Indiana Direct Service Workforce Investment Grant
Pathfinder Services has long championed the importance of all Direct Service Workforce positions to the state of Indiana. The State has listened, and we anticipate Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) will issue funding sometime in January to support our direct service workforce. These funds are made available through the Indiana Direct Service Workforce Investment Grant, allowing us to receive funds to invest in our Direct Service Workforce. Regardless of position, direct care employees are our organization's backbone, and we are always appreciative of their work and sacrifice for the people we support.
As leaders, we are always trying to make changes to improve the lives of our employees and do what we can when we can. This grant opened an opportunity for us to invest in our employees and aligned well with our People Plan in our updated Recruitment and Retention plan that we shared earlier this month.
We are excited to announce that effective January 2023, we will invest in our Direct Service Workforce in three ways.
- As a part of our long-term strategy, we will be increasing hourly wages. The hourly wage increase will be issued based on increasing DSP, frontline manager, and QIDPs wage scale by $0.50 in January 2023. Our new starting wage for DSPs will be $16.00 an hour; for DSP subs, $15.00 an hour; for Group Home Managers, $19.50 an hour; for Supported Living Managers and QIDPs, $20 an hour. The raise will be effective January 26, 2023.
- To provide immediate support to our workforce, we plan to issue up to $250 attendance bonuses to DSWs. We will issue this bonus monthly beginning in February for the month of January. We will provide attendance bonuses through September or until funds run out.
- To provide immediate support to our workforce, we plan to issue up to $250 monthly bonuses to our substitute DSWs who pick up additional hours. This will help with retention as it will help reduce the pressure on our current staffing so they can utilize their PTO and have a break. We will issue the bonus monthly beginning in February for the month of January. We will provide this bonus through September or until funds run out.
When presented with this opportunity, we knew we needed to do more than just a one-time bonus and create a lasting change that would positively affect DSW’s pocketbooks. The cost of goods and services continues to rise, so an ongoing shift in the wage scale is a priority.
In addition to the wage scale increase, we needed to focus on the short term and listen to our DSWs immediate needs and find positive solutions for the present. For example, DSWs have spoken that attendance and more engaged subs that pick up extra hours are essential to relieve the overtime burden of full-time and part-time DSWs.
When deciding how to use the money to address the current needs, the attendance bonus and DSW substitute extra hours bonus seemed the logical solution. Our full-time and part-time DSWs rely on their co-workers to provide the best support possible, and incentivizing those that show up as scheduled can help. In addition, if more DSW subs picked up extra hours, those regularly scheduled DSWs can use their PTO and gain a better work-life balance.
We are grateful to the state of Indiana and FSSA for providing this opportunity allowing us to invest more in our Direct Service Workforce. Words cannot describe how important all DSWs are and how deserving they are of this investment.
More detailed information on how DSWs can qualify for these bonus opportunities will be coming soon.
