation rate) was calculated using 3 variables: the number of DSPs who left in the past year, the total number of DSPs employed, and the number of DSP vacancies. The crude separation rate was defined as:

Across the state, turnover for full-time DSPs in calendar year 2019 was 33%. Turnover among part-time DSPs was 52%. The overall DSP (both full-time and part-time) turnover rate was 47%.

• In the East, the average turnover rate among full-time DSPs was 32%. Among part-time DSPs, the average turnover rate was 38%.  The average turnover rate among all DSPs in the region was 51%.
• In the Middle, the average turnover rate among full-time DSPs was 35%. Among part-time DSPs, the average turnover rate was 53%.  The average turnover rate for all DSPs in the Middle region was 42%.
• In the West, the average turnover rate in calendar year 2019 among full-time DSPs was 30%. The average turnover rate among part-time DSPs was 68%.  The average turnover rate among all DSPs in the West region was 56%.

The data for overall turnover and early separation rates are shown in Figure 10.

overall turnover: 47%, of those who left:

• 53% left within 0-6 months of hire
• 33% left within 6-12 months of hire

DSP Early Separations

Early separation is a critical factor to consider when addressing retention challenges and is often an indicator that an employee’s expectations are unmet or the position was not a good fit.  Turnover is extremely costly for organizations (estimated between $3,278-4,872 per DSP who leaves; Larson et al., 2016). It is also detrimental for people who receive DSP supports when there is little time to develop a professional relationship with a DSP before a new one is hired (Friedman, 2018). This type of turnover is also the most costly because every person who leaves requires a person to replace them; the cost is the same whether a person lasts.

Within 0-6 Months of Hire

DSP separation rate within 0 to 6 months of hire was calculated using 2 variables: the number of DSPs who left in the past year and the total number of DSPs who left within 0 to 6 months of being hired.  The 0 to 6 month separation rate was defined as:

In the state, the average DSP separation rate within 0 to 6 months of hire was 53%.  By region, the average DSP separation rate within 0 to 6 months of hire was 45% in the East, 53% in the Middle, and 60% in the West.  

Within 6-12 Months of Hire

DSP separation rate within 6 to 12 months of hire was calculated using 2 variables: the number of DSPs who left in the last year and the total number of DSPs who left within 6 to 12 months of being hired.  The 6 to 12 month separation rate was defined as:

In the state, the average DSP separation rate within 6 to 12 months of hire was 33%.  By region, the average DSP separation rate within 6 to 12 months of hire was 40% in the East, 30% in the Middle, and 30% in the West.  

DSP Vacancy Rate

Many positions for DSPs are vacant. This may be due to factors such as changing demographics in the U.S. including aging of the population, low unemployment rates that increases demand for workers to fill open positions, and growth in long-term services and supports.  Organizations report that they have a hard time recruiting people to fill positions that are open due to terminations (voluntary and involuntary) and growth.  For this reason, vacancy rate is an important data point to capture for this workforce.

Measuring Vacancy Rate

The DSP vacancy rate was calculated for this report using 2 variables: total number of funded positions currently vacant and the total number of funded positions at the site.  Vacancy rate was measured using the following formula:

Vacancy rates across the state are shown in Figure 11.  The average vacancy rate among all DSP positions was 13%.  The average vacancy rate for part-time positions was 19%, and the average vacancy rate for full-time positions was 13%.

13% overall vacancy:

• 19% of part-time positions were vacant
• 13% of full-time positions were vacant

In the East, the average vacancy rate among full-time DSPs was 15%.  The average part-time DSP vacancy rate was 24%.  The average vacancy rate among all DSP positions was 13%. In the Middle, the average vacancy rate among full-time DSPs was 11%.  The average part-time DSP vacancy rate was 18%.  The average vacancy rate among all DSP positions was 14%. In the West, the average vacancy rate among full-time DSP positions was 14%.  The average vacancy rate among part-time DSP positions in the West region was 17%.  The average vacancy rate among all DSP positions was 13%.

Reasons DSPs Give for Leaving Their Positions

Most of the organizations in the state (88%) track reasons that DSPs give for leaving their position.  Organizations were asked to select the top three reasons that DSPs give for leaving their position. Table 5 shows the percentage of providers in the state and regions that selected each reason as one of their top three.  The table is ordered from greatest to least percentage of organizations in the state that selected the reason that DSPs leave their position.

Reason for Leaving	State	East	Middle	West
Found another job at another company	69%	74%	69%	63%
No call/No show	56%	53%	59%	56%
Was terminated/fired	39%	53%	28%	44%
Pay too low, needed better pay	38%	42%	41%	25%
Other	22%	26%	27%	6%
Not a good fit for the type of work	17%	5%	24%	19%
Advanced to a new position within the company in a different service	11%	11%	17%	0%
Had too little or poor quality time from supervisors	3%	5%	0%	6%
Could not get along with co-workers	3%	0%	3%	6%
Training/support was inadequate	2%	0%	0%	6%
Not recognized for work he/she did	2%	0%	0%	6%

Note: 64/75 organizations reported data for the state

Organizations in the state selected “found another job at another company” (69%) as the reason most commonly given for DSPs leaving their position.  “No call/No show” (56%) was the second most common reason given, and "termination or being fired" (39%) was the third most commonly given reason.  "Pay too low and needed better pay" (38%), "not a good fit for the type of work" (17%), "advanced to a new position within the company in a different service" (11%), "having too little or poor quality time with their supervisor" (3%), "could not get along with co-workers" (3%), "training/support was inadequate" (2%), and "not recognized for the work he/she did" (2%) were also selected by some organizations.  There were some regional differences in percentages of organizations that selected the reasons, but the largest percentage of providers selected the same top four reasons in each of the three regions and the state.

Nearly one-quarter (23%) of organizations selected “other” as a top reason that DSPs gave for leaving their position.  Organizations had the opportunity to write in the “other” reason which included the following:

• Did not finish training
• Did not start. Hired but did not accept a client assignment
• Health reasons, child care issues, relocating out of service area
• No longevity benefits such as annual or sick time accrual
• Personal/Personal issues (voluntary)
• Relocation
• School commitments
• Took too long to get authorizations in place for the work to start
• Unsuccessful completion of introductory period