Ideas and Best Practices for Retaining Home Caregivers

Thousands of home health care agencies are competing for the services of qualified professionals. The turnover rate is very high and often happens within the first 90 days of employment as home health care givers are looking for that perfect fit. They have many opportunities to choose from.

What are caregivers looking for in an employer?

Flexibility of Schedule

Successful retention of quality home health caregivers depends largely on flexibility an agency can provide in scheduling. Home health caregivers often have difficult work schedules. Working evenings, weekends and holidays are quite common and caregivers’ lives often revolve around their employment. An agency that allows for a flexible schedule will have the greatest chance to retain quality staff for longer periods of time.

Advancement Opportunities

Communicating opportunities and outlining career goals and paths is of utmost importance in retaining quality home caregivers. The pool of prospective employees is a highly motivated one and agencies that engage in career development and taking advantage of an employee’s diversified skill set increases caregiver retention.

Recognition and Feedback

Rewarding and incentivizing caregivers is a very effective strategy in retaining quality staff. This requires tracking employees history of excellent attendance, picking up of open shifts and job performance, and other goals while agencies give rewards and immediate positive feedback is a very successful strategy in retaining high-quality caregivers.

Continuing Education and Training Opportunities

Successful agencies provide access to training tools and a variety of subject matter while also keeping track of staff training hours and accreditations. Also with the advent of Covid-19, the demand for remote training options continues to increase as the crisis prolongs. Workers would It is important for agencies to offer great flexibility in training choices and staff scheduling so that training can be participated in at the convenience of the caregiver.

Competitive Wages and Compensation Options

To retain a high quality health care giver for longer times, their wages must be competitive with other agencies. The generally accepted compensation by agencies for most workers is a bi-weekly payroll schedule. There are recently developed strategies that pay employees not only weekly, but even daily. These strategies require a lot of careful tracking, but agencies have found great success in employee retention.

Teamwork and Communication

Communication is key among all of those involved in a patient’s treatment plan, Success relies on the manner at which a home health caregiver can provide top-notch service with the greatest efficiency. An agency that is in real-time communication and teamwork with the caregiver can instruct and give immediate feedback which is crucial to a patient’s successful care. A caregivers’ continued and consistent success with patients is a great motivator and is key to an agency retaining their skills for longer tenures.

We have explored what quality home caregivers are seeking for employment with successful agencies. An agency that provides flexibility of schedule, opportunities for advancement, training opportunities, recognition, competitive wages and an atmosphere of teamwork has proven successful in employee retention. But how can an agency efficiently and properly manage these tools for success? The answer seems to reside within the advent of  home health care app technology.

Caregiver Retention through Mobile Health Care Apps

Many of the above benefits to caregivers are part of the inherent functionality of home health care apps arriving on the market. They are multi-functional and are growing to address most all pain points within the healthcare sector.  Here, we will review the how these impact and benefit the caregiver.

Scheduling and Mobile Apps

Complex and flexible scheduling of home health caregivers can be accomplished through use of a mobile app. A caregiver can clock in remotely, inform of availability, adjust schedules, track work hours all at the convenience of a mobile app. Agencies that provide an uber-like health care service have an advantage in dispatching staff based on location and need provides greater efficiency. Greater efficiency translates to higher retention.

Communication, Information and Feedback

Agencies that utilize mobile app technology can keep their employees up-to date on goals, job postings, training opportunities and allow feedback from the employees. Through announcements an agency can give immediate recognition to employees and provide motivation for others.

Remote Training Opportunities

With mobile apps, a caregiver can attend trainings, watch training videos and take training tests all with the convenience of a mobile healthcare app. This is a great time-saving and cost effective strategy and the ease of acquiring the required training will help in employee satisfaction and retention.

Payroll Benefits

Mobile App technology can easily and immediately track employees hours which  opens the door for creative payroll strategies such as daily pay.

Teamwork

Utilization of a mobile health care app gives the caregiver immediate communication with other professionals and make them part of a greater treatment team and not have to go it alone which can build confidence and positive relationships to help in retention of quality caregivers.

Successful Retention of your Home Health Agency Caregivers

Mobile app technology is a great tool for agencies to manage all aspects of home health care and provide solutions meet the needs and expectations of quality caregivers. These is a recipe for successful retention and a successful agency.

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