Appreciation and Recognition are Keys to Caregiver Retention

Stephen Tweed | May 7, 2013 | Newsroom
Turnover continues to rise in the home care industry.  In 2012, caregiver turnover reached an all time high of 52.6% according to the 2013 Private Duty Benchmarking Study.  Research conducted by Leading Home Care and Caregiver Quality Assurance shows that it costs the typical home care company $1,506.96 for each caregiver who quits or is…

Turnover continues to rise in the home care industry.  In 2012, caregiver turnover reached an all time high of 52.6% according to the 2013 Private Duty Benchmarking Study. 

Research conducted by Leading Home Care and Caregiver Quality Assurance shows that it costs the typical home care company $1,506.96 for each caregiver who quits or is terminated.  If you have 100 caregivers and 52 of them leave, that’s going to cost you $78,361.00

That’s a lot of money.

What can you do to reduce turnover?

Our research shows that the single most important factor in caregiver retention is “appreciation and recognition”.  Caregivers will stay when they feel valued and appreciated by their supervisors, by the company, and by their clients.

Data from the 2013 Private Duty Benchmarking Study show that top five ways that caregivers want to be recognized.  Home Care Pulse, the company the conducts the benchmarking study also conducts caregiver satisfaction surveys and client satisfaction surveys.  As a result of these telephone surveys, they have determined how caregivers want to be recognized.

1.  Verbal Recognition by Supervisor – 30.4%
2.  Pay raise – 29.0%
3.  Recognition by Client 15.9%
4.  Vacation, PTO, bonuses – 12.5%
5.  Company wide recognition – 12.2%

At Caregiver Quality Assurance,  we continue to study these techniques for showing appreciation and recognition.  We’ll help you design and implement caregiver retention programs to reduce turnover, increase client satisfaction, and lower your costs.  That means you make more money.

For more specific information on caregiver retention, join us for a live web conference, or view the recorded version of our past web conferences at www.caregiverquality.com.

Stephen Tweed
Stephen Tweed is among the top Thought Leaders in Home Care today. As an industry researcher, author, and executive coach, he has worked with owners and CEOs of companies in the top 5% of Home Care and is a frequent speaker at Home Care association conferences and corporate meetings across the US and Canada.

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