How to Attract and Retain Direct Support Professionals

How organizations can attract direct support professionals has been a topic of discussion for years. Your ability to attract and hire DSPs relies on multiple factors — how much you can pay, your hiring and staff development processes, even market conditions — not all of which are in your control. But, by focusing on 5 factors, you can attract qualified direct support professionals — and retain them.

5 factors to attract and retain direct support professionals

1. Increase wages where possible

Pay and benefits can make it hard to attract direct support professionals to your organization and retain them. DSPs consistently state that pay is one of the biggest reasons for turnover. Yet, it is not always possible for IDD organizations to increase wages. It is, nonetheless, important to understand wages’ impact on DSP hiring and retention.

Where possible, IDD organizations should regularly evaluate whether pay remains competitive in their market and whether their benefits reflect what employees value. Just as importantly, leaders should consider the employee’s overall experience: competitive pay may be less compelling when paired with unpredictable hours, frequent cancellations, or an unsustainable workload.

2. Prioritize training and professional development

Learning shouldn’t end when onboarding does. IDD professionals work in a field that continues to evolve as new research, clinical practices, technologies, and service delivery models emerge. Giving employees ongoing opportunities to build their knowledge and skills can help them stay current while demonstrating that your organization is invested in their future.

For DSPs, access to continuing education can support certification requirements while helping clinicians deepen their expertise and strengthen the services they provide. Role-specific training, coaching, mentorship, and opportunities to develop new competencies can give your staff a clearer sense of how they can continue growing within the organization.

That growth doesn’t have to be limited to clinical skills. Providing training in areas such as communication, giving effective feedback, time management, collaboration, conflict resolution, and people management can help employees develop the skills they need to successfully take on greater responsibility and improve standards of care.

Together, ongoing learning and career development can create visible pathways for employees to grow without having to leave the organization to take their next step. By helping staff see a future for themselves within the organization, IDD leaders can support stronger performance today while building — and retaining — the workforce they will need tomorrow.

3. Balance scheduling and workload

For direct support professionals, the day-to-day realities of scheduling and workload can have a significant impact on employee experience. Demanding client needs, administrative responsibilities, travel, and limited time to complete documentation can leave DSPs feeling stretched thin. When employees consistently feel they don’t have enough time or support to do their jobs well, burnout and turnover can follow.

Leaders can help by taking a closer look at how work is distributed across their teams. For DSPs, that may mean evaluating caseload size and complexity alongside supervision, documentation, caregiver training, and other responsibilities — not simply counting the number of clients assigned. Building manageable workloads can help employees provide high-quality services without making unsustainable demands on their time and energy.

Scheduling also deserves particular attention. Direct support services often need to accommodate clients’ school, work, and family schedules, which can create early-morning, evening, or fragmented workdays for employees. While organizations may not be able to eliminate these challenges, they can look for opportunities to offer greater predictability and flexibility. Consistent hours, advance notice of schedule changes, options that accommodate different availability, and thoughtful management of cancellations can give employees greater stability and control over their work.

4. Provide training to supervisors

Clinical expertise doesn’t automatically translate into effective leadership. In IDD organizations, DSPs may move into supervisory roles because they excel at their clinical responsibilities — but leading, developing, and supporting employees requires an additional set of skills.

Effective supervision goes beyond monitoring performance, meeting requirements, and ensuring that services are delivered appropriately. Supervisors also shape much of an employee’s day-to-day experience with the organization. How they communicate expectations, provide feedback, recognize good work, navigate conflict, and respond when employees need support can influence whether team members feel valued and equipped to succeed.

That makes supervisor development an important part of a strong retention strategy. IDD organizations can provide supervisors with training in areas such as communication, coaching, conflict resolution, relationship building, delivering constructive feedback, and recognizing signs that employees may be struggling. New supervisors may also benefit from ongoing mentorship and opportunities to strengthen their leadership skills over time.

Investing in better supervisors can create a ripple effect across the organization. When managers have the skills they need, they can create a more supportive work environment — one where staff are more likely to feel connected to their teams and see a future with the organization.

5. Improve your hiring

The hiring process presents a unique opportunity to market the benefits you offer to DSPs.

The first step is to improve your interviewing process. Interview questions can help hiring teams understand how candidates have responded to real-world situations and assess qualities that are especially important in client-facing roles. For behavior technicians and other frontline staff, attributes such as compassion, adaptability, communication skills, patience, and a service-oriented mindset can be just as important to long-term success as previous experience.

Hiring should also be a two-way process. Recruiters and hiring managers should give candidates a clear, realistic picture of the organization’s culture and what the job entails — from scheduling and supervision to client interactions and opportunities for growth. Setting transparent expectations gives candidates the information they need to determine whether the organization and role are a good fit for them.

By hiring for the whole person — not simply checking boxes on a résumé — IDD organizations can attract direct support professionals whose skills, expectations, and values are better aligned with the work and the organization, creating a stronger foundation for long-term retention.

Frequently Asked Questions about attracting direct support professionals

1. How can IDD organizations attract direct support professionals?

IDD organizations can attract direct support professionals (DSPs) by offering competitive compensation, clearly communicating the impact of the role, simplifying the application process, and building a strong employee experience. Recruitment messaging should give candidates an accurate picture of the job while highlighting meaningful work, professional development, supportive leadership, and opportunities for advancement.

2. What do direct support professionals look for in an employer?

Direct support professionals often look for competitive pay and benefits, predictable scheduling, supportive supervisors, adequate training, manageable workloads, and opportunities to grow. Just as importantly, DSPs want to feel respected and valued for the essential work they perform. Organizations that demonstrate appreciation throughout the employee experience can strengthen both recruitment and retention.

3. How can organizations improve DSP job postings?

Effective DSP job postings should be clear, specific, and candidate-focused. Include the pay range, benefits, scheduling expectations, qualifications, primary responsibilities, and what candidates can expect from the workplace. Avoid jargon and lengthy lists of requirements. Instead, explain why the work matters and what makes your organization a compelling place to build a career.

4. Where should organizations recruit direct support professionals?

Organizations can recruit DSPs through a mix of online job boards, social media, employee referral programs, community partnerships, career fairs, schools, and local workforce organizations. Tracking which sources produce qualified applicants and eventual hires can help organizations focus recruiting resources on the channels that deliver the best results.

5. Why is it difficult to recruit direct support professionals?

That lets you explain the combination of wages/reimbursement constraints, competition for frontline workers, demanding work, scheduling, and lack of awareness about DSP careers. It also creates another natural opportunity for authoritative citations.