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Let’s dive into the world of home care hiring and retention.
Hey, Rachel Gartner here, founder and CEO of Carework. In this blog today, I will discuss how retention begins with the hiring process itself. Waiting until after a caregiver is hired or close to the 45 or 90-day mark is too late to start thinking about retention. I am going to explore different ways to improve retention by being intentional from the very beginning. So let's jump in and reimagine home care hiring together.
I want to leave you with practical tips for attracting and hiring high-quality caregivers with retention in mind.
Caregiver Retention Tip #1 Positive and Professional Communication:
One crucial aspect of the hiring process that often goes overlooked is the way we communicate with potential caregivers. Over time, some hiring managers may become jaded and unintentionally convey negative expectations. This can inadvertently push away high-quality caregivers who you actually want to hire. To address this, it's important to foster positive and professional communication throughout the hiring process.
Positive and professional communication entails treating every caregiver as if they are your dream hire, This means using warm and friendly language in emails, text messages, and phone screenings.
By creating templates for your communication and imagining your ideal caregiver, you can shape your tone to appeal to the caregivers you genuinely want to attract. Focus on expressing excitement and appreciation for their skills and experience, fostering trust, and building a strong relationship from the start.
This can sound something like this:
Caregiver Retention Tip #2 Crafting A Caregiver-First Processes:
At Carework, we specialize in handling the initial stages of hiring for our clients. We understand the importance of building a caregiver-first process that attracts and retains high-quality caregivers. By working with us, agencies can free up time for their in-house recruiters to focus on caregiver retention, rather than the administrative tasks of hiring.
When developing your hiring process, consider the caregiver experience at every step. From job ads to phone screens, interview invitations, orientation invitations, and paperwork, tailor your communication to appeal to your ideal caregiver.
Ensure that your templates and questions reflect professionalism, respect, and a belief in the caregivers' values. This caregiver-first approach sets the tone for a positive and supportive work environment. Make sure not to expect too much time or effort to put into your agency’s application before the hire.
You want to make this as simple and streamlined of a process as possible.
I want to share one practical tip on this topic.
Jenson Jones and Steven Tweed suggest asking potential hires “How much take-home pay do you need each week?”
Now, you can do the math on taxes in your area and you can share with them at the interview how many hours they need to work and offer a potential schedule that might work for them.
By doing this early in the process, you are demonstrating that you care about them. They see that your agency is able to help them meet their needs and the needs of their family.
Caregiver Retention Tip #3 Your Career Path Is Clear
Another way to foster retention in your agency is to create a PDF that is sent when a caregiver schedules an interview that shows a great career path at your agency. This could be something like a step-by-step road map for advancing in your agency or even something like how your agency can mentor them along their career journey.
This shows the caregiver that you are serious and passionate about the backbone of your agency and that you care for your caregivers. If you have a caregiver who is now an office manager, scheduler, etc, then share their story! Even new agencies have a HUGE advantage in sharing how new hires can be part of the growth from the ground up.
It is so valuable to share how your agency hires from within and that every person in each role has been right where they are. This will attract the type of caregivers who are passionate about their job and serious about home care. Consistently bring this up! Building a culture of future leaders will take you far!
I hope this was helpful and informative and allows you to attract the caregivers who stick with your agency! Stay tuned for more on retention coming your way!