Staff retention is a critical factor for the success of ABA practice outcomes and consumer satisfaction.
Here are 10 strategies to support and retain your ABA team:
1️⃣ Take active steps to make changes to priorities, policies, procedures, practices, and standards based on employee input and expertise. Many listen, but don’t actively include that feedback.
2️⃣ Build and offer individualized growth opportunities for employees.
3️⃣ Have balanced productivity expectations: Implementing performance systems that maximize productivity absent other considerations may favor short term outcomes over sustainable outcomes.
4️⃣ Competitive Compensation: Offering fair wages and benefits packages demonstrates that you value your staff and their expertise. This not only helps attract skilled professionals but also encourages them to stay with your practice long-term.
5️⃣ Professional Development: Providing ongoing training and development opportunities helps staff grow their skills, stay current with industry best practices, and feel motivated in their careers. Encourage and support your team in pursuing relevant certifications and attending conferences.
6️⃣ Mentorship and Supervision: Pairing new team members with experienced professionals for mentorship and supervision fosters a supportive work environment. This approach also promotes the exchange of knowledge and enhances the overall quality of service.
7️⃣ Transparency is key: Communicate with your employees. Help them understand the “hows” and “whys” around decisions that impact them.
8️⃣ Building meaningful relationships is an important part of showing your employees you value, respect, and care for them. As your company grows, it becomes increasingly difficult for owners to build these individual relationships with all employees, so it’s incumbent upon leadership to create a culture and systems for supporting this ideology between supervisees and supervisors, as well as between colleagues.
9️⃣ Building expenses associated with these strategies into a budget will help ensure the sustainability of changes you implement.
🔟 Treat your employees the way you want to be treated, but also, treat employees the way THEY want to be treated.
Keeping an engaged and happy staff leads to great patient AND business outcomes!
Brandon Herscovitch, Ph.D., LABA, BCBA-D
Partners Behavioral Health can help with your clinical and business standards, compliance, and outcomes. We can help you scale an ethical ABA practice you’re proud about.
