I’ve been thinking a lot about Caregivers First.
As I mentioned last week, we have just released the 2026 Future of Home Care Study conducted by Leading Home Care … a Tweed Jeffries company, and published by AxisCare.
Again, we looked at the Pain Points that are keeping Home Care CEOs awake at night, and for the third year in a row of this study the top pain points have to do with caregiver shortages, caregiver recruiting, and caregiver retention.
This is not new information. The Caregiver Recruiting and Retention Crisis has been going on for nearly a decade, and I wrote about it in my last book, Conquering the Crisis published in 2017.
So what do we do about it?
Creating a Caregiver First Culture
Several years ago, we were in a meeting of the Top 5% Mastermind Group of the Home Care CEO Forum. Jeff Wiberg, the CEO of Family Resource Home Carein Spokane, WA had been a member of this group for a few years. Jeff is one of the real thought leaders in Home Care, so I always listen when he shares an idea to solve a problem.
He made a very challenging statement. He said, “We are making a conscious choice to shift from a ‘Customer First Culture’ to a ‘Caregiver First Culture.'”
That caught the attention of this group of tip tier Home Care leaders who are all very successful business people. To them, it sounded like sacrilege to talk about not putting customers first in any business.
Jeff went on to explain his thinking about putting caregivers first. His premise was “… if you take care of your caregivers, they will take care of your clients.”
This led to an extensive conversation about what this means, and how to apply it in a Home Care company. Over the next several years, a number of our Top 5% Mastermind Members made a conscious shift toward a Caregiver First Culture.
What would that look like if your company shifted from customer first to caregiver first?
What are the specific behaviors leaders would need to demonstrate to put caregivers first?
How would others in your agency react to that strategy?
How would your clients and referral partners react to that strategy?
Download Your Copy of the 2026 Future of Home Care Study, compliments of AxisCare
The White Paper has some very specific calls to action for Home Care leaders. After analyzing the data, tabulating the information, and summarizing the key results, we have suggested some very specific things you can do to apply this information to grow your business and get ready for the future.
There’s much more in the report, and I’m confident you will find it valuable, and worth your time to download the white paper and review the results.
