Turnover Rates

2314190 · November 2003

I work in a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed children with 93 employees. I was curious how our turnover rate, which usually runs about 16%, compares with other comparable non-profit agencies. Any feedback?

marc · November 2003

Our turnover rate is slightly higher than that. Part of the difference can be attributed to turnover that comes from changes to program funding sources. If all the sources dry up and other fundraising efforts fall short, EEs have to go. They see the writing on the wall and usually resign before a lay-off happens - If I take that 4% out of our turnover rate, we are then at 14%. We have 56 EEs.

2314190 · November 2003

Thank you, Marc. We have also experienced some funding cutbacks. We have had to phase out two off campus programs and cut back on things like COLA increases and pension contributions. Hopefully, we'll be able to hang on to our staff.

LeeR · November 2003

We are for profit, Intermediate Care Facility fo r Metally Retarded children and a Residential Psychiatric Treatment Facility. About 540 employees and we have held steady with a 17% turnover rate for the last three years. This year will be higher as we are at 17% through the 3rd quarter. Most of the increase is turnover in nursing staff.

Nat · November 2003

We're a long term residential care facility for children and adults with severe mental retardation and our turnover so far this year is at 70% for direct care staff. We are very proud of that considering that in 2001 it was 128%. Unfortunately, it seems to be an industry problem. We have not had pay increases for two years now. It's hard to keep people when insurance goes up and their paychecks don't! Those pats on the back and thank you's for the hard work only go so far.

mdm · November 2003

I work for a community health center. We treat people with no health insurance, on state medical assistance, etc. Our turnover rate is currently about 28% this year. It was 21% in 2002 and 34% in 2001. Our funding has been dropping off recently. We have had to lay a few people off this year due to lack of work. It's sad.

NicoleLee · November 2003

I work for a non-profit mental health agency. Last year, our turnover was at 40%...Mainly our problems stem from lack of funding and low wages...

2314190 · November 2003

Thank you for your responses. It sounds like things are critical for mental health in all parts of the country.

Betty I_O · November 2003

It is an industry-wide problem, which unfortunately often affects those most in need. We have a corporate affiliate that provides mental health counseling services and advocacy for HIV/AIDS clients. Last year, turnover was at 18%. It's at 21% currently, partially due to many of the reasons already cited (funding sources cut off/cut back, programs downsized, no raises in three years, etc.). One other local agency this facility deals with on a regular basis has had almost 60% turnover--their funding sources were cut more than they were for our affiliate. We consider ourselves "lucky" ours is only 21%!

TN HR · November 2003

>I work in a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed children

You too? Mine's called Manufacturing

Sorry, I couldn't resist!

marc · November 2003

We have a low or no cost family counseling program that has lost more than 1/2 of it's funding from traditional granting agencies. We have made direct appeals to private corporations, put on fund-raisers, and added a donation requrest section to out 1/4ly newsletter. We also recruited MFT interns from our local university that need to get in 3000 supervised hours as part of their licensing requirements - we get them at a significantly reduced hourly rate. Putting all of these efforts together, we were actually able to increase the number of counseling hours offered! So far it's been a great success. Now the question is, can we repeat it for the next funding cycle?

Don D · November 2003

I hesitate to get in this conversation since I cannot add anything to the answers; but, I do want to say that I admire, appreciate and respect every one of you and your dedicated coworkers for the work you do. It takes a special Angel sent from God to do the work you do. For the uninitiated, this type of work probably takes more of a daily toll on its servants than most any other type of work. Most of us can go home in the afternoon and not even give a thought to the job we left behind that awaits us in the morning. Not you guys. Going home in the evening with a head full of children or young adults and their unsolvable issues and roadblocks is more than all of the rest of us could ever handle. God bless you. xclap

marc · November 2003

Thank you from our staff in the trenches.

In our shop, they are the ones fighting the good fight. Doing their best to solve problems without enabling. Ours is a 'feel good' place to work and we are fortunate to get a lot of community support. It really shows up around this time of year because people to reach out a little more during the holidays - wanting others to have a little respite from the battle. Acknowledgements and blessing like yours make the miles go easier.

I am going to share your words with some of our staff because I think they will appreciate hearing this from someone who is a total stranger (to them).

HRQ · November 2003

We are a for-profit childcare/preschool company with approximately 400 employees. We care for and educate children ages 6 weeks to 12 years, primarily "typical" children, and we have a Special Needs Inclusion program involving around 75 children. Our total enrollment is around 3,000 children.

Our turnover is trending at about 75% this year. 2002 ended at about 85% and 2001 ended with around 120%. We went through an ownership change in 2001 which definitely affected turnover, but it is still something we struggle with constantly.

We are not a high paying industry, and even working with primarily "typical" children can burn staff out after a year or two. It is a physically taxing and emotionally draining job for our teachers, and the rewards often have to come directly from the children or from within.

As a company we do fairly frequent recognition to keep happy whatever staff we can: a rose for every employee on Valentines day delivered personally by a member of the corporate staff, card and small gift for every employee on Teacher Appreciation Week, Holiday gift for every employee in December. The gifts are pretty small (around $5) and we put a lot of thought into the letter that is delivered along with them.

We do lots of other things like quarterly company-wide training which is incredibly time consuming for the facilitators, but it has really impacted quality and teacher satisfaction.

Turnover is a struggle in most service industries especially in large cities where the newspaper employment classifieds are an inch thick and there's always another job around the corner with apparently greener grass.

There I go rambling again... x:D

marc · December 2003

The pay rates in the childcare industry are abysmal. It is sad to see how little these individuals are paid when you consider how important the little ones should be to all concerned. They are our future. The imprint they receive at this stage in life will largely determine how succussful or not they are as they grow to maturity. With the low pay and the sparse benefits the industry is fortunate to be able to enlist a large percentage of truly caring workers.

It is little wonder that turnover plagues childcare centers. Affordable childcare concerns fly right in the face of combatting turnover and establishing wages that recognize the importance of the work that is done here. So many just look at the function as babysitting or 'warehousing' our young.

I see I am on a soapbox. If I don't stop now...

HRQ · December 2003

And this is not a high profit industry. When I was new to the industry, I was shocked to learn we average around 5% profit when all is said and done.

Parents pay around $150/week per child for full time care, and our teachers' average hourly wage is about $8. It's a highly labor intensive business, as you know. Parents want to know where all that tuition money goes, if not to teacher wages. Most of it DOES go to wages, but because of volume of hours, not high hourly wages. Add to that yet another increase (13%) in insurance premiums for next year...

Marc, you and I have drifted into our own topic now. Sorry everyone else - I'll be happy to listen to your sob stories about your industries too! x:'(

larobinson · December 2003

Our orgainization is also non-profit and health related. Our turnover rate is currently as 18% even though we have excellent benefits and good hours. The majority of people who leave eventually apply to work for us at a later date. Most leave for personal reasons or job burn out.

Whirlwind · December 2003

I work at a residential school for kids with disabilities, some multiple and severe. A typical staff member's day can range from a perfect teaching moment to nearly having a finger bitten off -- and everything in between. We're happy anytime turnover is less than 20%, which it currently is, but it has been as high as 28%. I believe our state mental health/mental retardation facilities have had turnover rates in the 80% range. You should feel proud of 16%!

Turnover Rates

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