HIRING CHALLENGES - Hireology€¦ · HIRING CHALLENGES IN HOME HEALTHCARE and Actionable Tips to Overcome Them . HIREOLOGY 3 HIRIN CHALLENES IN HOME HEALTHCARE AND ACTIONABLE TIS

H I R I N G C H A L L E N G E S I N H O M E H E A LT H C A R E

and Actionable Tips to Overcome Them

H I R E O L O G Y | 3 H I R I N G C H A L L E N G E S I N H O M E H E A LT H C A R E A N D AC T I O N A B L E T I P S TO OV E R C O M E T H E M 2

Aging Americans and others with special health needs have many choices for care – companion care, a home health aide, independent living, nursing home and more. The majority of these individuals want to age in place. The National Council on Aging found nearly 58 percent of older adults have not moved from their current home in more than 20 years.[1] And three-quarters of them want to live there for as long as possible.

The demand for home care is clear, but many agencies are facing several obstacles to meeting the needs of their clientele and achieving business growth. One of the most critical issues agencies need to address is the hiring process.

Caregivers are your most important asset and your hiring process is a catalyst for business growth at your agency. The challenges facing home care agencies are well-known:

With the right tools and strategies in place, you can overcome these hiring challenges.

H E R E ’ S H O W. . .

TA L E N T S H O R TA G EH I G H T U R N O V E RS K I L L S G A P

H I R I N G C H A L L E N G E S I N H O M E H E A LT H C A R E

and Actionable Tips to Overcome Them


TA L E N T S H O R TA G E

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Home health is expected to be the highest growth sector within the healthcare industry in the coming years. The industry is projected to add roughly 715,700 new jobs between 2012 and 2022, but will ideally need to hire 1.1 million caregivers by 2024 to meet demand. Now is the time to invest in a hiring process that will help your agency stand out among the various healthcare organizations trying to attract both skilled and non-skilled caregivers. Here are a few simple steps you can take to make sure you’re sourcing the best talent available as quickly as possible:

I M P R O V E YO U R R E V I E W P R O C E S SOn average, companies take eight days to respond to an inbound application. This is often the result of a manual candidate review process – for example, having all applications and supporting documents funnel through email to a single hiring manager, who is responsible for reviewing them regardless of quality.

We recommend using an applicant tracking system and following a standardized hiring process to increase efficiency and create a better candidate experience. The initial review process should include the following:

Set up automated pre-screen surveys to eliminate individuals who won’t be a fit for a specific role or for your agency in general

Review applicants within 24 hours of receiving them to keep the process moving

Improving your review process keeps applicants engaged and updated on potential next steps. And it gives you more time to focus on recruiting quality candidates who have the necessary clinical skills and emotional intelligence to excel at your agency.

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20150117/MAGAZINE/301179987


TA L E N T S H O R TA G E C O N T I N U E D

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I N C R E A S E YO U R H I R I N G V E L O C I T YIt takes employers an average of 42 days to fill a position once it’s been posted.[2] How long does it take for you to find a qualified caregiver? Improving hiring velocity – or time to hire – is critical in the home care industry. The longer a position goes unfilled, the more likely you’ll have holes in schedules, which means your existing staff will be overworked or your clients won’t receive the care they need. Additionally, the slower your hiring velocity, the more likely you’ll lose top candidates to competitive offers.

Here are some simple steps you can take to reduce time to hire:

A LWAY S B E H I R I N GKeep your eyes open for qualified caregivers. Even when you have a full staff, we recommend you maintain open positions to keep your talent pipeline filled. Home care agencies that employ this strategy enjoy a number of advantages, including:

Create job descriptions that speak to your target audience using keywords and phrases that will get you noticed through organic search

Leverage multichannel sourcing by posting your open roles on a variety of channels, including paid job boards, social media and your agency’s career site

Develop a well-defined hiring process that is standardized for all candidates and includes skills testing, pre-screen surveys, background and reference checks and interview questions geared toward specific roles

Attracting passive candidates who are currently employed but are willing to move on when the right opportunity comes along

Avoiding risks such as an employee quitting for a new job or poor performance

Keeping the hiring process moving quickly, especially if you have automated steps like a pre-screen survey or a repository of customized interview questions


T U R N O V E R

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Attracting top talent is just part of the battle. Retention is a critical aspect of growing your home care business. As it stands, the turnover rate for nursing aides ranges between 40 - 65 percent.[3] These numbers aren’t sustainable if your home care agency wants to maintain a viable business for the long term.

What are the major pain points for home care workers?

L O W WA G E SThe median hourly wage for home care workers is between $10 and $11 and the annual salary is roughly $22,000.[4]

L I M I T E D B E N E F I T SThe majority of home care workers are part-time employees. As a result, they often don’t qualify for benefits, including health insurance.

L A C K O F A D E F I N E D C A R E E R PAT HMany home care agencies haven’t invested in career development opportunities or clarified ways for caregivers to move up through the organization.

S T R E N G T H E N I N G R E C R U I T M E N T S T R AT E G I E SA big reason home care agencies hesitate to source applicants through a variety of channels is because they can’t tell which ones result in the best employees. Hiring data is one of your best resources to help you strengthen your recruitment strategies. An applicant tracking system that centralizes all candidates’ information and documents allows you to build a reservoir of data that you can use to measure how well you’re hiring and answer key questions, such as:

How quickly are you hiring?

Where do your best candidates come from?

Do all locations and managers follow your hiring process?

Determining the answers to these questions will help you be smarter and more efficient about acquiring new talent.

What happens when you address these pain points? Companies that have made wages more competitive, pro-vide an attractive benefits package and compensate for overtime (Note: Now a Federal law) have seen their retention rates reach up to 90 percent.[5]

Improving compensation and benefits will make you more competitive from a hiring standpoint and help you boost your employee retention.

Beyond improving compensation and benefits packages, strengthening caregiver retention requires home care agencies to invest in recruitment, onboarding and orientation.


T U R N O V E R C O N T I N U E D

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O N B O A R D I N GThe hard work to retain employees begins when the candidate accepts your offer. Your goal should be to get a caregiver integrated with your agency as efficiently as possible, so they have the skills, knowledge and behaviors to effectively perform in the role. Effective onboarding will eliminate new hires from having to take time out of their work day to complete necessary paperwork, including I-9 and W-4 forms. Ideally, you can collect this information before their start date using a paperless process.

Onboarding is an ongoing process that helps you achieve this goal. There are three main aspects of onboarding that you need to get right to keep a new hire engaged.

O R I E N TAT I O N P R O G R A M SA consistent orientation program provides home care agencies with a number of advantages. Separate from technical training, orientation programs are part of the onboarding process, giving new hires the information they need to handle their day-to-day duties according to your agency’s standards of practice. For instance, a strong orientation program will let caregivers know how you expect them to greet and speak to clients, manage on-the-job conflicts and navigate any technology needed to perform their job.

Make sure they know how their role fits in with the agency’s guiding mission and how they contribute to the agency’s top priorities and business goals.

Set expectations for the role starting from day one, so each employee will be motivated to come to work every day.

Communicate your agency’s company culture, including norms and core values.


S K I L L S G A P

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Is your hiring process set up to help you source and recruit talent capable of delivering the care your clients need? Several key steps in the hiring process can help you weed out potential bad hires and spend more time identifying quality candidates.

P R E - S C R E E N S U R V E Y SMany employers consider interviews to be the best way to weed out candidates who aren’t the right fit. Coordinating and conducting interviews can be a labor-intensive process for the candidate and hiring manager. However, pre-screen surveys give you the opportunity to automatically eliminate those who are unfit for the job and focus your attention on the candidates who show the greatest promise. In fact, we’ve found up to 40 percent of applicants never end up taking the pre-screen survey, ultimately eliminating applicants who aren’t truly invested in pursuing the role.

How can you narrow your search further?

Right away, you can get a clear sense of their willingness and ability to act as a caregiver within your agency. Integrating survey responses and scores with your applicant tracking system will help you act quickly to move the best candidates through the hiring process.

Knock-out QuestionsKnock-out questions are part of pre-screen surveys and help eliminate candidates who fundamentally cannot fulfill the tasks required of the job. Using such questions early in the hiring process will help you avoid wasting time interviewing someone who ultimately could not perform the job well. Because pre-screen surveys are customizable by role, you won’t run into the risk of eliminating individuals who would be a great registered nurse (RN) candidate but not a certified nursing assistant (CNA), or vice versa. For example, you can ask an RN if they have a specific certification or if they have a certain number of years of experience as a team leader.

Other examples of knock-out questions may include: Do you have a valid driver’s license?

Are you open to working on weekends?

Are you available for long-term in-home care?

Do you keep up on the latest trends in nursing care?

Are you comfortable helping patients with their hygienic needs?


S K I L L S G A P C O N T I N U E D

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C U S T O M I Z E D I N T E R V I E W Q U E S T I O N SThe interview stage is one of the most important parts of the hiring process. You have the chance to verify and validate candidates’ work experience with an open discussion and get a sense of their motivations and career ambitions.

Here are three keys to make sure your hiring process is working for you:

Customize the questions to the roleIt’s important you tailor the interview questions for each caregiver role just like you do for pre-screen surveys.

Complete several rounds of interviewsAn initial phone screen is great to gauge the applicant’s social skills and their sense of excitement for the role. Another two rounds of in-person interviews should be sufficient to know whether a candidate has the requisite skill set and will be a cultural fit for your agency.

Maintain objectivityAsk candidates the same questions when they’re interviewing for an open role. The conversation should be comprehensive but provide you with metrics that you can use to objectively score each candidate. Asking the same set of questions will also help you comply with U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regulations.


H O W YO U C A N G E T S TA R T E D

You can attract and recruit top home care candidates by adjusting your hiring process to be more strategic and efficient. Learn more about how Hireology has helped home health agencies and other businesses across industries improve the hiring process.

[1] https://www.ncoa.org/news/resources-for-reporters/usoa-survey/infographic/

[2] https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/research-and-surveys/Documents/2016-Human-Capital-Report.pdf

[3] http://www.nahc.org/assets/1/7/FM15-801.pdf

[4] https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2017/08/15/could-this-idea-help-fix-americas-shortage-of-home-care-workers/#248650a2961c

[5] https://www.homecaremag.com/operations-management/february-2016/preventing-caregiver-turnover

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