The Key to Scalable Recruiting and Retention in Home Care​ Hiring

In this article, we will discuss the key concepts of cost-effective, scalable recruiting growth, and retention in home care recruiting.

To have a scalable recruiting and retention process, it is crucial to understand the value of each caregiver hire on a financial level.

This requires knowing:

• Your average retention rate.

• The number of hours your hires work on average.

• Your margins per hour.

By improving retention and increasing the number of hours worked, you can significantly improve your financial position and avoid the constant turnover or underutilization of your current roster.

Setting agency growth goals is another essential aspect of scalable recruiting for home care hiring.

You need to determine how many caregivers you need to hire based on your current growth goals and average hours worked per hire.

Setting specific goals allows you to track your progress and make adjustments if necessary. It's not enough to say you want to hire as many caregivers as possible. You need to have a clear target and a plan to achieve it.

Using metrics as levers is a powerful strategy for scaling your recruiting and retention efforts.

If you have a good cost per applicant and a high conversion rate to hire, you can increase your ad budget to attract more applicants. However, it's crucial to keep an eye on your metrics to ensure they remain steady. Simply spending more on job ads without a scalable process in place will not yield the desired results.

You need to identify any bottlenecks in your process and address them to achieve true scalability.

Retention is a critical component of scaleable recruiting.

Many agencies make the mistake of leaving retention up to chance, relying on caregivers to be good at communicating and staying with the agency. However, retention should be treated as a scalable system and process. Implementing a structured communication plan, checking in with new hires at specific intervals, and addressing their needs and concerns are all essential for building scalable retention.

By putting caregivers first and meeting their needs, you can create a culture of loyalty and reduce turnover.

Building future leaders within your agency is another effective strategy for improving retention. By providing a clear career path and empowering caregivers to take on leadership roles, you can increase their engagement and commitment to the agency. Offering training, mentorship, and opportunities for advancement can significantly impact retention and create a sense of purpose and growth for caregivers.

Some agencies may be hesitant to invest in retention strategies due to concerns about cost.

However, it's essential to factor in retention, raises, and promotions when setting your pricing as a private pay agency. By investing in your caregivers and creating a supportive and rewarding environment, you can attract and retain high-quality caregivers, ultimately providing better care to your clients.

Now, let's address the downward spiral that many home care agencies find themselves in.

This spiral begins with being understaffed, leading to turning away cases, lower revenue, and lower profit. As a result, agencies are unable to invest in their recruiting pipeline, leading to even fewer hires and perpetuating the cycle of understaffing. This can be an overwhelming and disheartening situation for agency owners, but it doesn't have to be this way.

The key to breaking free from the downward spiral is to invest time, effort, and money into your recruiting pipeline.

This can take various forms, such as:

• Reviewing weekly KPIs with your team.

• Refining your recruiting process.

• Personally engaging in recruiting to identify inefficiencies.

By making incremental improvements and investing in your recruiting efforts, you can switch from a downward spiral to an upward trajectory of growth and profitability.

Recruiting in-home care is a funnel, and by measuring conversion percentages at each step and making continuous improvements, you can completely change the outcome. It's important to remember that this process takes time and effort, but the results are worth it. As you staff all your cases, grow your revenue, and invest in your recruiting pipeline, you will gain momentum and create a positive cycle of growth.

Scalable recruiting and retention are essential for the success of home care agencies. By understanding the financial value of each hire, setting growth goals, using metrics as levers, and implementing scalable retention strategies, agencies can break free from the downward spiral and achieve sustainable growth.

Investing in your recruiting pipeline and prioritizing caregiver needs will create a culture of loyalty and empowerment, leading to higher retention rates and better care for your clients.

Remember, it is possible to achieve scalable recruiting and retention, and with the right strategies and mindset, your agency can thrive in the home care industry.