PDT #142 -- Make Quality Your Job

Select Quality Caregivers                                                     May 6, 2009

 

Private Duty Today

Jason Tweed, editor of 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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I'm hiring a new administrative assistant this week.  My personal assistant, Tammy, has been helping her father-in-law in his restaurant for a few years.  As he edges toward retirement he's asked her to take over in a management role.  I'm happy for her; it's a big step.
 
However, I'm doing something that I dislike ... but it's my job.  My job is to find someone that will support me and enable me to do my work.  Not only must this person provide physical assistance where my body doesn't measure up, but they also must provide me with complementary skills and a stimulating personality.  These things are vital in my quest to exceed customer expectations.
 
It's not an easy role to fill.  It takes a unique blend to do a very unique job.
 
I could call a temp-to-perm agency.  This would make recruiting easier.  I could interview just three people from the huge stack of resumes that landed on my desk this week.  But I know, that while not my favorite part of my job, finding great people and selecting the best possible individual is one of the most important decisions I make in my work.
 
Employee selection is a rare challenge for me, but incredibly important.  Finding a quality person is my job.

 

 

Quality is Your Job

As owners and executives of home care companies, selecting the right staff, both in your office and in the field, is your single most important job.
 
Some companies claim that their inventory of employees doesn't require extensive selection, it just requires efficiency.  They are right, a profitable company can be run with what I call the "any warm body" approach.  These companies can be, and frequently are, profitable.
 
Other companies take personal responsibility for the quality of the caregivers they send into people's homes.  They take personal responsibility for the caregivers sent into my home.
 
When I interview, from a customer perspective, a home care agency I always ask about their selection process.  I get a virtually identical response.  They tell me about their policy of drug screening.  They tell me about criminal background checks.  They tell me how they check references and work experience.  They all say the same thing.
 
I delve deeper.  I want to know if the person doing the hiring sees Quality of Care as their primary job.
 
I'm an enlightened customer.  I'm able to find top-quality home care because I've been shopping for it for two decades. 
 
I make sure I receive top-quality home care, and I make it very clear that the CEO and recruitment staff are personally responsible for the quality of people in my home.  I want high integrity people.  I want high dependability.  I want cognitive stimulation.  I want the best, and only the best.  If I hire your home care company I make it clear that quality is your job.

 

 

Not a Typical Customer

CQA SealI'm definitely not your typical customer.  I've been using home care longer.  I have more experience and more knowledge.  I shop around when necessary.
 
Your typical customer isn't very enlightened about the differences between home care companies.
 
One of our goals of the Caregiver Quality Assurance Program is to give people the ability to become more enlightened customers.  The home care companies who participate take precise and active steps to ensure the best overall quality.
 
I recognize that it takes a certain number of field staff to run a home care agency.  I know that the top 10% of your staff are extraordinary, and the bottom 10% create the most challenge and hardship for you and your clients.  Your job is to reduce the bottom 10% while identifying the top 10% and cultivating them.
 
Imagine if you could replicate your best 10% of employees and eliminate your worst 10%.  Imagine the quality advantage that you would have over your competitors.
 
The companies who are dedicated to this process deserve recognition and that's the point of the Caregiver Quality Assurance Program.  Today home care providers in 21 states are participating.  As this body grows, we believe the Caregiver Quality Assurance logo will become a recognized seal of quality in the industry.  It will help companies define quality to clients, families, and referral sources.
 
I'm not your typical customer, but someday I hope I will be.  I hope your typical customers will insist on quality and be able to differentiate between the best and the rest.
 
I urge you to create a strong caregiver selection component of your recruitment and retention process.  Then I urge you to start talking about caregiver selection as a component of quality with your customers and referral sources.
 
I have the vision of a small group of companies changing this industry in a positive way.  I have a vision that quality caregiver selection will be the hallmark of home care.
 
You and your company can help me make this vision a reality.  If you'd like to learn more I urge you to call Diane West at 1-866-209-5101 and talk with her about our Caregiver Quality Assurance Program and how you can become a participating provider. 

 

Word to Your Mother

I have a special task for all of you who have a mother or who have ever had a mother.  Call her today, don't wait until Sunday.  Call her today and tell her "Jason Tweed says Thank You".  She may think you're insane, but I'm okay with that.
 
Explain to her that you do a special job.  Explain to her that you make life better for tens of thousands of people around America.  Explain to her that Jason Tweed could not survive without people like you.  Thank her for giving birth to you and raising you to be the person that you are.
 
For those of you whose mothers are no longer with us on earth, say a quick prayer to her and tell her the same.  Tell her she raised a quality child.  Tell her thank you from Jason.
 
And for those of you who are a mother, thank you.  Your children will someday care for my children in their own way.  I talk to people about their role in home care every day, but mothers have a role in the world that is unsurpassed by any one but God.
 
Thank you if you call yourself "Mom".
 
Happy Mother's Day!

 

 

Join us in Columbia, Maryland for our Private Duty Business Builders Strategy RetreatTM

We hope to see you on Wednesday, June 3, 2009 in Columbia, Maryland as we join with Maryland National Capital Home Care Association for a one day focused strategy session to help you develop a business growth plan for your company.  

 

We'll share with you the best practices and proven techniques to grow your private pay business. We'll show you how to recruit and select the caregivers you need to take on more clients. And we'll give you specific tips to increase the profitability of your business.  

Join with America's leading expert on Private Duty Home Care, Stephen Tweed, to learn about the 27 elements of a successful private duty business, and have an opportunity to focus on those elements that are most important to you.  See you there!