According to the Home Care Bench marking Study, in recent years, the median rate of caregiver turnover has gone up from 39.4% in 2009 to 65.7% in 2017.
The odds are that two third of your caregivers are going to quit their job at your agency next year. Although most home care business owners believe they work hard when it comes to retaining their employees, caregiver turnover remains one of their major threats. While hiring new caregivers is the alternative home care providers always have, they unfortunately hit the panic button when doing so. The panic is usually caused due to the escalating threat of caregiver shortage and caregiver turnover, which is combined with the pressure to quickly fill a shift for a brand-new client who just called. The quick hires often aren’t vetted properly and can hurt the customer experience you have been striving hard to offer. A recent research reveals that more than 80% of caregivers who leave in the first twelve months do so in the first ninety days – leaving your home care clients dissatisfied and you hunting for new caregivers.
To sum up, recruiting top talent – and retaining them – continues to be a balancing act that most home care agencies struggle with. The issue has become an epidemic in the home health care industry and there is a lot of evidence available to support the notion. According to the Home Care Bench marking Study in 2017, 77% of home care providers stated that caregiver shortage is one of the biggest threats to their agency.
With this caregiver crisis spreading nationwide with no end in sight, what’s the solution to this shrinking talent pool?
In a recent poll conducted by Just for CNAs, nurse aides were asked what organizations could do or provide to ensure their loyalty. 99% of the respondents said,”Higher Wages”. Unfortunately, most home healthcare agencies are not able to afford raises often. There are many that even struggle paying their current payroll every month while still providing high quality care services. So, if we keep higher wages off the table, what all can be done to decrease caregiver turnover? Keep reading to find out.
It’s Time for BOLD Thinking!
PHI has long been advocating the “Quality Care through Quality Jobs” model and arguing that a well-trained, robust, and stable workforce is most likely to pay off in lower turnover rates and higher quality care which families can count on. In the current era when the governments, as well as families, seem to tighten their belt, care agencies need to ask themselves many complex questions. Some of these are:
- What do you think makes a quality job in the gig-economy?
- How do you make senior care affordable while ensuring your workers’ income is sufficient for supporting a family?
- What kind of training do caregivers need to meet the complex mental, physical, and emotional needs of seniors wanting to age in place?
- How can in-home caregivers be integrated into the care teams in a better way?
The caregiver crisis is real and it is happening now. Be the solution by showing your team of caregivers how important they are to you and the healthcare world. Do not wait! Start today.