By Stephen Tweed

In the year 2000, my longtime friend and professional speaking colleague, Roger Herman, and his wife Joyce Gioia, wrote a great book called How to Become an Employer of Choice.  Unfortunately, Roger passed away in 2006 from a rather sudden illness, but Joyce has continued his legacy with The Herman Group and Employer of Choice International, Inc.

Roger and Joyce defined “Employer of Choice” as “An employer of any size in the public, private, or not-for-profit sector that has met the rigorous evaluation process and are recognized for their leadership, culture, and best practices that attract, optimize, and hold top talent, achieving corporate objectives”.

There are a number of key words in their definition that fit our concept of a Culture of Attraction and Accomplishment:

• Leadership
• Culture
• Best practices
• Attract
• Optimize
• Hold top talent
• Achieving corporate objectives

They went on to register the trademark Employer of Choice® and to develop a process to help companies achieve this designation.

The benefits of becoming an Employer of Choice®

In their work, they identified some measurable benefits of becoming an Employer of Choice®:

• Recruiting becomes considerably easier
• Recruiting and marketing becomes less costly
• Your reputation will enhance your ability to attract the people you need
• Productivity will be significantly higher
• People work better together
• Long-term employees understand the processes
• There is a greater dedication to quality of performance
• Turnover is reduced
• Owners, managers, and supervisors have less stress and more fun
• You are able to plan, forecast and use company resources more efficiently.
• Mediocre workers will intentionally choose not to apply, fearing their performance will not be acceptable
• Star performers choose star companies because that’s where the feel they belong
• Your company will be more attractive to investors

We talked with Joyce Gioia during our research for my forthcoming book, Conquer the Crisis. Joyce gave us some interesting new insights based on what they have learned in the sixteen years since the Employer of Choice® book was originally published.

You can become an Employer of Choice®

Joyce suggests some things you can do to become an employer of choice:

• Create and maintain a unique culture
• Establish and enforce high standards
• Expect people to be honest and open
• Avoid mediocrity
• Hire only the best
• Honor seasoned workers
• Celebrate at every opportunity
• Develop strong internal support structures
• Teach core workplace values
• Build a culture of success
• Be a model of enthusiasm
• Expect high performance
• Design a successful communication system
• Promote meaningful work
• Concentrate on measurable results
• Hold people accountable
• Stretch people to reach their full potential

If you would like more information on the formal program of being an Employer of Choice® you can get a copy of the book, “How to Become an Employer of Choice”, and you can visit their web site at www.employerofchoice.net.

Together We Can Be Employers of Choice

Putting these ideas into action is critical, and in today’s highly competitive home care marketplace, what works in one market may not work in another. What worked last year won’t work this year.  The Caregiver Recruiting and Retention Crisis in home care is a dynamic, fluid situation where leaders need to be constantly trying new things, testing results, and refining the process.  One of the great ways to Conquer the Crisis is to work together with other home care companies in non-competing markets to share ideas, solve problems, and test new concepts.

That’s what we’re doing with the Caregiver Quality Mastermind Groups.  These are groups of up to 25 non-competing home care companies who come together once a month by virtual video conference.  The group will pick the topics they want to discuss, and members of the group will lead the conversation. You’ll have an opportunity to share what you are doing that works, and learn from others what they are doing that works.

There’s no easy answer, but the best way to address the caregiver shortage is to work together. Together we can all be better. Working together with other home care company leaders, you can become an Employer of Choice.

There are two Caregiver Quality Mastermind Groups to choose from: one for independent agencies, and one for franchise agencies.  We held our kick off preview meetings in January, and the first actual sharing meetings will begin on Thursday, February 23, 2017.  The Franchise CQ Mastermind will meet at 2:00 pm eastern, and the Independent CQ Mastermind will meet at 4:00 PM eastern.  We have a number of members who have signed in and paid their dues, so some local territories are taken.  Only one company is permitted in the group from a local marketplace. No one in  your group will be a competitor.

That means that if you want to join the group, you need to act now before local competitors beat you to it.

PS:  We’ve invited Joyce Gioia to join us for a future CQ Mastermind meeting to talk about How to Become an Employer of Choice. Don’t miss it.