By Stephen Tweed 

As a leader in home care, where will you invest your time and energy in 2022 to grow your business and get ready for the future?

You are well aware that the big burning issue for all home care companies is caregiver recruiting and retention.  If you can get the caregivers, you can get new clients to grow your business.

So where will you focus in 2022 to overcome this big burning issue?

We’ve been studying caregiver recruiting and retention for well over a decade, so we are very clear that there is no short term solution.  The leaders in the top tier of home care who grew their businesses in 2020 over 2019 were the companies who had a long term approach.  That long term approach begins with crafting your company culture.  If you can create a great place to work, then you increase the probability that you can attract and retain high quality caregivers who will serve your clients consistently.

Crafting a Culture of Attraction and Accomplishment

Back in the summer of 2015, I had breakfast at Uncle Bill’s Pancake House in Avalon, New Jersey, with Mark Baiada, the founder and then CEO of Bayada Home Health Care.  Mark gave me a copy of his Culture Card and we talked for three hours about how he had spent 40 years crafting the culture of his company.  At that time, Bayada Home Health Care was the largest privately owned, family operated home care company in the world, with revenues of $1.5 Billion.

Since that time, I’ve been studying company culture in home care, and learning about how the leading home companies in our industry are crafting their culture.

Seven Steps to Crafting Your Culture  

Based on that study, and my in-depth discussions with owners and CEOs of the largest home care companies in our industry, here are seven specific steps you can take to build the culture you want in our home care company.

1. Define your Core Values
2. Define the Behaviors that go with each Core Value
3. Communicate your Values and the Expected Behaviors
4. Train your Leaders
5. Engage your Caregivers
6. Promote your Culture
7. Reinforce your Culture

While these are seven clear, specific steps, this is not a short term process.  The companies we work with have spent years working through these seven steps and then going back to step two and repeating.  It’s a long term commitment, but with a big ROI.

How Culture Affects Recruiting and Retention

So how does this long term commitment to crafting your company affect your short term needs for caregivers?

The results of our Best Caregiver Study conducted by the Home Care CEO Forum shows that the best caregivers are attracted to a company that …

1. Provides meaningful work caregiver for the elderly
2. Offers flexible hours
3. Provides career opportunity
4. Is known as a great place to work
5. Has an owner who is known as a great person to work for

The same study showed us why the best caregivers stay with their company for an average of 3.9 years:

1. I’m doing important work caring for seniors
2. I feel valued and appreciated by my clients
3. I like my flexible schedule
4. I feel valued and appreciated by my supervisor
5. I feel valued and appreciated by my company owner
6. I appreciate the education and training my company provides
7. I feel like I am fairly paid

How Does Your Current Company Culture affect Caregiver Recruiting and Retention?

Here are some questions for you to consider as you get ready for 2022, and decide where to focus your efforts:

• How would you describe your company culture today?
• What have you done in the last year to craft your culture?
• How has that contributed to caregiver recruiting and retention?
• What will you do in 2022 to craft your culture?

If you would like to have more in-depth discussions with other leaders in the top tier of home care about how they are crafting their company cultures, you may want to consider becoming a member of a Home Care CEO Mastermind Group, or a Caregiver Quality Assurance Mastermind Group.