Tackling staff turnover: a novel approach; This innovative program helps entry-level employees surmount life's roadblocks to stay on the job

Nursing Homes, March, 2004 by Linda Zinn

For situations that require financial assistance, if Achieve doesn't have the resources to help directly, its advisors refer people to other social service agencies in the community for help. Rizika explains: "Our general approach for the short term is to resolve the issue with direct support services or referrals to other agencies; for instance, we might help with a childcare payment until a longer-term plan has been developed. These resources are fairly limited and reserved for emergencies. In a limited number of cases, we have helped employees with larger payments, such as a late mortgage payment or a car repair bill."

Rizika adds, "The long-term goal is to help employees examine their resources and devise plans and back-up plans for dealing with issues that affect their ability to get to work on time and be ready to work. That might mean requesting a change of shift, for example, to ease an employee's childcare burden. Of course, employees must be in good standing to request such a change, so the advisors encourage them to identify their goals and be aware that performing well will put them in a better position to ask for what they want."

Achieve began in 2001 as a pilot program at five Northeast Ohio companies (including one nursing home) where a large number of low-wage, entry-level workers were hired and where turnover rates were high. Entry-level staff turnover was reduced by an average of 50% at the five locations.

Based on the success of the pilot, Towards Employment wanted to expand its activities and include a rigorous evaluation component. In 2002, Achieve joined the Employment, Retention and Advancement (ERA) demonstration project, a national study of programs that help low-wage workers sustain employment and advance in the labor market, funded by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

One of 15 sites in eight states, Achieve is the only program in the study that partners with employers at the work site. It is also the only one that is run by a private, nonprofit agency, independent of the welfare system. Outcomes monitored will be retention rates of the employees participating in the study and turnover rates for all entry-level employees at each work site.

According to Rizika, the study is being conducted in two "Waves," to provide a large enough sample size for statistical analysis. In Wave I, which began in the last quarter of 2002, 22 nursing homes in Northeast Ohio were chosen to participate in the study. These were randomly assigned either to participate in the Achieve program or to serve as controls. To participate in the study, a nursing home had to have hired 20 new low-wage, entry-level employees during the previous six months.

Individual employees at study facilities were included in the study based on the following criteria: on the job less than six months at the time of data collection, and employed in entry-level positions, defined for the nursing home industry as any position in the following five categories:

1. Health staff, including state-tested nursing assistants (STNAs; most
   Achieve participants at the 11 participating nursing homes and the 11
   control job sites fall into this category)
2. General office staff, including receptionists, bookkeeping, and
   mailroom
3. Protective services staff, including security
4. Food services staff, including dietary aides and cooks
5. Building services staff, including maintenance and housekeeping