Efficient Caregiver Recruitment and Retention

Creating a Company Brand to Deliver Efficient Caregiver Recruitment and Retention

As private-duty senior care agencies seek to maintain and increase clients, the ability to cost-effectively hire and retain quality caregivers dramatically impacts the bottom line.  The private-duty industry has experienced an exponential growth in new senior care agencies during the last decade.  This has resulted in more employers seeking to hire experienced and qualified caregivers.  By creating a brand name which communicates the feelings and emotions you want caregivers and clients to have about your agency, you can become the preferred senior care employer in your area.

Create an Effective Brand from the Inside Out

McDonalds operates more than 31,000 restaurants worldwide.  How do they make sure you will enjoy the same great taste of a Big Mac in New York, Hong Kong or Miami?  By creating an efficient system for operations and consistently communicating this system to every McDonald’s location.  Franchisees and managers worldwide receive training at McDonald’s Hamburger University.  The company then continually reinforces their branding message of quality, family fun and the place to go to celebrate those little moments in life through effective branding (I’m Lovin’ It!). 

McDonald’s realizes that in order to deliver a great tasting Big Mac every time, in every location, they must have well trained employees who will consistently deliver on their brand promise to customers.

By creating effective hiring and retention programs, McDonald’s seeks to make sure their employees are lovin’ it too.  The company tracks and calculates the cost of employee turnover.  In an effort to decrease employee turnover (and increase profitability), McDonalds began training their managers to tactically interview employees to determine what they valued most about their jobs.  They also asked for suggestions for improvement.  They then took the feedback they received and created new employee benefit programs:  group health insurance, computerized English-language classes,  life-enhancing programs provided during breaks and after shifts.

Isadore Sharp, founder, chairman and CEO of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, shares how he built one of the hotel industry’s most successful and respected brands in his book Four Seasons:  The Story of a Business Philosophy.

The Four Season’s hotel brand has a reputation for luxury and phenomenal service.  Their brand message says they will allow business guests to be productive while traveling and allow families to focus on their loved ones while on vacation.  They achieve this by providing the same exceptional treatment to their employees that they expect them to deliver to the hotel’s guests. 

The Four Seasons hires employees who have the right personality and work ethic to go the extra mile for hotel guests.  The Four Seasons continually communicates the stories of their employee’s customer service successes to both employees and customers. 

Sharp says service industry providers are among the hardest working employees and are often the most under-appreciated members of the workforce.  The Four Seasons management treats their employees with kindness and respect and finds that in turn they receive this back tenfold. 

In their business philosophy, the first and most important focus for the Four Seasons is the people they select to work for them.  They believe that a person does not need experience in the hospitality industry because most of those technical skills can be taught.  They choose employees for their service orientation and they must derive great pleasure from going the extra distance for a guest as that is not something that you can teach someone.

Their second most important foundation is the focus on the Golden Rule – to treat others as you wish to be treated.  Following this seemingly simple principle results in employees that feel cared for and respected and they in turn treat guests with the same care and respect.

After the Four Seasons hires the right people, they immerse them in a training program and follow-up by tracking performance each day through the creation of a “Glitch Report”.

The Glitch Report is a review of the previous day’s mistakes and is undertaken by every department at the hotel.  The Four Seasons uses it to challenge themselves to achieve the highest possible standards of service.  The report allows the management team to work closely with staff to continually teach, reinforce and empower employees to make great customer service decisions.

Mr. Sharp shares that what stands out most is hearing about how a guest returned because a glitch was handled effectively – it is not the glitch, but the recovery.  Guests remember how they were treated and the outcomes, which they always strive to make positive. 

And to successfully deliver great service day after day, Mr Sharp says, they must stay true to their most important focus, which is on the people they select to work with them.  (Notice he says “work with them”, not work “for” them). 

Branding Ideas for Home Care Agencies

Agency referral sources have a long list of caregiving companies offering services in their area.  Caregivers also have multiple agencies they can interview with when they become available for work after a client passes away or after they have taken time off.  

How can you make sure your agency is at the top of the list when a high quality caregiver re-enters the workforce? 

Just follow the concepts already developed by leading brands such as McDonalds and the Four Seasons:

• Offer beyond the paycheck incentives
• Provide ongoing training programs
• Create an Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Treat your caregivers the same way you want them to treat clients
• Survey caregivers for feedback on your company policies and benefits
• Implement customized programs based on caregiver feedback

Brainstorm with your management team to create special programs for your caregivers.  The Canadian company, Nurse Next Door, delivers “humble pies” to customers if they make mistakes.  They offer a “Dreams Program” to provide coaches to mentor employees monthly to help them work towards big life goals.

One agency provides free massages on the last Friday of every month for caregivers.  Students from a local massage school provide the massages for free, as part of their required in-service hours prior to graduation.

Some agencies send thank-you notes with a gift certificate to caregivers when they go the extra mile for a client or they purchase products with their logo and tagline, such as golf shirts, sweatshirts and tote bags and award them to caregivers when they complete extra training or fill in for last minute assignments. 

Your company culture is your brand in your community.  What is your equivalent of “I’m Lovin’ It?”.  Create your brand and build it from the inside out.

About the Author:  Julie Northcutt is the CEO of Caregiverlist.com, “caring for the caregiver” with an online Career Center for professional caregivers and comprehensive information on senior care options to assist seniors and their families to select the right senior care.  Caregiverlist uses new technology to provide customized hiring solutions for senior home care agencies.  She developed the concept for Caregiverlist while operating a senior home care agency which she sold to a national company to focus full time on Caregiverlist. You may reach Julie at:  info@caregiverlist.com or by telephone at 312-669-8820