How Can The Right Technology Foster Caregiver Recruitment and Retention?

The U.S. Government statistics place home care as one of the fastest-growing occupations, stating that the industry will need a million workers by 2026.

The demand for in-home care is significantly increasing. But, this increase doesn’t run parallel to caregiver retention. Caregiver recruitment and retention have dropped drastically.

In the United States, around 70% of Americans who reach age 65 will need long-term care support. However, with this changing scenario, there will be a shortage of 151,000 workers by 2030, increasing to 355,000 by 2040.

-Global Coalition on Aging Report

Despite the fluctuating challenge brought by the pandemic, the most significant ongoing issue for agencies is caregiver churn. Retaining high-demand skilled caregivers has been a considerable hurdle to growth.

The impact of caregiver churn was the most visible during the pandemic. Staff shortages forced agencies to turn away from potential clients- all while trying to manage the clients they already had. Churn derails client satisfaction by spoiling consistent caregivers and missed visits.

Additionally, agencies must spend more time hiring, onboarding, and training new caregivers.

A stable workforce goes a long way in this changing home care scenario. Retaining caregivers strengthens the employee experience, optimizes scheduling, alleviates administrative tasks, and bolsters training programs to eliminate future problems.

But how can leaders promote a better caregiver experience and boost retention rates? Including technology solutions can help recruit and retain caregivers, some of which are:

• Helps Identify the Right Caregiver:

The use of upgraded technology addresses recruiting challenges- searching for skilled caregivers who are passionate about delivering quality services and matching services with clients. Using an integrated platform, home care recruiters can choose qualified caregivers and use strategies to retain them for longer.

• Assists Home Care Recruiters:

A reliable home care software audits your onboarding process and training sessions for new hires. It includes the overlooked elements of the onboarding program.

An all-in-one dashboard helps agencies stay up-to-date and get details about the caregivers through their profile pages. It allows home care recruiters to store and view details like education, employment history, reporting supervisor, pay rates, preferred timings, and availability. Since the home care business is highly regulated, reliable software can upload essential caregiver licenses and expiration dates to stay compliant.

Saving caregiver details provides a smooth onboarding experience, making recruitment much faster.

• Enhances Caregiver Retention:

Most home care agency owners wish they could predict when a caregiver is about to leave. While you may assume it to be impossible, now you can use data to predict caregiver turnover.

Agencies can use metrics to uncover trends for evaluating caregivers’ performance and learning impending problems. Evaluate your caregivers the moment they join the organization. Ensure the gap between being hired and being assigned the first task is minimal.

Studies show what the caregiver does in the first 30 to 60 days tracks how they are onboarded, trained, assigned shifts, and worked upon.

Software with caregiver retention dashboards helps agencies manage personnel resources and determine the rate of retention. Such software provides the required data for predicting a caregiver’s satisfaction and insights.

An all-in-one home care software is backed by Artificial Intelligence to help businesses grow. The comprehensive dashboard helps view business as a whole and monitor the businesses’ Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Modern innovations help:

• Predict caregiver retention
• Foresee caregiver turnover risk
• Analyze individual performance
• Retain skilled resources
• Minimize caregiver churn rates
• Enhance caregiver retention
• Improve productivity
• Boost revenues

A cloud-based home care software leverages A.I. for caregiver retention using key attributes such as caregiver term, age, total work hours, inconsistencies, total clients served, and income earned. Home care agencies using A.I. will help with caregiver analysis, performance insights, and caregiver retention scores.

Advanced algorithms help see how satisfied a caregiver is. A caregiver without a shift will show a low satisfaction score- visible to the caregiver and agency. Additionally, dashboard metrics improve employee satisfaction and help agencies formulate strategies to prevent caregiver turnover.

• Improves Caregiver Satisfaction through Real-time Data:

Another excellent way technology is helping a home agency improve caregiver experience is through actionable data for driving business decisions and enhancing caregiver efficiency.

For instance, if the data reveals that most caregivers leave their jobs in the first 20 days of employment, it is a sign for agencies to focus on hiring and onboarding.

Research states that home care agencies that use software capture data insights and measure their key performance indicators (KPIs) for making better business decisions. It helps to enhance experiences and outcomes for the staff and clients.

• Mobile App Facilitates Seamless Workflow:

A mobile app helps caregivers access and update information from anywhere and at anytime. An app may notify them of client status changes or shift modifications. Staff can also access the portals for accessible client communication.

Greater client information and status visibility empower caregivers to work better and facilitate better care and experiences.

• Maximizes Caregiver-Client Matching:

An ideal match between clients and caregivers creates a strong and long-lasting bond, reducing caregiver turnover. With the right technology, schedulers and coordinators find the right caregiver for every client using A.I. or machine learning algorithms.

This allows you to customize matching solutions, strengthening the client-caregiver relationship, enriching the caregiver experience, and driving higher caregiver retention rates.

To Sum Up

Caregiver churn has a profound impact. It can lead to caregiver shortages on the one hand and additional time spent hiring and onboarding new staff.

To make an agency’s workflow easier, they need new technology for accessing current operations to identify and quantify opportunities for improving the quality, efficiency, and productivity of their business.