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Subgroups
The evaluation randomly assigned 44 employers and firms (as opposed to employees); half were assigned to the intervention group, and half were assigned to the comparison group from September 2002 to May 2004. Employers and firms in the nursing sector were targeted because of the high turnover rates in the long-term nursing industry. To be eligible for random assignment, employers and firms needed to have employed at least 15 workers earning less than $13 per hour and hired within the past six months. All 44 employers and firms were retained in the study. The unit of analysis was employees. After the evaluation identified firms (but before random assignment), the authors conducted research information sessions at each employer to invite employees to participate. A total of 697 employees consented to participate and were included in the study. The intervention group included 381 employees from 22 firms and the comparison group included 316 employees and 22 firms. Participants were eligible for the 12-month survey if they were 18 years or older at the time of random assignment, spoke English or Spanish, worked in the health care industry (two manufacturing firms were excluded from the survey), and were still working for their original random assignment employer. All 656 eligible participants were chosen to participate in the survey, and a total of 485 participants completed the survey (260 in the intervention condition and 225 in the comparison condition).
Employers were recruited between early 2002 and mid-2004 and were randomly assigned to each condition in waves. Outcome data were collected two years after random assignment.
The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation in ACF at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funded the study, with support from the U.S. Department of Labor.
Employers and firms were small to medium-sized (40 percent had 150 to 200 employees). Most employers and firms had a high turnover rate and offered an Employee Assistance Program; about a quarter of the employers were unionized. Most employees (82 percent) were female; about 56 percent were Black and non-Hispanic; about 73 percent had a high school diploma, GED, or higher; and the average wage was less than $9 per hour.
Towards Employment
The Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project was launched in 1999 and was expected to end in 2009. The Achieve program was piloted in 2001 with five employers before becoming part of the ERA evaluation.
The Achieve program was designed to help low-wage employees retain jobs. Run by a community-based social services organization, the program delivered services in the workplace and consisted of three components: case management, weekly life-skills learning sessions, and training for supervisors. Staff met individually with clients to discuss workplace and housing problems as well as transportation and child care concerns. Weekly sessions and workshops addressed topics such as time management, goal setting, budgeting, and credit repair. The program also trained the supervisors of low-wage workers.
Employers and their workers in the comparison condition did not have access to Achieve services but could have received other employment services available in the community.
None.
Services were offered to participating employers for one year.
Public- and private-sector funding.
Services were provided to employees at their workplace in the Cleveland area.
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revised the 'intervention' field to "Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) - Cleveland"