PCPA would like to offer members some of the required research resources for the Local Recruitment and Retention Initiatives. (Reference page 4 of the Initiative document.) If you have resources that we could share with members, please send them to Lynn Keltz for compilation on the PCPA web site and in the office.
The following may be helpful:
- Staff Recruitment and Retention: Study Results and Intervention Strategies by Sheryl A. Larson, PhD, K. Charlie Lakin, PhD and Robert H. Bruininks, PhD, Research and Training Center on Residential Services and Community Living, University of Minnesota, American Association on Mental Retardation, 1998. This book is available from AAMR on the web at www.aamr.org, click on Bookstore, then Management. Sheryl Larson will be part of the MH/MR Summit II, which will feature "Effective Approaches in Recruitment & Retention." This book includes an Executive Summary, followed by detailed analysis of the study done of newly hired direct care workers in small community homes serving people with developmental disabilities. The findings are also pertinent to direct care workers in other human service settings.
- The Direct Support Professionals Web Site, hosted by the University of Minnesota's Institute on Community Integration-Research and Training Center on Community Living, was featured in our August Provider News. It is the virtual headquarters for the National Alliance of Direct Support Professionals. Go to: http://rtc.umn.edu/dsp/index.html.
- The CAPstone, a newsletter from the Council on Quality and Leadership Supports for Persons with Disabilities, featured short articles on Workforce Development in Volume 18, Issue 2, Summer 2001. It is available by calling 410-583-0060, and at www.thecouncil.org.
- The Human Services Research Institute has information about their Workforce Development Initiatives at www.hsri.org/ddworkforce/about.html. Their telephone number is 617-876-0426.
- The web site of the National Clearinghouse on the Direct Care Workforce, www.directcareclearinghouse.org, deals primarily with direct care worker issues in long term care and health care and has some links to sites that are oriented to mental health and developmental disabilities.
- The Staffing Store, part of the Quality Mall web site, www.qualitymall.org/directory/index.html, has links to many resources and is managed by Amy Hewitt and Sheryl Larson of the University of Minnesota. Sheryl is one of the authors of the book at the top of this list. This is probably the most comprehensive list of resources we've found so far. They deal with many issues around recruitment and retention of direct care workers who work with people with developmental disabilities, mental illness and physical disabilities.
- The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is a membership organization for Human Resource professionals, which comes highly recommended by George Kimes. They have a special section on recruitment and retention that has many resources. SHRM provides education and information services, conferences, online services and publications and government and media representation. Their web site is www.shrm.org. An individual membership costs $160.00.
- The PCPA Human Resources Work Group will soon be a resource for all members. Tasks have been assigned and information is being gathered on recruitment and retention issues.
- Research has been done in Pennsylvania through the Department of Aging and the Intra-Governmental Council on Long Term Care. In Their Own Words: Pennsylvania's Frontline Workers in Long Term Care (available through www.aging.state.pa.us) is based on input from focus groups of direct care workers in the long term care system. The other report, Pennsylvania's Frontline Workers in Long Term Care: The Provider Organization Perspective is based on surveys of providers. Both are available by calling the PA Department of Aging at 717-236-3344.
- Employee feedback can be obtained through www.thepeoplekeeper.com, a promotional site and supplement to a book by Mark Holmes titled The People Keeper: How Managers Can Attract, Motivate and Retain Better Employees. The book is available at 888-281-5170 and free as a downloadable PDF eBook.