2. Workforce Strategies Introduction  Service cutbacks are occuring because of the shortage of a competent workforce.  Recruiting has become a significant challenge.  Staff turnover, nationally, is 40% for private child welfare agencies.  Salaries in human services have not kept pace with other service industries.  Inexperienced staff are having a negative effect on child protective decisions.

3. Workforce Strategies Strategies Agency-Centric Approach - Most workforce strategies are endocentric to an agency. It is addressed like any other internal management issue.  Strengths-Positions individual agency competitively.  Weakness-The Problem is a systemic problem.

4. Workforce Strategies Strategies-continued  Systemic Approach-The workforce crisis has to be address as the sum of all its parts:  Industry Attractiveness  Salaries and Benefits  Training  Career Development

5. Workforce Strategies State Strategies  State Associations representing child welfare agencies have various strategies for addressing the workforce crisis.  Georgia  Maryland  Illinois  New York

6. Workforce Strategies Maryland Jim McComb Maryland Assoc.of Resources for Fam & Youth

7. Workforce Strategies Illinois Margaret Berglind Illinois Child Care Association of Illinois

8. Workforce Strategies New York New York Council of Family & Child Caring Agencies

9. Workforce Strategies Georgia Georgia Association of Homes and Services For Children

10. Workforce Strategies Georgia – Together We Will Make it Happen  Website Tools –  Collaboration of Agencies – Shared Marketing for human service workers  University System Collaboration  Public/Private Collaboration

11. Workforce Strategies Georgia – Together We Will Make it Happen Website Tools – www.gahsc.org/nm/wft/tools/ www.gahsc.org/nm/wft/tools/  Certification Tools  Marketing Tools  Job Bank  Training Tools  Collaborators

12. Workforce Strategies Georgia – Together We Will Make it Happen  Colaboration of Agencies – Shared Marketing for human service workers  Marketing firm will provide:  brochures,  employee newsletters,  public service announcements,  employee satisfaction surveys, and  central intake number.

13. Workforce Strategies Georgia – Together We Will Make it Happen  University System Collaboration  Internship Programs  Marketing to Social Work Programs  Newsletters to Social Worker Students

14. Workforce Strategies Georgia – Together We Will Make it Happen Public/Private Collaboration  State Agencies facing same dilemma in the workforce crisis. Same strategies required.  Collaborating together makes sense.  Shared workforce  Same children and families  Builds partnerships  Use of public money is benefit for private agencies  Use of private advocacy is benefit for public agencies.

15. Workforce Strategies In Sub-Conclusion Georgia – Together We Will Make it Happen  It is a systems issue.  Requires a systemic approach.  Requires a team effort by all players.  An Association can play important leadership role.

16. Workforce Strategies In Conclusion –  States have various approaches.  State Associations play important leadership role  Collaboration is important.  Systemic Issues are important.

17. Workforce Strategies Questions?

18. Maryland Association of Resources For Families and Youth “Priority 1” 2002Workforce Development Initiative

19. MARFY’s 2002 Action Plan u Priority 1: Responding to the Workforce Crisis Goal: To enable agencies serving children and their families to effectively recruit, and retain qualified staff with an immediate emphasis on direct care staff, i.e., child care workers, counselors, social workers, case managers, and aides.

20. MARFY’s 2002 Action Plan Task Force Convened A diverse group of stakeholders including MARFY members, other provider groups, higher education institutions, public child welfare, juvenile justice and education agencies, parent advocates, and other representatives from government and business sectors who are focused on workforce issues.

21. MARFY’s 2002 Action Plan What Do We Expect From Members of the Task Force? u Participate on committees or identify staff for committees who bring knowledge and skills in areas of compensation, workforce qualifications, and recruitment/retention. u Serve as consultants to the committee chairs (guidance, resources, ideas) u Assist the Steering Committee in identifying best practices in workforce development outside of human services. u Meet regularly with task force

22. MARFY’s 2002 Action Plan Committees Formed u Steering Committee u Workforce and Workplace Standards Committee u Recruitment and Retention Committee u Compensation Committee

23. MARFY’s 2002 Action Plan Workforce Compensation Committee Objective: Achieve adequate compensation Strategies:  Get data/information on worker compensation, retention and turnover (Compensation Survey)  Inform state agency officials, legislators and policy makers about the need for improved compensation and the implication of failing to provide it.  Advocate for improved program funding tied to direct care staff salaries and wages

24. MARFY’s 2002 Action Plan Workforce & Workplace Standards Comm. Priority Objective: Establish child and youth care professional qualification standards Strategies: v Establish need for child and youth care professional certification v Identify child and youth care roles and functions and related competencies and skills v Develop two and four year post secondary curricula and instruction strategies v Establish standards and procedures for competency assessment and certification

25. MARFY’s 2002 Action Plan Recruitment and Retention Committee Objective: Enable child and family serving agencies to recruit and retain qualified staff Strategies: u Create Best Practice Guide for staff recruitment & retention u Develop on-line capacity to post position openings and resumes u Development centralized recruitment network which includes screening and referral

26. MARFY’s 2002 Action Plan Workforce Development Survey Results æ Number of Locations Represented: 189 æ Number of Employees Represented: 5,898 æ Number of Families Served: Over 16,477 families

27. MARFY’s 2002 Action Plan Compensation Job Category# of Positions Average Salary# of Employees Direct Care Workers 69$22,2871,776 Case Managers25$31,650122 Social Worker75$34,852400 Therapist (LCPC)9$38,00027

28. Benefits Benefit % Who Offer to Full-Time Staff Average % of Premium Paid by Employer % Who Offer to Part-Time Staff Average % of Premium Paid by Employer Medical100%82%33%48% Dental94%59%32%33% Vision78%62%25%37% Prescription100%83%33%50%

29. MARFY’s 2002 Action Plan Turnover Percentages Direct Care Staff# of ResponsesMinMaxMeanMedian Full-Time320%220%49%33% Part-Time210%153%54%33% Case Mgt Staff# of ResponsesMinMaxMeanMedian Full-Time180%100%16%0% Part-Time 20%

30. MARFY’s 2002 Action Plan Turnover Percentages Social Work Staff# of ResponsesMinMaxMeanMedian Full-Time330%200%34%20% Part-Time 60%75%18%0% Therapist (LCPC) Staff# of ResponsesMinMaxMeanMedian Full-Time12 0%100%14% 0% Part-Time0

31. MARFY’s 2002 Action Plan Most Common Reasons Why Employees Resigned æ Obtained other employment in the same field with a higher salary (69% of respondents) æ Relocation (35% of respondents) æ Dissatisfaction with the Work Schedule or Hours (29%) æ Accepted a Position in a Different Field (29%) æ Returned to School/Education (23%)

32. MARFY’s 2002 Action Plan Average Vacancy Rates Days Vacant5 – 1414 – 3031 – 6060+ # of Responses 217228 % of Responses 4%35%45%16% 49 Total Responses

33. MARFY’s 2002 Action Plan Estimated Vacancy Rate # of ResponsesMinMaxMean Direct Care293%67% 21% Case Mgt50%57% 6% Social Work150%60%13% Therapist40%100%16% Percentage of positions reported as vacant compared to budgeted positions

34. MARFY’s 2002 Action Plan Top Five Recruitment Strategies æNewspaper/Print Ads (69%) æEmployee Referrals (41%) æInternet Advertising (35%) æJob Fairs (29%) æWord of Mouth (22%)

35. MARFY’s 2002 Action Plan Top Five Retention Strategies 1.Salary Program Improvements (44%) 2.Improve Work Environment (31%) 3.Benefit Program Improvements (29%) 4.Develop or Improve Training Programs (23%) 5.Flexible Scheduling (17%)

36. Illinois CHILD CARE ASSOCIATION OF ILLINOIS AGENCIES  80% child welfare privatized in voluntary agencies  Residential Care used for juvenile corrections/probation cases  Significant percent of special education in non- public schools  Special state licensure by state child welfare agency required for direct service employees and supervisors

37. Illinois CHILD CARE ASSOCIATION OF ILLINOIS AGENCIES  95 Member Agencies  164,000 Children & Adolescents Served by Member Agencies  129,000 Families Served by Member Agencies  14,000 Full Time Equivalent Staff TURNOVER RATES  22%-150% Range  35% Average

38. Illinois CHILD CARE ASSOCIATION OF ILLINOIS AGENCIES ASSOCIATION STRATEGIES TRAINING Foundation Training for Direct Service License Applicants designed with private/public collaboration Illinois received IV-E waiver to provide enhanced training for private sector staff Association staff and members serve on Advisory Committees to evaluate and review training Association members serve on Licensure Board Association staff and members developing new Basic Training for Residential Care workers in collaboration with state agency and public university

39. Illinois CHILD CARE ASSOCIATION OF ILLINOIS AGENCIES ASSOCIATION STRATEGIES SALARY AND BENEFIT STUDY Three studies over four years General report Specific report for individual agency review and comparison

40. Illinois CHILD CARE ASSOCIATION OF ILLINOIS AGENCIES ASSOCIATION STRATEGIES LEGISLATIVE Work Force Summit with Congressional and State Legislative Aides Legislation on loan forgiveness Testimony on Work Force crisis and status of child welfare workers Testimony and Work Force information distributed to Illinois Congressional delegation.

41. Illinois CHILD CARE ASSOCIATION OF ILLINOIS AGENCIES MEMBER CAPACITY BUILDING Panels/presentations at Membership Meetings highlight challenges/solutions.

42. Illinois CHILD CARE ASSOCIATION OF ILLINOIS AGENCIES FUTURE CHALLENGES Assuring Quality Training continues Federal and State legislation Reimbursement rates for contractual services Agency Challenges What we don’t know about the problem, our staff Changing practices/traditions/policies.

43. New York State THE PROBLEM In New York State last year:  Almost 40% of the residential child care workers left their positions  Over 30% of caseworkers were new hires; the figure is even higher in foster family boarding home programs…  On any given day almost 10% of the child care worker positions were vacant...  Children stay in foster care longer than their workers stay in their jobs…

44. New York State WHY?  Our agencies were only able to offer starting salaries to those child care workers of $19,471  And to caseworkers of $25,598  Our average caseworker salaries are from 22 to 52% lower than what the average bachelor level person makes in NYS.

45. New York State As a membership association of not-for-profit child welfare providers we have a two pronged approach to our work related to the Workforce Crisis. #1. When we talk to the public or to our funders in government we need to be very clear as the problem: It’s the salary Stupid!

46. New York State #We need to acknowledge that there are ideas, concepts, and approaches agencies can adopt to improve recruitment and retention of staff  Symposium on Workforce Crisis  Regional Human Resources Directors Quarterly Meetings  Salary and Turnover Survey Starting and average salaries for all key titles. (Caseworker, ccw, supervisors, teacher, nurse, clinicians) Middle management titles Vacancy rates Education levels

47. New York State Survey Cont’d  Vacation, sick leave, holidays  Health insurance costs  Unionization  Fringe benefit %

48. Workforce Strategies In Conclusion  State have various approaches  State Associations play important leadership role  Collaboration is important  Systemic Issues are important

49. Workforce Strategies  Questions?