By Kristin Rowan, Editor
The workforce shortage across the country both in and out of home care is creating increasing demand on workers and added stress on organizations. Added to this is the increasing number of older adults living past retirement age. As more and more “boomers” reach that age, more of them are considering aging in place rather than moving to a facility. High turnover rates among care providers also contributes to the workforce shortage for care at home agencies.
One agency has a plan to increase its workforce by 50% by the end of the year. Right at Home, based in Omaha, Nebraska, has more than 700 franchise locations and employs more than 45,000 caregivers. They intend to add 26,000 additional caregivers to address the growing needs of our aging population.
Recruitment and retention issues are not specific to care at home, but the compounding factors of a larger aging population and higher turnover rates make it a pressing issue. It may seem like a lofty goal to increase an already large workforce by another 50% when many businesses are struggling to hire at all. Right at Home has implemented several strategies to reach this goal:
- Preferred partnerships with job boards
- Collaborations with local and national job platforms working directly with franchise owners
- Technology solutions
- Increased efficiencies in the office gives staff more time and energy for hiring and onboarding
- Electronic onboarding resources and automated communication within applicant tracking systems to simplify hiring process
- Engagement platforms to reward and recognize caregivers to lower turnover rates
- Increased efficiencies in the office gives staff more time and energy for hiring and onboarding
- Cultivating an appealing culture
- Becoming the employer of choice in each demographic area
- Breaking down the caregiver experience into micro elements for a better experience for caregivers
- Becoming the employer of choice in each demographic area
Creating partnerships with job boards and using automated processes for hiring are the simplest of these tasks to implement right away. Larger job boards like Indeed and Monster may not be willing to collaborate, but local colleges may be an easier route. They typically have job boards with smaller pools of applicants who are already partitioned into fields of study. No matter the size of your agency, there are technology solutions to reduce the time spent with onboarding and applicant tracking that are cost effective and increase efficiency. If you’re looking for one, we’ve reviewed several over the years.
Cultivating an appealing culture may be more difficult. An appealing culture is subjective and vague. Right at Home mentions breaking down the caregiver experience into micro elements. Even if you know what those micro elements are, improving the experience is the goal but not a plan. In a recent conversation with home care agency owner Bob Roth, he mentioned the difficulties of establishing leadership and creating culture in a dispersed workforce. This topic bears additional scrutiny and we will have some upcoming articles on creating culture in the next few weeks.
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Kristin Rowan has been working at Healthcare at Home: The Rowan Report since 2008. She has a master’s degree in business administration and marketing and runs Girard Marketing Group, a multi-faceted boutique marketing firm specializing in event planning, sales, and marketing strategy. She has recently taken on the role of Editor of The Rowan Report and will add her voice to current Home Care topics as well as marketing tips for home care agencies. Connect with Kristin directly kristin@girardmarketinggroup.com or www.girardmarketinggroup.com
©2024 by The Rowan Report, Peoria, AZ. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in Healthcare at Home: The Rowan Report.homecaretechreport.com One copy may be printed for personal use: further reproduction by permission only. editor@homecaretechreport.com
