Stop Guessing: How Data Can Actually Save Your Staff (and Your Sanity)
Most leaders in human services want the same thing:
Keep good people. Stop the turnover treadmill.
But here’s what usually happens:
We hear about a retention “best practice” from another agency.
Or someone on our team says, “We should just raise wages!” (as if there’s a magic budget tree).
Or we try everything at once—and have no clue what actually worked.
Meanwhile, turnover keeps creeping up, good DSPs keep leaving, and supervisors are left wondering:
“What’s the point of all these initiatives if nothing changes?”
In Part 2 of my interview with Dr. Dennis Reid, one of the most respected researchers in our field, he dropped a truth bomb:
Many agencies don’t use their own data to figure out what’s really happening with staff retention.
And if we don’t do that, we’re basically just guessing.
Step One: Look at Your Data (Not Just Everyone Else’s)
Every organization is different. You might hear that another agency solved turnover by starting a “DSP of the Month” award… but in your organization, that same strategy might do nothing (or even backfire).
Dr. Reid’s advice: Start by finding your patterns.
Ask questions like:
Which programs have the highest and lowest turnover?
Are certain supervisors keeping their teams longer?
Do people leave more often in the first 30 days… or after the first year?
Is there a time of year when turnover spikes?
And here’s the kicker:
Don’t just look for problems.
Look for outliers who are crushing it.
If one supervisor has 90% of their staff stay for over a year, while another can’t keep anyone past three months… find out why.
Because “what’s working” is just as valuable as “what’s broken.”
Step Two: Focus Only Where You Have Influence
Another Reid-ism that hit home:
Don’t waste time trying to fix what you can’t control.
“There’s only a percentage of turnover that we can impact… We have to focus on ‘What’s going on with the job that is not attractive enough to keep people here?’”
Some turnover is inevitable.
Some people take the job for two weeks, realize it’s not for them, and leave.
Some move out of state. Some leave for jobs with benefits you just can’t match.
You can’t fix every reason someone leaves.
But you can improve the parts you can control:
How supported people feel by their supervisors
How new hires are onboarded
Whether staff actually feel successful and appreciated
Whether people have a clear path for growth
In other words: Make it easier for good people to stay… by making the job feel doable, valued, and connected.
Step Three: Measure What Works (and What Doesn’t)
You roll out a new mentoring program. Or a “stay interview” process. Or a schedule tweak.
How do you know if it’s working?
If you’re not tracking the right numbers, you don’t.
Retention strategies without measurement are like dieting without a scale.
You feel like it’s working… but is it?
Pick a few simple metrics (e.g., 90-day turnover, 12-month turnover, or supervisor-specific data) and track them before and after each change.
It’s not glamorous. It’s not “fun.”
But it will save you from wasting months (or thousands of dollars) on stuff that doesn’t actually move the needle.
The Next Step: Use Your Data Everywhere (Even Before Day 1)
Here’s the thing: Retention doesn’t start on someone’s first shift.
It starts way earlier—during the hiring process.
If you’re looking at your retention data but ignoring how people move through your hiring pipeline, you’re missing half the picture.
Because every drop-off point in your recruitment process—people who apply but never interview, candidates who ghost after orientation—affects your retention numbers later.
The good news?
You don’t have to guess where you’re losing people.
I put together a simple Hiring Funnel Worksheet to help you track the exact points where candidates fall off—so you can make data-informed decisions before they ever hit the schedule.
Get your free Hiring Funnel Worksheet here and start building a process where your data works for you, not against you.
Because when you use numbers to guide both hiring and retention?
You stop spinning your wheels… and start building teams that stick.
Then your DSPs—and your sanity—will thank you.
