If you’ve ever been camping, what often comes to mind after the experience are the sights, smells, and great memories: watching stars under the night sky, smelling the firepit, making s’mores, telling stories, and experiencing nature. However, before indulging in such an amazing adventure, you have to do a lot of prep work and gather the necessary gear. You definitely don’t want to forget to bring the proper tools to make a fire, set up your campsite, find your way through the darkness, and withstand the outback; without them, you won’t have that camping experience you relish so much.

The same way you need the right tools to have an unforgettable backcountry camping experience, home care agencies need refined employment tools to retain caregivers.

If you’re a mighty team of one, you’re probably handling payroll, human resources, office administration, compliance ensurance, and much more. Even if you’re not – now, more than ever – you need the right tools to keep your employees happy and help fight the industry’s already high turnover rate. A recent study released by Home Benchmarking revealed that the median turnover rate for caregivers reached an all-time high of 82% in 2018, a cost of $6.5 billion a year.

As the Baby Boomer population ages, the number of people in America between 66 and 84 is projected to reach 60 million by 2030, and the home care industry will likely face increasing difficulty recruiting and retaining a large enough workforce. Despite home health and personal care aides being among the fastest-growing occupations, these are jobs that most Americans don’t tend to want.

This leads to the question, how can you keep your turnover rate low so your agency doesn’t go downhill? As highlighted above, the answer is refined, industry-specific tools, which will help your agency navigate the abundant obstacles of the industry as smoothly as possible and create the right experience for your caregivers and staff.

We already know that caregivers are in the industry because they care about helping others . . . but then, why are they leaving? Most often, they’re seeking:

• Different hours;
• Higher pay;
• Different clients/patients; and/or
• A better manager.

By knowing these major factors, it’s easier to tackle them. You can break the turnover cycle by providing the right tools to your caregivers.

Tools for Caregivers

• Flexible Pay Options
  • Going paperless allows you to receive online reports and ensures all your employees get paid, especially when delivery options could be interrupted. The good news is – you have flexible pay options, like direct deposit, employee paycards, and access to earned wages!

• Onboarding
  • Once you hire an employee, the fun begins – HR paperwork, setting expectations, and getting your employee into your payroll system. Skip the paper and go electronic.

• ESS with PTO and Notifications
  • Employee Self Service (ESS) helps employees manage their PTO requests, paystubs, and Form W2s as well as their editable demographic information, complete with a detailed audit trail and approval workflows.

• Benefits Administration
  • Make benefits administration easier on you and your employees. Give employees a platform to make informed decisions by comparing benefit plans.

“We’ve seen a huge change in our workers’ attitudes now that they’re using Viventium. They aren’t just happier. They’re a lot happier. Caregiving already comes with many hard and demanding aspects. Getting paid correctly and on time shouldn’t be one of them.” 

Katherine Perez – Mrs. G’s Services

To learn more about our refined tools for caregivers and expertise in home care, read our new e-book Trailblazers of HCM Software: Top 5 Reasons to Journey With Us.