How Mid South Rehab Services Turned Employee Feedback Into Retention Gains

Mid South Rehab Services, Inc. is one of the largest privately owned therapy organizations in the South, with approximately 350 full-time employees working across 106 facilities in four states. As the organization grew, leaders needed a more reliable and efficient way to understand employee experience, strengthen onboarding, and support retention across a widely distributed workforce.

“I had everything done and ready to distribute in three weeks, and it was taking me three months before.” – Dan Ridley, Director of Employee Retention, Mid South Rehab Services

The challenge

Before Relias, Mid South Rehab Services relied on SurveyMonkey and manual spreadsheet analysis to manage its employee surveys. Quarterly surveys required extensive data extraction, while annual engagement survey reporting could take up to three months to complete.

The 92-question annual survey also created survey fatigue and generated more data than leaders could realistically use. Questions about reliability and validity made it harder to track sentiment over time, and delayed reporting limited leadership’s ability to act on feedback when it mattered most.

Much of the team’s effort went into organizing results rather than applying them to improve the employee experience.

Mounting frustration creates a need for change

There was no single dramatic event. Instead, frustration grew as survey administration consumed more time and delayed the delivery of useful insights.

The annual engagement survey became the clearest catalyst. Although full annual reporting could take as long as three months, even getting initial data to employees could take a month. “It was taking me a month to be able to get data out to our people,” Ridley explained. “And because some of that data was used for performance evaluations, that month turnaround just couldn’t happen.”

Leadership also recognized that asking employees to complete 92 questions created an unnecessary burden without consistently producing actionable value.

Partnering with Relias to simplify employee listening

A small leadership group — including Ridley, the CEO, and Vice President of Operations Mark Buckley — evaluated alternatives. The team prioritized simpler administration, reliable data, year-over-year comparisons, faster analysis, and more meaningful employee engagement measurement.

Mid South Rehab Services selected the Relias employee experience system to improve survey design, automate analysis, and give leaders clearer visibility into employee feedback. A dedicated Relias team member worked closely with the organization to configure reporting, train users, and create executive-ready insight packages.

“She has been there for us every single step of the way,” Ridley said.

From cumbersome surveys to actionable facility-level insights

With Relias, Mid South Rehab Services redesigned its employee engagement program. The organization reduced its annual survey from 92 questions to 32, established year-over-year comparisons, streamlined executive reporting, and made results available at the individual facility level.

The impact was immediate. Reporting that once took approximately three months was completed in three weeks, a 75% reduction in turnaround time. Leaders across 106 locations gained faster access to reliable, actionable employee insights, while HR reclaimed time for more strategic work.

“We completely retooled our new employee orientation based on the feedback that we got from the survey,” Ridley said.

Turning employee feedback into sustained retention improvements

Faster reporting allowed Mid South Rehab Services to move beyond collecting feedback and begin using it to guide organizational decisions. Changes to new employee orientation helped satisfaction scores rise from approximately ~78% to ~92%.

The organization also reduced attrition from 24% to 16% in the first year — a ~35% decrease. Through the first two quarters of the following year, attrition was tracking at ~7%, keeping the organization on pace to finish below 15%.

Although survey insights were one part of a broader retention strategy, the employee listening program gave leaders stronger evidence for decisions, increased executive engagement with feedback, and improved confidence in the validity and reliability of the data.

Building on the momentum

Mid South Rehab Services plans to continue strengthening its employee experience strategy by benchmarking results against similar therapy organizations, expanding recognition and rewards programs, and making greater use of additional Relias capabilities.

By replacing a slow, manual process with a focused employee listening program, the organization has created a faster path from feedback to action — helping leaders improve onboarding, support retention, and stay connected to employees across every facility.

Measurable Outcomes

35% reduction in attrition

13-point increase in onboarding satisfaction, rising from ~78% to ~92%

75% faster reporting, reducing the survey reporting cycle from ~3 months to ~3 weeks

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