Substance use disorder counselors’ job performance and turnover after 1 year: Linear or curvilinear relationship?

The main goals of the current study were to investigate whether there are linear or curvilinear relationships between substance use disorder counselors’ job performance and actual turnover after 1 year utilizing four indicators of job performance and three turnover statuses (voluntary, involuntary, and no turnover as the reference group). Analyzing longitudinal data collected in 2007 and 2008 as part of the Managing Effective Relationships in Treatment Services (MERITS I) project, a CTN platform study, results indicated that overall, counselors with lower job performance are more likely to turn over voluntarily and involuntarily than not to turn over. Further, one of the job performance measures shows a significant curvilinear effect.

Conclusions: The negative consequences often assumed to be “caused” by counselor turnover may be overstated because those who leave both voluntarily and involuntarily demonstrate generally lower performance than those who remain employed at their treatment program. These findings underscore the importance in investing in recruitment, selection, and training in SUD treatment in an effort to reduce the costs of turnover and increase the likelihood of successful hires that will perform well and remain employed at the treatment organization.