FUNDAMENTAL RETENTION ASSUMPTIONS

Retention must be seen as an investment that enhances the Universitys educational leadership
and administrative efficiency by enhancing the quality of the educational opportunities it
provides and by increasing the percentage of its students who take advantage of those
opportunities and graduate in a timely manner.
The most effective retention efforts are those that enrich the educational experience. For this
reason, retention efforts are connected to fundamental educational concerns of the University.
Comprehensive, sustained strategies are required to produce significant retention results.
Isolated efforts produce only marginal results.
All retention initiatives should be undertaken with explicit attention to the diversity of students
served by the University.
Data is critical to retention improvement. Comprehensive retention planning and
implementation require data that are readily available and usable by decision makers at the
central and unit level.
Create a culture of high expectations regarding the success of students and the
universitys commitment to excellence in undergraduate education.
o Expect students to graduate in four to five years.
o Expect students to take advantage of an enhanced undergraduate experience.
Recognize that academic and psychosocial factors together influence students
persistence decisions, and involve the Student Affairs and Academic Affairs Divisions in
collaborative retention strategies.
Create an infrastructure to promote and sustain retention improvement, with primary
responsibility shared by the Vice President for Student Affairs and Vice Provost for
Undergraduate Affairs.
Appoint a campus-wide retention committee to coordinate retention efforts.
Assign responsibility for implementation of individual retention strategies to appropriate
units.
Promote enhanced access, expertise, and capacity to do timely retention data analyses
at both central and unit levels.

Update the career pathways e-tool to promote the

adult social care sector, careers available within it and
progression routes to include new case studies and
new qualifications.
Skills for Care September
2011
Test appetite for locality based public awareness
campaigns and report back to the DH Working Group
with implications for resources required.
Skills for Care March 2012
Review and re-launch of the Care Ambassador
schemes. This will include supporting them to work
alongside Jobcentre Plus advisors and the range of

other stakeholders who are working to implement the

Get Britain Working initiative.
Skills for Care and
employers
April 2012
Recruit case studies to promote good practice
examples to ensure materials remain relevant and
fresh. This will be done under the I Care branding.
Promote these resources and monitor effectiveness
Skills for Care, employers
and their representative
organisations, people
who use services
Bi-annual
reviews and
refreshes

3
Design and deliver a series of recruitment and
retention road shows to promote the Recruitment and
Retention Strategy and gain support from employers
to implement the action plan. Evaluate the road
shows and determine future events of this kind should
the evaluations dictate.
Skills for Care July 2011
Advise on Get Britain Working campaign and
establish partnerships to promote initiatives such
as the Care Sector Routeway and sector-based
work academies to support unemployed people into
sustainable social care job roles. This will include
supporting Jobcentre Plus staff, employer partnerships
and all those involved in the delivery of the Work
Programme.
Ensure recruitment campaigns promote the roles
and opportunities for all e.g. young people, career
changers, men and older people and those with higher
skills levels wishing to use/adapt those skills to work in
adult social care settings.
Develop materials that show the contribution of above.
Jobcentre Plus/Careers
advisors, employers
and their representative
organisations, Skills for
Care, Sector-based work
academy contractors,
DWP, Media
Quarterly

reviews

Key theme: Attracting a diverse workforce

Please cross reference with Skills for Cares Workforce Development Strategy Standards,
learning and qualifications, Apprenticeships and Carers sections
Overall ambition:
To grow the adult social care workforce by targeting and attracting diverse individuals
with a range
of skills that can enhance the sector
Elements:
. Career transitions
. Older workers
. Encouraging volunteering and community capacity building
. Equalities and gender balance
. Ensuring an appropriate workforce
Action By whom When
Targeted approaches to young people in education
and their support networks, teachers and careers
advisors to promote increased awareness of the
sector and entry
Skills for Care, employers,
education and careers
advisors
on-going
Capture and maintain links with people in career
transition (returners, redundancies, career changers) to
promote the options of a future within social care
(up-skilling, paid/voluntary work, self employment etc)
Develop and test strategies for mass redundancy
situations
Workonit launched
Skills for Care, employers
Jobcentre Plus
April 2011
March 2012
Support the role of people who use services as
employers and their workforce
Launch of Personal Assistants Framework
Develop the level of guidance and support available to
people who use services and their carers when they
become responsible for employing personal assistants
Service user networks
and groups
Department of Health
Skills for Care

July 2011
Involve people who use services to emphasise impact
of social care on their lives and integrate good practice
examples into promotional materials
Service users/networks
and groups to include
people who use services
as employers
annually

Key theme: Managing new interests and recruits

Please cross reference with Skills for Cares Workforce Development Strategy Standards,
learning and qualifications and Autonomous professionals sections
Overall ambition:
A professional, informed and well resourced process around pre-recruitment,
recruitment,
appointment and retention
Elements:
. Nurturing new recruits
. Ensure direct employers are given targeted information to support their recruitment
and
retention needs
. Developing new career pathways that recognise developing specialities
. Developing incentives for retention and career progression
. Supporting a community-based approach to care and support
Action By whom When
Promote the Common Induction Standards and their
relevance to recruitment and retention rates. Support
employers to use these standards and signpost to
materials that do this.
Refresh Managers Induction Standards
Skills for Care
Employers
Training Providers
on-going
December
2011
Provide information, guidance and signpost to
materials to support employers to establish from the
onset opportunity and mechanisms for supervision/
appraisal/tailored training packages for CPD (e.g.
Apprenticeship, new qualifications and units (QCF), inhouse
training and support)
Linked to new
qualifications (QCF)

Skills Funding Agency

Test out and develop new career pathways to take
into account specialised job roles, individual expertise,
diversity of supporting roles and new types of
employers
Skills for Care
Employers

Key theme: Retention

Please cross reference with Skills for Cares Workforce Development Strategy Standards,
learning and qualifications, Workforce redesign, Innovation and community skills
development sections
Overall ambition:
A rigorous approach to retaining and developing staff that encompasses a range of
good practice
initiatives to promote organisational and individual well-being
Elements:
. Personal development and growth
. Organisational development and growth
Action By whom When
Promote the role of implementing quality rewards and
incentive packages to aid retention with examples of
good practice and case studies from employers
Skills for Care
Employers
March 2012
Encourage leaders and managers to understand
their role and influence in recruiting and retaining their
workforce and enable them to access the relevant
training and support to do this
National Skills
Academy for Social
Care Leadership and
Management Strategy
Skills for Care new
qualifications
Recognise that good practice in recruitment and
retention should encompass the individuals and
communities providing additional unpaid services and
support

Key theme: Research and intelligence

Please cross reference with Skills for Cares Workforce Development Strategy Workforce

intelligence and research section

Overall ambition:
A continuous programme of activity to inform recruitment and retention initiatives
Elements:
. Inform and influence national policy development, local initiatives, individual
businesses,
service and workforce developments
Action By whom When
A baseline survey to gauge public perception of social
care, its value, understanding of job roles and careers.
Utilise the outcomes of this survey to plan further
actions
Skills for Care and
Development
September
2011
Identify gaps in research evidence that could inform
recruitment and retention initiatives.
Identify opportunities to fund specific research needs
as identified by employers and use the outcomes to
inform policy development and/or local practice
Skills for Care
Employers
People who use services
on-going
Interrogation of the National Minimum Data Set for
Social Care (NMDS-SC) to inform research and
policy development, for example reliance on migrant
workers and to signpost and predict future trends and
developments
Skills for Care On-going or
at specific
times
requested
Quarterly
updates
Promote research, materials and resources to
showcase what works well in recruitment and
retention via the Skills for Care Research Data-base
and timely briefings and updates
Employers
Skills for Care
On-going
via signposting
and
updates

Key theme: Standards, learning and qualifications

Please cross reference with Skills for Cares Workforce Development Strategy Standards,
learning and qualifications section
Overall ambition:
To enable a diverse workforce, employed by increasingly new and diverse employers to
access
high quality learning and support
Elements:
. Clear information about training and funding support
. Quality assurance
. Effective and consistent induction
. The new qualifications (QCF) underpin an employer and sector-led approach
ensuring that
qualifications are fit for purpose and represent value for money
. Engaging with the supply side to ensure what they offer meets the needs of
employers and
the new agenda
Action By whom When
Promote the use of Common Induction Standards as
a basis to all entry into employment initiatives within
the sector
Expand the use of these standards and all common
core principles to support employers and their
workforce
Skills for Care
Employers
DWP
Jobcentre Plus
Education/Careers
advisors
on-going
Continue to develop, manage, maintain and promote
apprenticeship programmes and demonstrate how
engagement with these programmes can aide
recruitment and retention initiatives for the sector
Support employers to understand the importance
of skills development in terms of business benefits
and retention and provide/signpost to resources to
promote this
Skills for Care Signpost
employers
to materials
Ensure employers have the most effective functional
skills/skills for life and employability support and that

these issues remain high on the agenda

Skills for Care
Employers
Promote the National Skills Academy for Social Care
Leadership Strategy and the Quality Endorsement
Framework for Social Care
National Skills Academy
for Social Care
DH Group to support
on-going

Useful resources
Practical tools to help support recruitment and retention
www.skillsforcare.org.uk/recruitment
Career pathways e-tool
www.skillsforcare.org.uk/careerpathways
Common Induction Standards
www.skillsforcare.org.uk/cis
New qualifications and units (QCF)
www.skillsforcare.org.uk/qcf
Apprenticeships
www.skillsforcare.org.uk/apprenticeships
Care Sector Route-way
www.skillsforcare.org.uk/caresectorrouteway
Skills for Life

Retain volunteers.
Once you have excellent people working with you, you want to keep them. Just having a wellrun program will go a long way to keeping volunteers--people like to feel they are involved with
something useful, and not that they are wasting their time in an inept organization.
There are also more specific things that the group can do to make sure that volunteers want to
stick around. These include:

Paying special attention to the jobs that volunteers are given. The volunteers-- tasks should
include challenges that build on skills the volunteer already has while allowing him to learn even
more. For example, if a volunteer is artistic, you might ask her to help design the agency
brochure. That way, she can use her talent as an artist, and she also has the chance to learn
about layout.
When trying to match jobs with volunteers, it might be a good idea to have a database that has
the names of all of the organization's volunteers, their availability, and their interests. That way,
when a specific job comes up, you can see who might be available and interested in doing it,
before going outside of your organization.

It's important, however, not to give a volunteer more work (or more challenging work) than he
can realistically take on. The volunteer and his supervisor should talk together honestly about
how much he can sensibly hope to accomplish while still feeling he is getting the challenge or
satisfaction he desires. This is a delicate balance, and one that both the volunteer and his
supervisor should think about thoroughly.

Recognizing and thanking volunteers is also very important in convincing people to stay. This is
talked about more in #10 below.

Evaluate your program.

In a comprehensive volunteer program, you should evaluate how well volunteers are doing. This
includes how well they are meeting their goals, as well as how well their work is helping to
fulfill the agency mission. Often, volunteers (like paid staff) are evaluated every six months or
year.
An important part of the process is self-evaluation by the volunteer. How well does he feel he is
doing? What would help him work more effectively? Are there other programs or projects at the
organization that he would like to take part in? A self-evaluation is often forgotten by
supervisors, but is often enormously helpful in increasing volunteer productivity.
How do you fire a volunteer?
Sometimes, a volunteer simply isn't working out the way you hoped. Often, people are wary of
firing someone, especially when that person isn't paid. But when someone isn't doing the job they
agreed to, you need to take action. Often, you can come to an understanding of why things aren't
working out, change those conditions, and the volunteer can turn into a fantastic resource in that
position.
But sometimes, our best efforts fail, and you need to take a person off of the job they are doing.
How do you do that? Different things may be appropriate, depending on the reason you need to
let them go. Be simple and honest. You might say:

"I think we have a job better suited to your talents than the one you are doing now."
"I'm afraid your actions aren't in keeping with the agency's philosophy. You might be happier
volunteering somewhere else."
"We've found someone better suited to the job you're doing."
"We no longer need your help on this project."
"I'm sorry, we need to let you go."

Recognize efforts and achievements.

This is one of the most important things you can do for your volunteers. It's always important to
recognize the work of your employees, and this is especially true for volunteers, who don't, after
all, receive monetary compensation for what they do. Everyone wants his or her efforts to be
noticed! If someone feels important to the organization, too, it's much more likely that they will
remain an active member.

You can recognize the work of your volunteers in many different ways. Some of the more
common possibilities include:

Awards (e.g., plaques and certificates)--these can be agency awards, or you might nominate
your volunteers for other awards, such as those which are city or statewide competitions.
Celebrations, such as lunches or award dinners.
Media attention--you might have a "volunteer of the month" whom you write about in the
organization's newsletter, or you might submit a story about an outstanding volunteer to the
local newspaper or television station. Many local newspapers have regular columns celebrating
the accomplishments of community volunteers.
A personal touch. Greet volunteers by name--people appreciate being remembered.
Gratitude. Don't forget to smile and say thank you--and say it often!
Sometimes, you might ask an outstanding volunteer to take on more responsibility, or even
offer him a paid position with the agency.

Example 1: Volunteer recognition and retention

Johanna Woodchild of the Greenville County Chapter of the American Red Cross in South
Carolina knows the importance of recognizing volunteer service. She works with more than a
thousand volunteers, and celebration is a year round business for her. From Christmas drop-ins to
recognition dinners, Johanna is always organizing ways to thank volunteers and allow them to
meet, have refreshments, and keep in touch with each other.
One way for Johanna to recognize her volunteers is to offer recognition ceremonies. That is what
Johanna was doing when we talked to her. She was expecting a couple hundred people to show
up the annual business meeting and recognition dinner. "We invite all of our volunteers, and
there are several steps that go along leading up to this. In the past, we've had pretty interesting
entertainment, and we encourage the volunteers to bring their families. It's a volunteer committee
who selects what were going to do and what the menu is and so on. This year they decided to
dispense with outside entertainment and have a huge icebreaker game, because they think we are
too isolated in our services and need to meet Red Cross volunteers that work in other areas of
service. We don't have very many expenses regarding the place (they had it in gyms churches,
cafeterias), or the food (donations), or the preparation of the food. The teen volunteers serve the
food. Most of our expense comes in the awards. I believe we spent twelve hundred dollars last
year. Some of them are large framed certificates, and we give quite a few plaques.
"We have so many really dedicated and hard-working volunteers. For any of them to be singled
out as being the epitome of what a Red Cross volunteer should be is something that means a lot
to them," Johanna said. "I talked with two volunteers recently about their awards, each of them
had won the Outstanding Male Volunteer of the Year Award. One of the gentlemen has his
plaque on his wall in such a place that as soon as you open the door to his apartment that is the
first thing you see. The other gentleman, who is a retired businessman who has served on many
boards, is involved with us through a Learn to Swim program. He centered his plaque over his
living room couch. So, the award itself is very prestigious, and it's a very high honor."

To recognize her volunteers, the chapter gives away various types of awards; competitive
awards, top male and the top female volunteer; diversified service volunteer, and new
outstanding volunteers. Awards to organizations and companies are also given. The number of
awards varies from eight to 50. "We give pins, year pins, (five, ten, fifteen twenty) to volunteers
who have been with us those numbers of years. This year, I was just going over the list, we have
66 people who have been active volunteers for five years. That's always the largest category but
it's never been that large before. We give award recognition for people who have given the most
hours in disaster services. Last year's winner was 1,452 hours. Armed Forces volunteers are also
given certificates in recognition of hours of service given. We're retaining people better, and
that's real encouraging."
Recognition goes beyond her organization's frontiers, Johanna said. "It's an ongoing process, and
we nominate them for awards outside of Red Cross. For example, the Jefferson Award is a big
award that is given to five people in about a three or four county area and in the past five years
we've had three winners. In the past two years our youth volunteer has been the winner of the
Youth Volunteer of the Year Award, given by Volunteer Greenville (an arm of the United Way)
and the J.C. Penny Co."
Johanna understands that recognizing and thanking volunteers is one of the most important ways
to keep them. "One of the big things is the awards," said she. "We try to get people recognized in
newspapers and on TV. Every time there's a disaster that's away from here, one that is a national
level disaster, the local TV stations come over and films our national level volunteers as they
drive away in the emergency response vehicle. That's neat, to see us on the news. People feel
valued. We also have a newsletter that comes out four times a year. It's very folksy and it
highlights volunteers and tries to educate the volunteers about what the different areas do. We"re
trying to build a family, so we all need to know who each other are, and what we are doing."