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Unlocking hiring excellence in home care: A roundtable discussion [webinar recap]
Home care organizations everywhere face budget constraints, compliance issues, and high turnover rates. Operational efficiency and the home care hiring process are vital to ensure companies can stay ahead of the trends and provide the best possible service to their clients.
75% of agencies had to turn down cases due to friction in the efficiency operations.
In a recent webinar, AlayaCare sat down for a roundtable discussion with WOTC.com, NY Best Medical, and Kchecks to look at how organizations can enhance their hiring and onboarding practices.
Here are some key takeaways from the discussion:
Current state of hiring in home care
During this session, we asked attendees to rate their organization’s current state of hiring operations. The average response was a three, meaning the hiring process is average. Even though most attendees felt their hiring and onboarding process was average, many businesses in the space are struggling to meet the needs of their employees.
“There’s a lot of friction in the field. Meaning, there’s a lot of struggle to complete the hiring and onboarding process.”
Marina McClure, Vice President of Business Development, NY Best Medical
A flawed hiring and onboarding process can lead to high turnover and low employee satisfaction rates. The more complicated the process is, the harder it is to hire and retain top talent in the long run.
“I think there is a consistent theme here between streamlining these hiring processes and the subsequent effects that will have on reducing turnover and boosting overall caregiver satisfaction. A consistent mantra we have at AlayaCare is reducing repetitive tasks through software, and I definitely see how mundane administrative tasks can quickly become a common issue within hiring operations for an agency.”
Mike Whyte, Sr. Manager, Partner Alliance at AlayaCare.
Businesses that find a way to minimize friction and streamline the hiring and onboarding process can see improvements in their operational efficiency. With the help of software and technology, organizations can make the process easier for their applicants and retain top talent.
How the right hiring software can help your home healthcare agency
Budgets and roadblocks
Caregiver agencies are also running into budget constraints and compliance issues. “We all know hiring caregivers is expensive.” Explains Mike. “If you’re not hiring efficiently, it’s clear in the data that it’s costing you money.”
Another issue many agencies are running into is sticking to a “cookie-cutter approach” to every hire or case. When you individualize the approach for each applicant, you can streamline the hiring process, improve your ROI, and reduce turnover.
“75% of agencies had to turn down cases due to friction in the efficiency operations.” Says Mike. Marina added to the discussion, explaining,
“When you turn down cases, you turn down revenue. Once you have a strong database of caregivers within geographical locations, your agency is growing tremendously.”
Marina McClure, Vice President of Business Development, NY Best Medical
But, even when budgets are constrained there are ways home care agencies can use good hiring methods to their advantage to get some money back. According to Mitchel Gabor WOTC.com’s Chief Business Development Officer agencies can be rewarded with government and state tax credits.
“If you could take care of those government programs like the federal and state tax credits in your organization, you can be rewarded for every new hire who meets eligibility requirements. So, you know, tax credits are a really risk-free way to balance the cost of high turnover and new hires. Without leaving money on the table, which could be used for other purposes.”
Mitchel Gabor, Chief Business Development Officer, WOTC.com
Solutions to improve the hiring process?
Agencies should have a process for federal and state requirements and the needs of the applicant and the business. When agencies are sharper with their processes, they’ll get more hires and improve retention. For example, Scott Steinhardt Vice President at KChecks, explained how agencies need to be on top of their employment exclusion checking when hiring so they remain compliant and don’t run the risk of fines or penalties.
“It’s a very cumbersome process if you do it manually and the civil monetary penalties and the fines and the potential of having to return dollars put this requirement, very much on the forefront for your administrators, for your compliance officers. So making sure that you have a detailed process in place, to ensure that you have it, that’s where K checks comes into play. Helping you and your team make sure you meet compliance and federal and state requirements.”
Scott Steinhardt, Vice President, KChecks
Software integrations within a home care software platform, like AlayaCare, can greatly assist organizations with their retention and caregiver hiring. These integrations offer a variety of benefits, from streamlining administrative tasks to enhancing care coordination and improving both internal and external communication
6 ways your home-based care staff can increase caregiver retention
Software integrations that streamline hiring and onboarding success
WOTC.com, for instance, is a federal tax credit home care agency can be taken advantage of for hiring specific groups of individuals that commonly face employment barriers, like veterans, for example. These credits provide significant cost-saving opportunities for companies and business owners in the home care industry.
NY Best Medical specializes in employment physicals with a primary focus in home care and training schools. They streamline the onboarding process for home care agencies and are designed to solve common issues surrounding occupational health in caregiving. They can make the pre-employment process more efficient, ensuring each candidate is physically fit and healthy to handle the job.
Lastly, Kchecks by Kinney Services, Inc., is an exclusion screening software that can automatically search a central repository on a monthly basis for individuals and entities that have been excluded from participating in federally funded healthcare programs, including Medicaid, Medicare, and Child Health Plus. The software streamlines the process of exclusion screening, ensuring agencies meet compliance and federal and state requirements.
Software integrations within a home care software platform like AlayaCare can streamline operations, improve communication, and even offer financial incentives, all of which contribute to improved caregiver hiring and retention.
Customize your ecosystem of care with best in class third-party integrations through AlayaSphere. By minimizing manual data entry and synching your solutions, you’ll enhance productivity throughout every step of the home care process.
If you’re interested to hear more tips on hiring excellence from the panel, you can watch the webinar on-demand below.
