On Turnover in Human Services

Wine et al. (2020) wrote a think-piece about staff quitting in ABA agencies.

They mapped why people leave and what it costs. No new data were collected.

Turnover hurts kids, teams, and wallets. Yet most agencies do not track exit reasons.

The paper urges BCBAs to treat turnover like a behavior: define, measure, and change it.

Cymbal et al. (2022) later mined real BHCOE files. They showed low pay and angry caregivers predict tech quitting. This answers Wine’s call to start measuring exits.

Sulek et al. (2017) interviewed preschool staff. They found constant turnover wrecks fidelity in autism classrooms. Wine’s warning now has a face: kids lose learning when aides keep swapping.

Rosales et al. (2023) add a twist. They kept diverse staff by writing equity goals into the company mission. Wine talked systems; Rosales shows one easy lever—make diversity part of the contingency.

You cannot reduce what you do not measure. Start an exit survey today. Ask leavers about pay, supervision, and caregiver friction. Graph the answers each quarter. Then test one cheap change—raise new-hire pay by one dollar or add a monthly caregiver shout-out. Cymbal’s data say these moves cut turnover, saving you about one new-hire training cost every quarter.