Because caregivers are at the frontline of any senior homecare business, Right at Home has created a fine-tuned system for recruiting, training, and retaining the best caregivers. With over two decades of experience in the industry and over 15,000 caregivers hired since our inception, Right at Home has been able to create a comprehensive system to manage the hiring process and match the best candidates for the job. We’ve made this process easy for franchisees – they just have to execute the steps that we have established and tested.                                                                

Who is a caregiver?

Some of our caregivers are nursing students at local colleges or universities and are seeking real-life experience to add to the knowledge they are gaining in the classroom. Others are seniors themselves who are in good health and looking for fulfilling, part-time work (in fact, we were the first home health care agency to become a part of the AARP National Employer Team). Some become caregivers because their work with Right at Home simply lines up with their mission of providing a service to their community. At Right at Home we often compare the work of our caregivers to a volunteer role, but one in which they are getting compensated for their time and commitment. Whatever their motivation, Right at Home caregivers are a valuable part of our business model. We must recruit the best caregivers while also providing franchisees with effective tools to train and retain them.

Business tools that automate processes and save time

Our ultimate objective is to make sure our franchisees find the right people to represent the Right at Home mission and values. First, we evaluate and endorse specific vendors for background checks on any new hire, and we manage the relationships with those companies on an ongoing basis, helping save franchisees valuable time. Next, we provide franchisees with a personality profile we have developed, which will help them identify whether the potential employee would be a good fit for our business. In addition, we’ve created an orientation video that all caregivers across the country see during training so that we have the same, consistent messaging and expectations for all caregivers. We have also implemented an online applicant tracking system that streamlines, tracks, and uses technology to move applicants through the application process. As a franchisee grows their business, they will need to continue to hire caregivers to fill those new shifts. We have developed these tools to make it easier for franchisees to consistently and efficiently onboard new employees.

Training and retention of care staff

Once hired, it is equally important to set our caregivers up for long-term success. We provide several programs to help train and retain our caregivers. Caregivers receive access to more than fifty different online modules instructing them on how to properly handle different situations they will encounter, including Food Prep and Safety, Understanding Common Medications, and The Patient Bill of Rights, among others. This online learning center provides training on standard procedures as well as education on our brand so that all caregivers understand the mission of Right at Home. This is important for a couple of reasons. We want to provide our clients peace of mind that our caregivers have the best training available while also giving our caregivers the confidence that they are prepared for all situations.

Additionally, through our Right Care program, we survey caregivers and clients to get their feedback and recommendations based on their experience with us. This is something that our corporate office funds because we rely on this feedback in part to constantly improve our business model.

We also have created a Care Rewards initiative, which is an incentive program to reward caregivers for doing excellent work. Whether it’s consistently showing up on time or doing something above and beyond for a client, we want to demonstrate to our caregivers that we appreciate them and the positive impact they are making on those they serve.

This brings me to my next point – the importance of retaining great caregivers. One thing that our founder, Allen Hager, learned when he worked as a caregiver early in his career was that it is essential to genuinely treat all employees with respect. Like any employee in any business, you get back what you put in, and showing respect and sincere concern for your staff will create an all-around positive work environment for everyone.

The benefits of finding the right match between caregiver and client

We always emphasize the importance of matching the right caregiver with the right client, because if we do this correctly we have a better chance of creating a meaningful, long-term client relationship. A client is happy when they have a caregiver they know and trust. Meanwhile, a caregiver is happier because she/he is in a work environment that she/he enjoys. If the individual enjoys their job, they are more likely to stay – which helps control costs while also guaranteeing a higher level of client and caregiver satisfaction.

Why did we invest in these tools for our franchisees?

At Right at Home we created this comprehensive package of recruiting, training, and retention tools because we know that finding great caregivers is one of the big keys to success in our business. Additionally, we know that it is our responsibility to make the hiring process as smooth as possible for our franchisees.  Because Right at Home has been able to find and keep quality caregivers, our business model has continued to improve and provide an unmatchable service to our clients. Through both our caregivers and our franchisees, we continue to take great pride in executing our mission – to improve the quality of life for those we serve.