Weekend Warriors and the DSP Workforce Fix I Never Saw Coming
For years, I’ve heard the same refrains from human service leaders: “We’ve tried everything—better onboarding, stay interviews, recognition programs, you name it—and we’re still short-staffed.”
So when I sat down with Dr. Mike Strouse, CEO of GoodLife Innovations and founder of GoodLifeU, I expected to hear more of the same: a few clever ideas about engagement or coaching or culture.
Instead, my jaw hit the floor.
Because Strouse and his team have built something that’s quietly solving one of our field’s biggest mysteries—how to achieve predictable workforce stability.
And the secret?
Not pay.
Not training.
Not “culture.”
It’s scheduling.
How Schedule Migration Sabotages Stability
Across hundreds of provider agencies, Strouse and his university partners have studied what really drives instability. One pattern jumped out everywhere they looked: schedule migration—the gradual drift of your best staff toward the most desirable shifts.
It’s human nature. If a weekday daytime schedule opens up, the long-timers grab it. Managers say yes because they can’t afford to lose them. Before long, the least appealing schedules—nights, weekends, split shifts—are the only ones offered to new hires.
The result?
New hires start with the worst schedules.
They leave faster.
Vacancies rise.
Managers end up covering shifts themselves.
Everyone burns out.
As Strouse puts it, it’s a vicious cycle that looks like “bailing out water just to keep the boat afloat.”
The Myth of the Weekend Warrior
In that scramble, agencies often invent stopgap solutions—like the “Weekend Warrior” role: part-time staff who are supposed to swoop in and cover weekends.
In theory, it sounds brilliant. In reality, Strouse says, those weekend warriors “mostly exist on paper.” They churn quickly, managers end up filling in anyway, and the cycle of vacancies deepens.
It’s not a lack of effort—it’s the system itself that’s flawed.
A Radical Reframe: The Three-Day Work Week
At GoodLife, they flipped the script.
Instead of fighting human nature, they designed schedules that align with it. The centerpiece is their front-half/back-half three-day work week, part of what they call their “Five Faucets” system.
Each Direct Support Professional works 12-hour shifts, three days a week—either the front half (Sunday–Tuesday) or back half (Wednesday–Friday), with alternating weekend coverage built in.
Here’s what happens:
Everyone gets more days off—16 per month before PTO.
Shifts are balanced and equally appealing.
Fewer transitions mean fewer people involved in care.
Managers stop plugging holes.
Full-time rates soar above 90%.
According to GoodLife’s ANCOR presentation, the approach has cut turnover, slashed overtime, and virtually eliminated chronic vacancies—not just at GoodLife but at partner agencies across more than 20 states.
Why Turnover Isn’t the Best Metric
Strouse also challenges a sacred cow in our field: turnover rates.
His research shows turnover often drops in organizations with high vacancy rates—not because things are going well, but because there are so few new hires left to leave. In other words, low turnover can mask deep instability.
Instead, GoodLife tracks a different measure:
The number of different people involved in care over time.
When that number goes down, quality goes up. It’s measurable, actionable, and directly tied to both client experience and staff satisfaction.
Sharing the Blueprint
The most impressive part? GoodLife isn’t keeping this secret.
Their GoodLifeU initiative trains and consults with providers nationwide—helping agencies reimagine schedules, compensation systems, and remote-support technologies.
They even published their slides publicly through ANCOR, and in 2020 they received the NADSP’s Moving Mountains Award for their groundbreaking workforce innovations.
As Strouse told me, “We don’t mind sharing our IP with anyone who will listen. Because the truth is—you can’t just copy a good idea. You need help implementing a whole system that makes it work.”
The Takeaway
If you’re trying to “train” your way out of bad schedules, you’re fighting a losing battle.
Or, as Strouse put it with behavioral clarity:
“You can’t train someone to like a bad date.”
The good news is, the fix exists—and it’s simpler, more evidence-based, and more human than anyone expected.
Maybe it’s time to stop chasing weekend warriors and start designing work worth staying for.
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