We love to say it’s not about the money.
And then we watch RBTs leave for an extra dollar an hour and conclude that it was, in fact, about the money.
But here’s what we’re missing: for many RBTs in their first or second job, no one’s ever walked them through what those numbers actually mean for their paycheck. And that’s not on them. That’s on us—recruiters, hiring managers, and organizations who assume people know things we never taught them.
Dr. Manny Rodriguez has spent over 20 years studying how organizations actually work. As both an OBM expert and Clinical Director at Puzzle Box Academy, he’s not theorizing from the sidelines. He’s living in the same workforce chaos the rest of us are navigating.
On a recent episode of The People Contingency, Manny described something I see constantly in my consulting work: organizations that expect RBTs to make informed career decisions without ever giving them the information to do so. They haven’t learned to evaluate total compensation, schedule stability, or the hidden costs of “higher” hourly rates.
We’re Competing on the Wrong Variable
In Florida, RBTs make anywhere from $17 to $30 an hour depending on the provider. That’s a massive range. And the natural instinct is to assume that whoever pays more wins.
But we know that doesn’t tell the full story.
For example, even though Manny offers his staff slightly lower hourly rates, he guarantees 37 to 40 hours a week. No paycheck fluctuation.
Meanwhile, the provider offering $30 an hour might only give 20 hours of work.
But here’s the thing: that math isn’t obvious if you don’t take the time to dissect all offers. And in my experience, that candidate education needs to start before the hire.
This is where recruiters become more than gatekeepers. They become allies. When I’ve trained recruiting teams to walk candidates through total compensation—not just hourly rate, but guaranteed hours, cancellation policies, benefits, schedule predictability—we’ve seen dramatic improvements in 90-day retention even in the organizations who don’t offer those perks.
Not because we found “better” candidates. Because we helped candidates make better decisions for themselves.
If someone is going to leave in 60 days because the schedule instability doesn’t work for their life, I’d rather they figure that out before they accept the offer.
And once they’re hired? The employer’s job is to keep educating. Manny spends time walking his staff through financial literacy.
So here’s something to consider: Are we losing people to competitors, or are we losing them because we never helped them understand what we’re actually offering?
The Turnover We Should Stop Fighting
Not all turnover is a failure.
Manny distinguishes between what he calls “acceptable” and “unacceptable” turnover. And the distinction matters more than most leaders realize.
Acceptable turnover is the RBT going to nursing school. The staff member relocating.
“You want people to grow professionally into the world that they want to live in,” Manny says. “If you want to be a nurse, be a nurse.”
Fighting this kind of departure wouldn’t be good for the staff, the client or your organization. Instead, publicly support them and celebrate their new focus in life.
Use your energy on the real problem which is unacceptable turnover. The reasons we either don’t want to hear or should have caught earlier.
I like the example Manny used from Puzzle Box’s exit interviews which in my opinion nobody talks about enough: constant change.
New policies. New procedures. New BCBAs. New methods.
Organizations frame this as growth. Employees experience it as chaos.
I’ve watched this play out more times than I can count. An organization implements a new scheduling system, a new documentation process, and a new supervision structure and announces it almost in real time instead of layering in the processing, the buy-in and the proactive questions and problem solving.
When we skip that work, we pay for it in turnover. And then we blame the people who left for not being “adaptable.” But we can do better if we bake this into the process.
The Guardrails Problem
I asked Manny about performance issues—the gray areas where someone isn’t clearly fireable but also isn’t meeting expectations.
His answer aligned with everything I’ve seen in the field: the problem usually isn’t the employee. It’s the organization’s failure to define clear boundaries.
“If you have a supervisor who doesn’t know where those limits are, it’s not the supervisor’s fault.”
When guardrails are vague, supervisors default to personal discretion. One is lenient. Another is strict. Employees notice the inconsistency. It breeds resentment, confusion, and eventually, exits.
I saw this firsthand in one organization where the data showed RBTs were leaving—supposedly for “committing fraud.” But when we actually dug into the system, they hadn’t been trained on how to accurately manage their documentation. It wasn’t a character problem. It was a training gap that the organization had never closed.
The stats made it look like we had dishonest employees. What we actually had was a broken system producing predictable failures.
Manny compares it to sports. The rules are clear. What’s in bounds? What’s out? What constitutes winning? Players know where they stand.
Organizations need the same clarity. Not just policies buried in a handbook but actual, operationalized expectations that every supervisor can apply consistently.
Before You Blame the Person, Check the System
Manny recommends using the Performance Diagnostic Checklist not just to diagnose problems, but to test whether you’ve actually done everything you should before concluding someone isn’t a fit. I’ve used similar frameworks—like Mager’s performance analysis—and what usually emerges is the same uncomfortable truth: most performance problems trace back to something the organization failed to provide.
Clear expectations. Proper training. Adequate resources. Real supervision.
Have you exhausted every environmental variable? Have you provided the antecedents, the feedback, the support?
If not, the problem isn’t the person. It’s the system.
And if you have—if you’ve genuinely done everything—then maybe it’s just not the right fit. That’s not failure either. Sometimes the kindest thing you can do for someone is acknowledge that this role isn’t serving them.
The Free Strategy We Keep Ignoring
Manny invoked the late Dr. Aubrey Daniels multiple times during our conversation. One thing Daniels preached until the end: never underestimate the power of social reinforcement.
“None of that has to do with bonuses,” Manny emphasized. “None of that has to do with performance appraisals. It’s just social feedback.”
When was the last time you sat down with a staff member and asked how things are really going?
When did you follow up after a corrective action to acknowledge improvement?
When did you tell someone—not in a formal review, just in passing—that they’re doing a good job?
These moments cost nothing. And they compound.
I’ve seen BCBAs take significant pay cuts to work somewhere they felt supported. The environment shapes behavior—including the decision to stay or leave.
At Puzzle Box, they’ve built this into their rhythm. Monthly check-ins. HR visits to each location every two weeks just to ask how people are feeling. Potlucks that have become beloved rituals.
The Question Nobody’s Asking
Here’s a stat that should humble every leader: when supervisors are asked why someone quit, they point to money 81% of the time.
But employees actually leave for money less than 20% of the time.
We’re guessing. And we’re guessing wrong.
Maybe it’s because we’re not asking the right questions or not asking them early enough.
Manny’s team does something simple: they check in. Not exit interviews after the decision is made. Regular conversations while people are still there.
How’s your personal life? Are you getting the support you need? Do you feel like your concerns are being addressed?
It’s not a stay interview with a formal name. It’s just asking.
And here’s what we need to remember: in ABA, turnover isn’t just an HR metric. It’s a clinical reality.
Every time an RBT leaves, a child loses a trusted adult. For kids with autism who already struggle with change, this isn’t inconvenient—it can be destabilizing. Families have to start over. Re-explain their child. Re-build rapport. Re-start progress that took months to achieve.
As someone who is both autistic and a parent, this hits differently for me. We’re creating abandonment patterns in children who already struggle with attachment. We’re reinforcing that people leave, relationships end, and trust is dangerous.
That’s not a staffing problem. That’s a quality of care problem. And until we acknowledge this reality, we’ll keep treating turnover like an HR inconvenience instead of the clinical crisis it actually is.
Manny’s tip for this week: Write down the names of everyone you want to reconnect with. Staff. Colleagues. People you haven’t talked to in a while. Find five minutes for each of them within the next week.
“It’s a people business,” he reminded me. “Keeping those connections strong is what drives everything we do.”
The Choice We’re Making
Every day we accept turnover as inevitable, we’re making a choice.
We’re choosing not to educate candidates on what we’re actually offering.
We’re choosing not to manage change with intention.
We’re choosing not to define clear expectations.
We’re choosing not to show up for the people who show up for us.
That’s not a workforce problem. That’s a leadership problem.
And the good news? It’s within our control to fix.
“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.” – Joel A. Barker
Want to hear the full conversation?
Listen to Dr. Manny Rodriguez on The People Contingency podcast. He walks through practical frameworks for diagnosing performance issues, building supportive environments, and creating the conditions where people actually want to stay.
Dr. Manny Rodriguez is Director of Strategic Growth and Clinical Director at Puzzle Box Academy and author of OBM Applied Quick Wins, OBM Entrepreneur, and Organizational Behavior Management. Connect with him on LinkedIn.