Fireside Chat: Outside the Box Tactics to Attract and Retain Caregivers with Jennifer Lagemann
Cliff notes on the Fireside Chat with Jennifer Lagemann, Founder of NextJennCopy, for busy home care agency owners below!
Surprising techniques to attract more caregivers and bringing new entrants into the field
A lot of job descriptions target caregivers with extensive experience. There are a wide variety of backgrounds that offer transferable skills.
Fast food chains give 90 minute training on how to make french fries. How much is your agency investing in the training and education of your caregiving team? Especially for new entrants to our industry? What can we learn from other industries about how they equip and train employees? The reality is most agencies do not spend enough time training their caregivers.
New entrants to the field add even more value to your clients. Caregivers who are new to the field have a plethora of other experiences that they share with your clients. A new caregiver who has had other experiences can share their story with your clients and connect with them on a deeper level.
Out of the box benefits that your home care agency can actually afford. A few ideas for agency owners:
Consider joining with other local home care agency owners and other local businesses to get discounts for your caregivers.
For example, you can create partnerships with a local car repair businesses? Perhaps you can negotiate a discount for your caregivers but also save the day if their car breaks down.
In our industry we don’t usually honor the grief that a caregiver goes through when their client passes away. What benefits and support does your agency offer for grieving caregivers?
When a client passes away, it’s a pivotal point in the relationship between the caregiver and the client. Offering bereavement leave for a caregiver when their client passes away can be a low-cost way to honor and dignify the emotional labor that the caregiver has invested in their client.
Why don’t caregivers refer your jobs to their friends? If your wages and compensation don’t meet their caregiver’s basic needs then they may feel ashamed about referring the job to someone else because they don’t want to admit how much money they’re making. Do market research to ensure that your caregiver wages are as aggressive as you can make them to secure top talent and get referrals.
White Glove Customer Service for Caregivers
Some statistics show that agencies take up to 10 days to get back to a caregiver when they apply. It’s simply too long.
Make sure that all applications are responded to immediately - within hours, not days. Even if the message is just a simple response that the application has been received and we’ll follow up soon.
Everyone you meet is someone you might be able to do business with. Whether they are a potential caregiver, customer or referral, they may not always be someone that you work with right now, but it could be tomorrow or next year.
The “great quit” that’s happening in the US economy right now is partially a contagious sentiment among workers. People hear people they know quitting and wonder if they should do it, too. But the contagiousness of quitting or starting a new job can go the other way as well. If you’re positive and treat everyone with respect, that can have amplifying effects.
Final thoughts
Put all applicants on the same playing field.
CNAs are amazing, but CNA classes are really geared towards long term care settings.
Home care caregivers work is different than a typical CNA. Home care caregivers get to spend a large amount of quality time communicating with and getting to know their client. This means people with varying backgrounds in addition to CNA will be a good fit to care for your clients.
If you like this content, check out other blog posts with tips and techniques for home care agency owners here:
