Training Strategies to Mitigate Residential Youth Care Employee Turnover and Increase Care Quality

High employee turnover in residential youth care facilities has the potential to decrease the accomplishment of the facilities’ organizational goals. Business owners are concerned with employee intent to leave, as it is the number-one predictor of employee turnover. Grounded in job embeddedness theory, this qualitative pragmatic inquiry was conducted to explore training strategies some residential facility leaders use to mitigate employee turnover and increase care quality. The study participants were eight residential youth care leaders in the state of Michigan who use successful strategies to mitigate employee turnover in residential youth care facilities. Data were collected using semistructured interviews. Through thematic analysis of the data collected, four major themes emerged: (a) staff training to understand their roles, (b) training for competence and confidence, (c) leadership learning to develop supervisor support, and (d) learning ways to recognize employees. A key recommendation for facility leaders is to re-create training situations that resemble the real-world challenges staff will meet in actual homes. The implications for positive social change include maintaining an acceptable number of residential employees so they can help youth work through issues, so the youth can be psychologically, emotionally, and physically healthy individuals who contribute to society in a positive way.