Why Don’t Caregivers Apply to Your Home Care Jobs? Scheduling Flexibility.

So, what do caregivers really think of your Home Care Agency?

Augusta has been interviewing caregivers throughout the caregiver shortage so we could get a better understanding of what the caregiver’s perspective is during these times.

Here are the top 10 reasons why caregivers don’t apply to your jobs. This post covers reason #2.

Caregivers want true flexibility.

“ Flexible scheduling is the first lie they tell you. They (Agencies) say they’re flexible but they do not really mean it. They don’t understand that we have someone to take care of at home. They make you feel bad for calling out or having limited hours. They will accept it during the interview but when it comes to the schedulers they don’t care about what you have going on at home. That is why I quit the last agency I worked for and became an independent caregiver.” - Caregiver

Scheduling flexibility is one of the top concerns of caregivers in today’s workforce, as McKinsey and Company identified with job seeker personas in a 2022 article. The current personas in the job market that are a great fit to become a caregiver at your home care agency are, in fact, already caregivers themselves. And, they have families and their own caregiving duties that need to be attended to. Your ideal caregivers to recruit need scheduling flexibility to work around their own lives. We wrote about that in our other post here.

In addition to the general population of job seekers today, experienced caregivers are aware of the seperation between the person conducting their interview to those who have the power to schedule their work hours. As a home care operator you need to assess your workforce and look for the holes in your on-boarding funnel.

𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠? Do your schedulers really know the caregivers working hours? How do they react when a caregiver says they cannot accept a shift outside of their pre-set schedule?

𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 “𝐅𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞” 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐧. But 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 benefit since their workforce is spread thin (especially more so now due to the caregiver shortage).

So before you state this as a benefit, I would make sure you can actually offer true flexibility for caregivers.

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 since many do not have a robust workforce that is able to pick up another caregivers schedule.

𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 “𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐥” 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬; some agencies have created full-time float teams to cover deficiencies in staffing, allowing other caregivers to take time off when needed.

𝐀𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 “𝐉𝐨𝐛 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠” 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬. Some agencies encourage caregivers to team up for clients they have in common so they can communicate with each other the days they are not going to be able to attend their shifts. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦.

𝐈𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞. If you are a small or big agency, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐠𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭. So before you post “flexible schedule” on your next job postings, 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬.

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