By Matt Harrington, BCBA · Behaviorist Book Club · Research-backed answers for behavior analysts
The line between poaching and legitimate recruitment is not always clear, but several factors distinguish them. Legitimate recruitment includes general job postings, career fair participation, and responding to inquiries from individuals who are actively job-seeking. Poaching typically involves directly targeting specific employees of a competitor, often through unsolicited contact, with the intent to recruit them away. The ethical concern increases when recruitment involves deception, disparagement of the current employer, use of insider knowledge about compensation to underbid, or disregard for the effects on clients. Context matters significantly, and behavior analysts should evaluate recruitment practices through the lens of truthfulness under Code 1.01, integrity under Code 1.04, and the effects on client welfare under Code 2.01.
Staff turnover affects treatment outcomes through multiple pathways. Service continuity is disrupted during the transition period, which may involve reduced hours, temporary staffing gaps, or services from less experienced providers. Rapport between the client and therapist is lost, and for clients with autism who may struggle with changes in routine and relationships, this loss can be particularly disruptive. Treatment fidelity typically decreases during the new employee's learning period. Organizational knowledge about client preferences, behavioral patterns, and effective strategies may be lost if not thoroughly documented. Research and clinical experience consistently show that treatment outcomes are better when staffing is stable and consistent, underscoring the clinical importance of retention.
BCBAs leaving an organization have ethical obligations under multiple BACB codes. Code 2.01 requires continued attention to client welfare during the transition. Code 2.05 requires respecting clients' rights to continuity of care. Practical obligations include providing adequate notice to allow for transition planning, participating in the development and implementation of transition plans for affected clients, ensuring thorough documentation of all client programs, data, and clinical notes, communicating respectfully and honestly with families about the transition, transferring knowledge to the incoming provider, and refraining from soliciting clients to follow them to the new organization unless the client independently chooses to transfer. The overriding principle is that the departure should be managed in a way that minimizes harm to clients.
Non-compete agreements in ABA raise ethical questions because they can restrict practitioners' ability to serve clients and advance their careers. Overly broad non-compete agreements may prevent behavior analysts from working in their field in an entire geographic region, which can harm both the practitioner and the clients who could benefit from their services. However, reasonable restrictions that protect legitimate organizational interests, such as short-term non-solicitation agreements that prevent direct poaching of specific clients or staff, may be ethically defensible. The ethical analysis should weigh the organization's interest in protecting its workforce and client base against the practitioner's right to professional mobility and the community's interest in having qualified providers available. State laws regarding non-compete enforceability vary significantly.
Ethical competition for talent focuses on genuinely improving working conditions rather than targeting competitors' staff. Strategies include offering competitive compensation based on market analysis, providing high-quality supervision and professional development opportunities, creating supportive organizational cultures with manageable caseloads, investing in training pipelines such as RBT training programs and fieldwork supervision for BCBA candidates, offering career advancement pathways within the organization, and providing benefits that support work-life balance. These strategies attract talent through genuine value rather than through recruitment tactics that may disrupt other organizations' service delivery. Under Code 1.04, competing honestly for talent by being a genuinely good employer represents a more ethical approach than aggressive poaching.
When an organization loses multiple staff members to a competitor, the immediate priority is managing client transitions to minimize service disruption. Beyond crisis management, the organization should conduct an honest assessment of why staff are leaving by examining compensation, working conditions, supervision quality, caseload demands, and organizational culture. If systemic issues are identified, address them rather than blaming the competitor. Consider whether non-solicitation agreements would provide reasonable protection. Strengthen retention strategies based on the assessment findings. If the competitor's recruitment practices involve ethical violations such as deception or disparagement, consider raising concerns through professional channels. Avoid retaliatory poaching, which escalates the problem and harms clients at both organizations.
Communication with families about therapist departures should be prompt, honest, and focused on the family's concerns. Under Code 2.05 and Code 2.08, families have the right to be informed about changes in their child's service team. Communication should include the timeline for the transition, the plan for maintaining continuity of care, information about the incoming therapist including opportunities to meet them before the transition, reassurance about the continuity of the treatment plan and clinical oversight, and an invitation for the family to ask questions and express concerns. Avoid discussing the organizational dynamics behind the departure. Focus on what the family needs to know to feel confident that their child's care will continue without interruption. The supervisor should be available to address family concerns throughout the transition.
RBTs have important ethical responsibilities during job transitions even though the BACB's RBT Ethics Code is more limited than the BCBA Ethics Code. Key obligations include providing reasonable notice to allow for transition planning, maintaining the quality of services to current clients through the last day of employment, participating in transition activities such as meeting with the incoming therapist and updating documentation, maintaining confidentiality about client information after departure, and refraining from soliciting clients to follow them to the new employer. BCBAs supervising RBTs should discuss these obligations as part of the supervisory relationship, ensuring that RBTs understand how to transition ethically if they choose to change employers.
Yes, and pursuing these alternatives is arguably more ethical than escalating inter-organizational competition. Strategies include investing in RBT training programs that bring new people into the field rather than just moving existing staff between organizations, expanding BCBA training capacity through university partnerships and fieldwork supervision, supporting career pathways that develop internal talent such as promoting RBTs to BCBA candidates with organizational support, advocating for policies that increase the attractiveness of ABA careers including competitive Medicaid reimbursement rates that support higher wages, and exploring service delivery models that optimize the use of available workforce such as group instruction, telehealth, and parent training models. These strategies expand the total workforce rather than redistributing a fixed pool of professionals.
Professional organizations can play a convening role by facilitating dialogue among ABA providers about ethical recruitment practices and collaborative solutions to the workforce crisis. Specific actions include developing professional guidelines or best practices for ethical staff recruitment, creating forums for inter-organizational collaboration on workforce development, advocating for policies that expand the ABA workforce pipeline, supporting research on effective retention strategies, providing resources for ethical transition planning, and encouraging organizations to invest in growing the workforce rather than competing for a limited supply. By framing the issue as a collective challenge rather than an individual organizational problem, professional organizations can shift the dynamic from zero-sum competition to collaborative problem-solving.
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.