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Retention Strategies

Strategies for improving workforce retention, including improved working conditions, reduced caseloads, enhanced training, professional growth and career development, improved supervision, and clearer job expectations, are described in the resources below.

• State and local examples
• Demonstration project reports

Capturing Promising Practices in Recruitment and Retention of Frontline Youth Workers
National Collaboration for Youth (2006)
Provide examples of promising practices used at local organizations to recruit and retain staff who work directly with youth.

Children's Workforce Strategy: A Strategy to Build a World-Class Workforce for Children and Young People (PDF - 647 KB)
Great Britain Department for Education and Skills (2005)
Outlines a strategy for reforming the workforce for individuals working with children and young people in the United Kingdom. It identifies four major strategic challenges: recruiting more high quality staff into the children's workforce; retaining staff by offering better development and career progression; strengthening interagency work and multi-disciplinary work; and promoting stronger leadership and management to help to create new models of practice and deliver and sustain these changes.

Congressional Child Welfare Summit: Looking for the Future Summit Background Paper #3, Building a Quality Workforce to Improve Outcomes for Children and Families (Word - 2719 KB)
Center for the Study of Social Policy (2002)
Highlights promising practices intended to strengthen the child welfare workforce. This paper identifies approaches that are consistent with effective human resource management strategies that emphasize job satisfaction and professional development, as well as compensation.

Improving the Quality of Human Services Through Results-Oriented Human Resource Management (PDF - 456 KB)
Center for the Study of Social Policy Washington, D.C. (2002)
Describes how to establish strategic partnerships between human service managers and human resource managers to promote the recruitment and retention of a qualified child welfare workforce.

Innovation Out of Crisis II: Solutions to the Human Services Workforce Crisis (PDF - 259 KB)
Stergios & Weekes
Policy Directors, 12, 2002
Outlines the recommendations of the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers and the Pioneer Institute for attracting and keeping staff. The organizations suggest that agencies recruit personnel by emphasizing the benefits of the work and by collaborating with high schools and colleges to identify prospective students.

Promising Approaches to Recruiting and Retaining Quality Child Welfare Workers [Plenary Session Panel]
Child Welfare Workforce Development and Workplace Enhancement Institute: Knowledge Development and Application
Robinson, Light, Day, Steib, Woodside, & Zlotnik (2005)
Identifies some of the factors contributing to the successful recruitment and retention of a quality child welfare workforce. View multimedia presentation and materials for each speaker.

Recruiting and Retaining Children and Families' Social Workers: The Potential of Work Discussion Groups
Warman & Jackson
Journal of Social Work Practice, 21(1), 2007
View Abstract
Draws on the experience and evaluation of one particular model of supervision-work discussion groups-and explores its impact with residential social work staff and teachers as well as the potential for further developments of this kind.

Updated on March 1, 2010