Recruitment & Retention Trends

It's no question that Caregiver and CNA recruitment becomes more challenging as the holiday season kicks off.  However, many companies don't realize how drastically the trends can impact their recruitment efforts.  We've pulled a few trends from our data trove as we head into the holidays to help you build and optimize your Caregiver recruitment strategies now. 

In general, Caregiver job search starts to decrease in early October and stays on the decline until it spikes in January. I guess you can say the holiday turkey puts folks to sleep until they ring in the New Year.

• In October, you can expect 10% fewer applicants / job seekers compared to Q3 
• In November, you can expect 21% fewer applicants / job seekers compared to Q3 
• In December, you can expect 56% fewer applicants / job seekers compared to Q3 

The challenge for many home care agencies is the fact that business can pick-up over the holidays. Families get together and often arrive to a quick realization that someone in their family needs more care - and fast. What does this mean? They call you. If you don't have a roster of Caregivers ready-to-go it can be the difference of business growth or remaining stagnant over the holidays.

 

Further, Caregiver retention tends to worsen in Q4. Kiddos are out of schools, Caregivers want a break, and it's easy for them to find a job. Retailers hire 71% more workers in Q4, luring Caregivers to make quick cash at whatever schedule may work for them.

 

So, what can you do about it? Here are a few highly recommended tips to prepare now:

1. Put a holiday retention plan in place for your existing staff. Now is not the time to lose them. Offer holiday bonuses, incentives, and most importantly, treat your Caregivers and certified nursing assistants well.  You need them. 
2. Ramp your recruitment ASAP and understand you may need more elbow grease this quarter than you have in the past. Fewer Caregivers are looking for work, meaning you need to work harder. In addition to hitting the streets in your local communities to build your Caregiver pipeline, consider:
• Refreshing your job content. Here are a few best practices in our home care job post guide 
• Hold a career fair or register for myCNAjobs' interview booking service (and this isn't a sales pitch or silver bullet, but we can help you reach people not applying to your jobs today) 
• Interview and hold orientations more frequently. One of your greatest tools is flexibility. Did you know that up to 35% may turn down an interview with you simply because the timing doesn't work?

We've prepared a Caregiver holiday hiring playbookthat you can print, bring to your next staffing meeting, and plan. You can download it for free here.