Turnover in ABA is not just a staffing problem. It is a clinical one. Every time an RBT® leaves, a learner loses consistency, and families lose trust.
In a recent episode of In the Field: The ABA Podcast, I sat down with Holli Beth Clauser, founder of ABA C.A.R.E.S. Staffing, creator of the ABA C.A.R.E.S. Conference, and host of The People Contingency Podcast. Holli brings deep experience across roles—from RBT® to recruiter to operations consultant—and she is driven by one clear goal: helping ABA organizations strengthen the systems that support their people.
We talked about ethical recruiting, retention-first hiring, and why every step of the employee experience, from the first interview to the last day on the job, reflects your organization’s values.
When Holli first transitioned from direct care to training and operations, she noticed a troubling pattern: new hires arrived at orientation with no idea what ABA work actually entailed. Many had been told it was “working with kids” without any mention of data collection, behavior plans, or the physical and emotional demands of the job.
Instead of blaming trainees, Holli began reaching out to recruiters and HR staff to ask, “What were they told before they got here?” That curiosity led to her founding ABA C.A.R.E.S. Staffing, where she helps organizations reimagine recruiting as education, not sales.
She views the recruiter’s role as partly instructional:
Educate candidates early about what ABA really is and what it demands.
Encourage honest reflection about whether the timing and responsibilities fit their life.
Connect expectations to impact, reminding candidates that consistency matters deeply to learners.
This kind of transparency might reduce applicant volume, but it improves retention. As Holli says, “Our turnover is already high. If honesty filters out mismatched candidates, that’s a win.”
Holli’s approach to “retention-first hiring” starts long before onboarding. Organizations must first clarify their own identity—values, mission, and culture—then hire people who truly fit.
She challenges ABA leaders to ask:
What do we offer employees that aligns with our mission?
What skills or traits lead to success in our specific environment?
Are we hiring for alignment or just availability?
Clarity benefits everyone. Candidates know what to expect, and recruiters can assess fit based on behavior and motivation rather than guesswork.
Retention-first hiring also means being honest about organizational constraints. If your BCBAs® are only available for supervision certain days or if hours fluctuate seasonally, share that. It is far better to lose a candidate than to lose a client’s trust when staffing breaks down.
As a behavior analyst at heart, Holli brings data into every staffing conversation. Recruiting, she argues, should be guided by measurable indicators rather than instinct.
Some of the data points she recommends tracking include:
Response latency between when onboarding paperwork is assigned and completed.
Time to competency (how long it takes new hires to finish RBT® training and pass the exam).
Attendance data for training and first 90 days on the job.
Retention intervals (3 months, 6 months, 12 months).
Feedback frequency and satisfaction from new hires and supervisors.
By analyzing patterns, organizations can identify which recruiters, onboarding processes, or training styles yield better outcomes. It transforms hiring from guesswork into behavior analysis.
One of the biggest contributors to turnover, Holli says, is lack of communication between departments. Recruiters, clinical directors, and operations teams often work in isolation, each with different goals and reinforcement systems.
For example:
Recruiters may be reinforced for the number of hires, not retention.
Clinical teams may be frustrated with underprepared new staff.
HR may focus on compliance rather than culture.
The solution is collaboration and shared definitions of “quality.” Holli encourages organizations to hold joint meetings where leaders define:
What does a “good hire” look like?
How do we measure onboarding success?
What feedback systems connect recruiting data to clinical outcomes?
When everyone operates from the same contingencies, hiring becomes a shared mission instead of a source of blame.
Many ABA organizations operate in survival mode, rushing to fill roles to meet service hours. Holli compares this to grocery shopping when you are starving—you grab whatever you can find, only to realize later that nothing fits together.
Reactive hiring leads to:
Staff who are unprepared or mismatched.
Higher turnover and retraining costs.
Frustrated families and disrupted services.
Burnout for supervisors constantly retraining new hires.
Intentional workforce planning, even in small organizations, prevents that cycle. Leaders should forecast upcoming needs, understand client demographics, and proactively build pipelines of qualified candidates.
Culture is communicated through behavior, not slogans. Holli shared stories of how seemingly small actions reveal an organization’s true values.
In one workplace, she noticed that only BCBAs® received birthday celebrations with elaborate cakes, while RBTs® and admin staff were excluded. It was not about cake—it was about belonging. Those subtle signals communicate who is valued and who is invisible.
Ethical leadership means designing reinforcement systems that recognize everyone’s contribution. Whether through inclusive recognition events, transparent communication, or equitable professional development, culture is the daily behavior of your organization—not the words printed on a mug.
Holli points out that many ABA companies lack a strong HR function. This absence leaves supervisors juggling compliance, performance management, and employee relations without proper training.
A competent HR leader should:
Monitor equity and fairness in policies.
Support supervisors in feedback and documentation.
Coordinate professional development and recognition systems.
Serve as a neutral party for conflict resolution.
In short, HR is not bureaucracy—it is behavior analysis applied to the organization.
Retention is not just about keeping staff longer. It is about building systems that help them thrive. Holli emphasizes that consistency, communication, and collaboration are preventive measures against burnout.
She likens strong workforce systems to the Mayo Clinic model: interdisciplinary teams working together toward a single outcome. By bringing clinical, operational, and HR perspectives together regularly, organizations can detect early signs of stress, role misalignment, or procedural drift—just as behavior analysts do with their clients.
Holli’s work extends beyond staffing into leadership development. Through the ABA C.A.R.E.S. Conference, she creates a space for ABA professionals to tackle the “people side” of the field—staffing, culture, advocacy, and systems.
Unlike traditional conferences focused solely on clinical practices, the C.A.R.E.S. Summit emphasizes collaboration, practical tools, and accountability. Attendees leave not only inspired but equipped with tangible deliverables, such as templates, checklists, and workshop outcomes they can use immediately.
New this year, Holli is piloting pre-conference podcast episodes and curated offsite workshops to help teams prepare, reflect, and act on what they learn. The goal is simple: turn insight into sustained organizational change.
For leaders looking to strengthen recruitment and retention, Holli suggests starting with these steps:
Audit your hiring messages. Are they transparent, accurate, and aligned with your organizational reality?
Track the right metrics. Look beyond number of hires and measure completion rates, attendance, and retention.
Build bridges across teams. Hold joint HR, clinical, and operations meetings to align goals and contingencies.
Celebrate inclusively. Examine how your reinforcement systems reflect who and what you value.
Invest in your recruiters. Hire or train people who understand ABA and value long-term relationships over short-term quotas.
These steps may feel small, but they create ripple effects that improve staff satisfaction, client outcomes, and organizational stability.
At its core, Holli’s message is about sustainability. The same science that guides effective teaching can guide ethical business practice. By applying data analysis, reinforcement, and transparency to our people systems, we can create workplaces that serve both staff and clients better.
As Holli put it, “Recruiting is not just about filling hours. It is about building environments where people can thrive.”
Retention begins before hiring—clarity and transparency prevent turnover.
Recruiting should educate candidates, not sell them.
Data, collaboration, and ethical communication strengthen every system.
Culture is reinforced by daily behavior, not mission statements.
Sustainable staffing depends on consistent systems and shared accountability.
LinkedIn: Holli Beth Clauser
Website: ABA C.A.R.E.S. Staffing
Podcast: The People Contingency
Email: info@abacaresstaffing.com
Turnover, burnout, and culture are not separate from clinical quality—they are the foundation of it. To hear the full conversation with Holli Beth Clauser, listen to this episode of In the Field: The ABA Podcast.
For more tools and resources on supervision, training, and professional development, visit Sidekick Learning.