Why RBTs Leave and How Better Training Helps Them Stay
RBT® turnover is one of the most expensive challenges ABA organizations face today. It affects every aspect of the organization, including scheduling stability, clinical quality, supervisory bandwidth, and long-term financial health.
Even as the number of Registered Behavior Technicians continues to grow, ABA clinics still struggle to hire, train, and maintain the RBT numbers needed to meet client demand. According to BACB certificant data, there were 246,109 active RBTs as of January 1, 2026, yet staffing shortages and rapid turnover remain widespread.
A recent qualitative analysis by Nastasi and colleagues (2024) sheds light on the underlying issue: despite the growing number of certified RBTs, many do not stay in their roles long enough to stabilize the workforce. The study highlights the specific factors contributing to RBT burnout and turnover, offering insight into why organizations continue to experience shortages even as the number of certified RBTs climbs. Their findings reinforce a core truth for ABA providers: clinics cannot recruit their way out of RBT turnover, but they can train their way out of it.
Why RBTs Leave: What RBTs Themselves Reported
The themes identified in the Nastasi study offer a clear picture of the factors driving burnout and turnover. When viewed together, they reveal systemic issues within onboarding and early-stage training that executives have the power to change.
What RBTs Said They Needed but Didn’t Receive
Across interviews, RBTs consistently described feeling underprepared for the responsibilities of their role. Nastasi et al. identified several specific gaps that contributed to burnout and early turnover:
- RBTs wanted higher-quality training before delivering services, including exposure to a wider range of clients, settings, and behaviors, and explicit preparation for managing challenging behavior and crisis situations.
- Most training was delivered verbally or through written instructions, even though modeling, rehearsal, and feedback are well-established best practices for building new skills.
- Feeling unprepared or unsupported during early client work led to negative emotional experiences, which participants connected directly to burnout and turnover.
- Participants repeatedly described inadequate supervision practices, including limited feedback, inconsistent availability, and insufficient support during difficult cases.
- Many RBTs noted that BCBAs themselves need more support to provide high-quality supervision, particularly given high caseloads and competing responsibilities.
Collectively, these findings highlight a clear pattern: RBT turnover often stems from preventable gaps in training and supervision, not the nature of the work itself.
The subsections that follow expand on how these experiences contribute to early attrition.
1. RBTs Feel Unprepared for the Realities of the Job
A consistent pattern in the interviews was that new RBTs did not feel adequately prepared for the demands of sessions. Many received minimal in-vivo practice before working independently, often just a day or two of observation.
One participant shared:
“I felt like they just kind of threw me out there. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, and it was horrible.”
— RBT participant, Nastasi et al.
Others noted that they relied more on peer advice than on supervision because structured support was limited. This lack of preparation became a major driver of anxiety, performance errors, and ultimately, early exits.
When employees do not feel competent, they tend to leave.
2. The Work Is Demanding, and Poor Training Intensifies That Stress
The RBT role is inherently challenging. Participants described their work as mentally and physically taxing, especially when managing challenging behavior.
One RBT explained:
“Sometimes clients are there for eight hour days like a job. This can be mentally straining on the RBT.”
— RBT participant, Nastasi et al.
This stress is manageable when employees feel prepared and supported. But when their first real skill acquisition occurs in front of a struggling client, burnout escalates quickly. The mismatch between what training prepared them for and what the job demands erodes confidence from the very beginning.
And when early experiences are overwhelming rather than reinforcing, turnover becomes predictable.
3. The RBT Role Is Often Seen as Temporary, Which Makes the First 90 Days Critical
Many participants described the RBT role as a stepping stone rather than a long-term career. However, the study suggests that the instability of early experiences contributes to that perception.
When onboarding is chaotic or unsupported, the role feels unsustainable. When training is structured, meaningful, and competency based, new hires begin to see ABA as a viable professional path.
Training cannot change the nature of entry-level work, but it absolutely can change a new hire’s trajectory.
4. Pay Matters, but Training Determines Whether Pay Is “Worth It”
Participants acknowledged that pay impacts turnover, yet several reported leaving higher-paying positions to join organizations with better support and supervision.
This reinforces an important point for executives: Compensation retains people only when paired with strong training and support. Otherwise, the job simply does not feel sustainable, regardless of the hourly rate.
The Business Case for Better Training
Executives often underestimate the total cost of turnover. Beyond direct hiring costs, turnover disrupts billable hours, slows client progress, and increases supervisory strain. Onboarding a single RBT typically costs $5,000 to $7,000, and organizations will struggle to recoup their investment if turnover occurs quickly.
Many organizations discover that improving retention has a rapid and significant financial impact. When fewer RBTs leave in their first months, clinics avoid repeated onboarding costs, retain more billable hours, and reduce supervisory strain, allowing training investments to pay for themselves quickly.
Better training reduces the operational and financial drag created by:
- Endless retraining loops
- Extended onboarding timelines
- Supervisor time spent correcting preventable errors
- Client dissatisfaction from inconsistent staffing
- Case disruptions that reduce billable hours
When viewed this way, training is not just an expense. It is one of the most reliable strategies for improving retention.
How Better Training Helps RBTs Stay
Each of the findings described above maps directly onto improvements organizations can implement within their training and supervision systems.
1. Prepared Employees Are More Confident and More Likely to Stay
RBTs who start with strong foundational knowledge, in-vivo practice, and clarity about expectations feel capable and supported. This sense of readiness significantly reduces burnout and turnover.
This directly addresses the finding that RBTs often began client work without sufficient preparation or in-vivo practice.
2. High-Quality Training Creates Faster Independent Competency
Comprehensive, performance-based training sometimes extends the time before an RBT sees their first client. However, this front-loaded investment shortens the ramp to independent, effective work.
By building competency before an RBT steps into a session alone, organizations reduce the need for corrective supervision and accelerate the path to stable performance.
This responds to participants’ reports that verbal and written instruction alone were not enough to help them feel competent during live sessions.
3. Better Training Improves Clinical Outcomes, Which Reinforces Retention
When RBTs see client progress, they experience their work as meaningful and successful. Strong training increases treatment fidelity, reduces crisis incidents, and fosters positive reinforcement for both the employee and the client.
Participants linked their negative early experiences to feelings of ineffectiveness, so training that improves treatment fidelity also reduces the emotional strain associated with turnover.
4. Strong Training Systems Strengthen Supervision
When new hires arrive with consistent foundational skills, supervisors can spend their time developing advanced competencies rather than reteaching basics. This supports BCBA sustainability and reduces the supervisory bottleneck that often contributes to organizational burnout.
This aligns with participants’ comments that supervisors were often unavailable or overwhelmed and needed more support to provide high-quality supervision.
What Executives Can Do Now
Good training is not a luxury. It is a system-level intervention that strengthens staffing, clinical quality, and operational efficiency. Here are actionable next steps:
1. Audit Your Current Training System
Ask:
Do new hires feel ready before working independently
- How much supervisor time is spent on basic skill correction
- Are training outcomes consistent across locations
- Are RBTs staying past ninety days, or do you see frequent early turnover
2. Move From Compliance-Level to Competency-Level Training
A 40-hour course alone cannot prepare RBTs for the realities of clinical work. Compliance-level training meets minimum regulatory requirements, but it does not ensure that new hires can actually perform the skills they learned. Competency-level training focuses on observable performance, modeling, practice, feedback, and demonstrated proficiency before working independently.
RBTs need opportunities to rehearse skills, receive targeted coaching, and build confidence before stepping into sessions alone.
3. Standardize Training Across Your Organization
Consistency reduces variance in quality, minimizes supervisory rework, and ensures that every new hire receives a strong foundation.
4. Make Training Continuous, Not One Time
Ongoing development keeps skills sharp, increases job satisfaction, and supports long-term retention.
Conclusion: Retention Starts With Prepared People
Turnover is not inevitable. It is predictable and preventable.
When RBTs feel competent, supported, and confident from the start, they stay longer, perform better, and contribute to stronger clinical outcomes. Organizations that invest in training are not simply improving onboarding. They are improving sustainability across every level of their workforce.
If training feels expensive, consider the cost of turnover. One is an investment in your people. The other is a recurring expense that drains your organization year after year.
Better training prepares RBTs for the work they were hired to do. Better training helps them stay.