RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF PSYCHOSOCIAL REHABILITATION WORKERS

Recruitment and retention of direct service workers can be a major pro blem for administrators of community mental health organizations. This paper, based on a nationwide study of psychosocial rehabilitation wor kers and administrators, examines the congruity of worker and administ rator perceptions of worker motivation for entering and leaving the fi eld. Workers are motivated by the intrinsic nature of the work to ente r into and stay in the field. Job burnout is as important as low pay i n forcing workers out of the field. Administrators, however, perceive money to be a major factor motivating workers to enter the field and p erceive external opportunities as forces that pull them away. Thus, ad ministrators must address their workers' needs if their agencies are t o offer quality services.