Right at Home understands that caregivers are the cornerstone of our shared network, and we work with franchisees every step of the way to make sure they have the tools, tech, and personal support needed to attract and keep the very best caregivers.
What’s the first and most important step when it comes to launching your own Right at Home franchise?
It all starts with the caregiver. Before you can build your brand, before you can expand your territory, before you can even work with clients, you need to bring together the people who will carry out your mission.
“The caregiver is going to come first,” says Jessica Schultz, “and that’s going to be the real key.”
As Director of Franchise People Strategy for Right at Home, Jessica is the person you’ll reach at corporate when you need help recruiting, retaining, and rewarding the caregivers who will shape your franchise.
As Jessica explains, “I help all of our franchise owners and directors out in the system with any of their hiring needs and any of their retention questions.”
But this description really only scratches the surface of what Jessica and her team do for franchisees. As a part of the Right at Home network, every franchise owner has access to a powerful suite of tools, resources, and personal support. We had a chance to chat with Jessica about this unique support system and how it can help franchisees manage the challenges of recruitment and retention.
Beginning with Best Practices
Jessica explains that effective recruitment starts by getting to the root of the caregiver experience. She notes that “we’ve really learned over the years that it’s good to go back to the basics and to really understand–what is a caregiver looking for in a job? And how do we become the employer of choice in that process?”
Arriving at an answer to this question takes some experience. Fortunately, this is precisely where the value of being in the Right at Home network becomes apparent. Jessica points out, “We have a whole team here to support you at the corporate office, and we’ve put together what we call best practices.”
These best practices form a playbook for connecting with compassionate caregivers and giving them the support they need to do their best work. This playbook, Jessica says, has been borne out of real-world experience.
She notes that “there are a lot of best practices that we’ve implemented where we’ve gone through a couple of our best offices, [those] that have the best results when it comes to retention rates and caregiver survey scores.”
As Jessica explains, we take note of our most successful franchises, especially those that have a good track record for caregiver retention. We take the time to understand what they’re doing and why it works. And we share our findings with the broader Right at Home network.
Rewards, Recognition, and Retention
One of our key findings is that effective onboarding is critical to improving retention. “This is why,” Jessica says, “we really try to focus on that first 90 days, because typically, if you can keep them through 90 days, you’re really highly likely to keep them up to a year.”
Jessica notes that there are plenty of steps franchisees can take during that onboarding phase to maximize the chances of retaining new hires, including “just making sure you’re having regular touch points with your caregivers, and that you’re setting them up for success in terms of investing in a rewards and recognition platform.”
Let’s dig a little deeper into the rewards and recognition platform. The work we do as caregivers is incredibly important. But it’s also physically and emotionally demanding. As Jessica points out, “This is a very lonely job.”
In many cases, caregivers are ”going from their home to the client’s home and back home again…You don’t get to interact with your co-workers like you would in a [typical] caregiver setting, right?”
Regular and meaningful recognition can help raise morale, prevent burnout, and create a sense of community. Right at Home understands and supports the importance of acknowledgement.
“This is why,” explains Jessica, “we just recently partnered with a platform called Caribou Rewards, and we have a system now in place where you can easily acknowledge caregivers.”
With Caribou, franchisees have a number of different ways to spotlight their most dedicated caregivers with birthday greetings, work anniversary acknowledgements, and performance-based incentives.
Caregiver of the Year
For those caregivers who truly go above and beyond for their clients, there’s always a chance of being recognized as Right at Home’s Caregiver of the Year. Earning this recognition is part of a rigorous process that involves nominations and testimonies from franchise owners throughout our network, as well as input from an independent selection committee.
It all culminates with a moving video presentation during our widely-attended annual Home Improvement conference.
“We put them on the big stage, and we award them the Caregiver of the Year,” says Jessica. “And it’s just so heartfelt and, seriously, not a dry eye in the house.”
“There’s a reason it’s such a big deal.” As Jessica continues, “it just really brings home how valued and important our caregivers are, and what an impact they have on this business and our franchise owners’ businesses.”
Reversing High Turnover With Centralized Support
Right at Home understands that caregivers are the cornerstone of our shared network. That’s why Jessica and her team are always available to support franchisees, especially those grappling with caregiver turnover.
Jessica and her team will work with you to find the root causes of your retention issues.
“We can try to figure out–’At what point is that happening?’ And then drill down into your processes to figure out what could be happening.”
This is one of the distinguishing features of the Right at Home franchisee experience. We work with franchisees every step of the way to make sure they have all the tools, tech, and personal support they need to attract and keep the very best caregivers in the field.
Back to Basics
So, what advice would we offer to franchisees and prospective franchisees working to connect with committed caregivers, as well as keep the team members they already have?
“It’s about getting back to the basics and really just focusing on your caregivers first,” remarks Jessica.
She advises franchisees to think back to the things that drew them to Right at Home and to look for the same priorities in caregivers. “Because they’re searching for a place, too, where they can find their home.”
“When you start to share stories and your reasoning for being here,” states Jessica, “you can really find the heart of the caregiver.”
If you’re interested in taking the next step in making a difference in your community as a Right at Home franchisee, visit https://rightathomefranchise.com/.
If you are interested in franchise opportunities, visit our available territories map.
If you want to read about some of our Right at Home franchise owners, visit us at Franchisee Interviews.
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About Right at Home
Founded in 1995, Right at Home offers in-home care to seniors and adults with disabilities who want to live independently. Most Right at Home offices are independently owned and operated, and directly employ and supervise all caregiving staff. Each caregiver is thoroughly screened, trained, and bonded/insured before entering a client’s home. Right at Home’s global office is based in Omaha, Nebraska, with more than 750 franchise locations in the U.S. and four other countries. If you are interested in learning more or in owning a Right at Home franchise, please visit us at: https://rightathomefranchise.com/ or to read more about franchise ownership, visit our blog at: https://rightathomefranchise.com/forc/
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