Recruitment & Retention Trends

The biggest challenge I hear from agencies about Caregiver recruitment is trying to find the “right” Caregiver. Often times when I ask what the right Caregiver or CNA looks like, I’m met with a laundry list of things the agency would like a Caregiver to be. Things like a CPR certification, 2+ years of experience, and having car insurance are common ones I hear. In an earlier post we covered how your market could be bigger than you think, and based on the feedback we got it seemed fitting to dive deeper into one of the ideas covered: Is a requirement a “nice to have” or a “need to have?”

With the announcement that the Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals, or DACA program, would be ending, many questions were raised about the state of the Caregiver recruitment landscape. It is currently unknown if any legislation will be introduced to replace DACA, or if it will simply be removed. Often referred to as “DREAMers,” surveys of these DACA beneficiaries show that one in five of the nearly 800,000 in the program work in the health care and education sectors. In a market where there already aren’t enough Caregivers, this could lead to an even bigger shortage in the near future.

With Caregivers becoming more and more in demand, we see them getting to pick and choose their opportunities. We know how important it is for them to be able to work close to their home, but travel time to the interview itself is another important factor. Less than ⅔ of Caregivers report they’re willing to travel more than 30 minutes to an interview. You can see the full breakdown below:

Home care is a highly local business. From community connections to meeting clients and even hiring Caregivers, each market is unique. Recently we took a local look at interesting data and trends for agencies Hiring Caregivers in Northeast Ohio. You can watch the full replay below, and here a few highlights:

In today’s market, candidates are in the driver’s seat when it comes to Caregiver recruitment. They’re often presented with so many opportunities, the have to make decisions about which ones they’re interested in moving forward with. There’s a number of factors they take into consideration when making this decision. We asked Caregivers if they have multiple job interviews scheduled and only have time to go to one, how would they decide which interview to go to. Here’s what they said:

You don’t have to look far to find someone in home care recruiting talking about the challenges of retaining Caregivers and CNAs. According to Home Care Pulse, the turnover rate in home care last year was over 63%. With a national shortage making hiring CNAs more difficult, it becomes all the more important to retain them as well. With this ever-changing market, what does a good retention strategy look like today?

Good Caregiver and CNA recruitment consists of multiple recruitment channels. One of the most popular channels across the country is referrals from current employees. Did you know that 74% of Caregivers and CNAs wouldn’t recommend their current employer to a friend? In the ongoing competition of Caregiver recruitment, every new hire counts! Here are a few tips to make sure your referral program is as effective as it can be!

A home care agency’s most valuable asset in today’s market is their Caregivers, and that’s only getting truer by the day. But what if hiring Caregivers and CNAs could mean even more to your business? The Workforce Opportunity Tax Credit, or WOTC, could make that possible through tax credits for Caregivers.