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PDT
#135 -- Healthcare Is Not in a Recession
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Why Recession Can be Good for Your
Business January
28, 2009
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Private Duty Today
Welcome to Private Duty Today,
the bi-weekly electronic newsletter for Private Duty Home Care Leaders
from Leading Home Care ...a Tweed Jeffries company.
I'm Jason Tweed, Director of Business Development for
Leading Home Care, and Editor of Private
Duty Today.
Private Duty Today is published every
other Wednesday, and currently goes to over 7000 subscribers.
Private Duty Today is
a permission-based newsletter.
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 Like many of you I read economic news on almost a daily
basis looking for positive signs. A CNN article cheered me up
yesterday when not
only did I discover that some companies are actually HIRING
during this recession, but
two of the companies are our customers!
The article profiled 13 companies from all different industries that
are currently hiring and expanding. Two of them were healthcare
companies, Gentiva Health Services and Sutter Health. Gentiva is
a national provider of certified home health care and private duty
healthcare, while Sutter Health is a large central California regional
health system that includes acute care, physicians and home care.
Hiring comes down to supply and demand similar to much of our
economy. Even in this economy the demand for home care services
is outpacing supply.
This recession
can actually be good for you!
Many of your employees are high school educated women. When the
economy slows, so do job opportunities for people with high school
equivalent educations. Retail and manufacturing positions are far
more difficult to find. Certain service industries, particularly
in travel and tourism do less hiring. This means your potential
labor pool is deeper now than it has been in decades.
Capitalize on this by developing a strong core of caregivers.
Increase your focus on retention rather than recruitment because
inevitably this economy will turn around. When it does,
competition for caregivers will increase and the companies who have
done a good job of developing strong caregiver retention
programs will become the winners in the marketplace.
Don't be fooled
by stronger retention numbers.
Most of you track turnover/retention, and you may see your numbers
improving in 2009. Take this with a grain of salt because not
only will recruiting be easier but so will retention. In this
economy people are far less likely to quit a job without another one
lined up. They don't know how difficult it will be to replace
their job, and they may also be worried if their spouse works in
an industry directly hit by the recession.
If you don't make changes to your retention program, you can expect
that your numbers will drop again when the economy begins the
upswing. Focus now on taking advantage of this opportunity by
doing the extra things that don't cost your company much money, but
make your employees feel much better about the organization for which
they work.
Service is still
in demand.
Three other companies on the list are also hiring, and may be
competitors for employees. ServiceMaster, Banfield, and Scotts
Lawn Service provides services to middle class and upper middle class
families. While these families are spending less money on
automobiles and new homes, they are still purchasing services for
their home.
Servicemaster is the umbrella company that includes Terminix, Merry
Maids, and TruGreen. Banfield is the worlds largest veterinary
medicine practice and specializes in pet care. Scotts has
leveraged their Miracle-Gro product into a lawn service company.
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Recruiting is Easier, But...
You're in a unique industry that can actually be inversely
affected by a slowing economy. Today you're hiring choices are
actually improving, as many other industries are freezing hiring or
even laying people off.
Your growth depends on your people. Long-term growth can be
directly proportional to your ability to hire new staff. Quality
staff hiring choices have demonstrated positive influence on employee
retention, customer service, and word-of-mouth marketing.
While recruiting may be easier, selection and retention are still
difficult. For growing agencies selection and retention are
critical to continued growth.
I urge you to check out our unique Caregiver Pre-Employment
Assessment System for a way to definitively improve your selection
process. Users of the Pre-Employment Assessment are constantly
telling us how it has changed their business for the better.
Implementing it into your overall human resources strategy not only
reduces risk, increases retention, but it can also set your company
apart in the minds of your customers and referral sources.
In an era of dramatically increasing competition differentiating
yourself in a marketplace is critical.
Diane West, our assessment system coordinator, has created a white paper to learn more about
the process of using the assessment and the costs involved.
Additionally many of your frequently asked questions are answered on
our website.
Hopefully our national economic problems will begin to turn around
soon. Meanwhile, I urge you to do your part by growing your business,
serving more people, and putting more hard-working caregivers in the
field. It helps our industry, our economy, and keeps your company
in the black.
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A new post and a new poll
I put a brief post
about our caregiver selection system and also started a new poll.
Check it out when you get a minute and leave your comments or
questions.
Additionally,
please take our brief, completely unscientific, poll about your biggest
needs for improving human resources.
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