A DIRECT SUPPORT PROFESSIONAL IS A SKILLED POSITION, CRITICAL TO THE PROVINCE Providing holistic support to a person experiencing disability demands a workforce that has a combination of both technical and interpersonal skills.
Employees often work alone which poses additional risks and requires sound judgment.
Employees are responsible to ensure that people experiencing disability are healthy, safe, and leading fulfilling lives in their community.
Disability Support Professionals’ work is physically strenuous. It often involves lifting and moving people in the performance of daily activities, such as bathing and assisting with mobility.
Direct Support Professionals are the first response of physical and mental health services in both routine and crisis situations. This requires them to administer and document medications; perform specialized procedures (ex. insulin, tube feeds, catheters); navigate the health care system; advocate for and connect their clients to basic medical, specialist, and therapeutic appointments; and be the first responder in emergency situations. Employees require skills to be able to identify triggers and solutions for challenging and potentially harmful or dangerous behaviours.
Employees must be proficient in communication and documentation skills, as they are required to understand and convey complex medical information, skill development, goals progress, and behavioural analysis; they deal with an enormous burden of paperwork essential to regulatory compliance. It is an awesome responsibility to play a supporting role for people as they make very personal and sometimes complex decisions about their own lives.
Direct Support Professionals are supporting people’s lives. The Government of Saskatchewan needs to support the professionalism of this sector in order to fulfill the principles and recommendations contained within the Saskatchewan Disability Strategy.
THE ISSUE Employee turnover in the Disability Service sector continues to increase, causing staff to feel burnt out, under-supported, resulting in a decline in supports for clients. In 2019, turnover was reported at 26%. Although turnover is expected in all sectors, healthy turnover is around 10%, making this much too high! A leading cause of employee turnover is dissatisfaction with wages. Without proper mechanisms in place to keep pace with equivalent jobs in other sectors, the costs are great: • Employees leaving to take similar jobs that pay better, primarily Continuing Care Assistant positions in the health sector, which pay more. • Employers bearing the financial costs related to continual recruitment, orientation, and high overtime required by remaining staff to fill shifts. • Staff shortages leading to burnout and personal stress that spreads into staff family life, and creates overall low morale. • Clients subjected to a revolving door of support staff and the indignity that entails. If these issues are not addressed from a systemic perspective, the sector will continue to be plagued with recruitment and retention challenges, with people experiencing disability paying the highest price.
Did you know that a 26% turnover rate means that people experiencing disability will have approximately 1000 Direct Support Professionals providing intimate and personal care over the course of their lifetime?
WHAT WE ARE ASKING THE GOVERNMENT TO DO: 1. Stop losing ground! Stay on track with the multi-year plan by providing a mid-year investment in 2019/20. 2. Follow through with the rest of the multi-year plan by committing required investments in 2020/21 and subsequent years. These planned investments over three years will raise Direct Support Professionals’ wages to the level of a Continuing Care Assistant in order to respect the complexity and responsibility of the role and stop the migration of staff to the “better paying sector”. The multiyear plan will also ensure that SARC Member Agencies have the resources to establish sustainable compensation grids that foster employee retention at all levels and career progression. 3. Increase employee benefits funding to 19% in order to recognize true costs, eliminate wage dilution and remain competitive.