Staff Recruitment, Retention, and Training Strategies for Community Human Services Organizations
By Sheryl A. Larson, Ph.D., & Amy S. Hewitt, M.S.W., Ph.D., with invited contributors

Recruitment, retention, and training — the three most challenging issues facing community human services organizations. Now supervisors, managers, and administrators have a practical guidebook for facing these challenges and staffing their agencies with dedicated, motivated direct support professionals. Each chapter of this easy-to-read handbook focuses on a critical workforce issue such as recruiting and hiring employees, socializing and supporting staff, strengthening commitment and skills through mentoring programs, building effective teams, fostering diversity and cultural competence, and designing and surviving organizational change. To help readers meet each of these challenges, the book offers

• a list of specific competencies that supervisors and managers must focus on developing
  
  
• practical strategies and the research and demographic data that inform each strategy
  
  
• step-by-step instructions on how to turn the strategies into a workable intervention plan and evaluate the plan’s effectiveness
  
  
• a list of questions to help readers determine their organizational needs and spark more ideas about how to use the strategies
  
  
• charts, guidelines, case studies, checklists, and easily adaptable worksheets that help organizations put the strategies to work

With the sensible, easy-to-implement suggestions in this invaluable book, readers will sharpen their managerial expertise, reduce turnover, and build a more committed, skilled staff.

1. Recruitment, Retention, and Training Challenges in Community Human Services: A Review of the Literature
   Sheryl A. Larson, Amy S. Hewitt, and Beth A. Knoblauch
   
   

Section I: Finding and Hiring Employees

2. Recruiting Direct Support Professionals
   Sheryl Larson and Amy Hewitt
   
   
3. What is This Job All About? Using Realistic Job Previews in the Hiring Process
   Sheryl Larson, Susan O’Nell, and John Sauer
   
   
4. Selection Strategies
   Sheryl Larson and Amy Hewitt

Section II: Socializing and Training Employees

5. Socialization, Support, Networking, and Professionalization
   Amy Hewitt, Sherri Larson, Susan O’Nell, John Sauer
   
   
6. Linking Training and Performance Through Competency Based Training
   Susan O’Nell and Amy Hewitt
   
   
7. Out of the Classroom and On with Employee Training Programs that Work
   Susan O’Nell, Amy Hewitt, and John Sauer
   
   
8. Fostering Commitment and Skill Through Mentoring Programs
   Amy Hewitt, Traci LaLiberte, Jody Kougl-Lindstrom, Sheryl Larson

Section III: Motivating and Supporting Employees

9. Staff Motivation and Recognition
   Traci LaLiberte, Amy Hewitt, and Sheryl Larson
   
   
10. From Grumbling to Getting Along: Creating and Using Teams to Enhance Retention
    Amy Hewitt, John Sauer, and Lori Sedlezky
    
    
11. Supporting and Training Supervisors
    Amy Hewitt and Sheryl Larson

Section IV: Assessing Problems and Designing Solutions

12. Creating Organizational Change Initiatives
    Elizabeth Lightfoot, Amy Hewitt, John Sauer
    
    
13. Assessing and Evaluating Workforce Challenges
    Sheryl Larson, Traci LaLiberte, and Patricia Salmi
    
    
14. Selecting and Implementing Strategies for Change
    Sheryl Larson, Lynda Anderson, and Amy Hewitt

Section V: The Bigger Picture

15. Strategies for Policy Change
    Sheryl Larson and Amy Hewitt