Hiring and retaining quality caregivers has long been a challenge for home care businesses, as recruiting resources can be low and finding the time for the process can be tricky.

Increasing minimum wage and a competitive job market has made things even harder, with many companies responding by changing how they hire. But doing so carefully is important, since lax hiring practices can lead to a costly employment practices claim.

If your business is considering changing your hiring practices, make sure the changes you make don’t expose you to excess risk. Here are tips to improve hiring practices and reduce turnover, without increasing the risk of a claim to your business.

Improve Hiring Practices for Your Home Care Business

Expedite the process

Your job opening may compete with those of other home care businesses as well as positions in other industries. That makes speed an important factor, and businesses that can expedite their process will have more luck filling positions.

A typical hiring process has numerous friction points that can lead job candidates to look elsewhere or take another offer before you can even make an offer. To speed things up, look at your current process to see what can be expedited.

• Ask candidates to complete an application rather than submitting resumes that a hiring manager will have to pore over later.
• Create a short, customized application that asks only the most necessary info and can be completed in a few minutes.
• Implement a process to call a candidate immediately to set up an interview when you receive their application.
• If you require a drug test for employment, consider options that offer faster results, such as mouth swab tests, which are ready in about 10 minutes.
• If you require a skills test, consider testing candidates with tasks that can be completed in a matter of minutes as opposed to those lasting hours.

As you look to speed up your hiring process for support staff, remember to keep protections in place to minimize risk for your caregivers and business. Maintain background checks and other procedures while making the process around them more efficient.

Host hiring events

Traditionally, it could take days or weeks for applicants to hear back about an application. However, these delays in the hiring process can frustrate applicants and lower your chance of finding good support staff hires. If your business is growing or has several open positions, consider hosting an on-site, in-person hiring event.

On-site hiring events can expedite the hiring process and give you a chance to meet candidates face to face, potentially leading to higher-quality hires. Events can include an application submission, interview, background check and drug screening, making it possible to make an offer to a qualified candidate as soon as the same day.

To minimize your risk of a claim during on-site and in-person hiring events, make sure to take the proper precautions:

• Require an application to control what information is volunteered by candidates.
• Know what questions you can and can’t ask applicants during a job interview.
• Treat everyone the same, standardizing the process for applications, interviews and checks.
• If candidates volunteer personal information, don’t use it to make your hiring decision.

Provide incentives

Providing incentives to new hires can be an effective method for hiring quality caregivers.

Incentives can range from sign-on bonuses, performance awards, paid vacations and employee benefit packages to free snacks, social outings, referral bonuses, professional development and other workplace perks. Consider a mix of one-time, recurring and continuous incentives of different levels and costs that appeal to your workforce and are appropriate for your business.

Minimize your risk when developing an incentive program by putting the terms in writing in your employee handbook. Be fair to new and existing workers and offer incentives to all caregivers who meet the requirements you set.

Reduce Turnover at Your Home Care Business

Provide development opportunities

A plan for development and advancement shows caregivers they have a bright future to work toward.

• Offer mentorship and coaching opportunities with more senior caregivers to encourage knowledge sharing and team connection.
• Offer training and continuing education opportunities for caregivers.
• Consider training opportunities in specialized areas like dementia care to empower caregivers with new skills.
• Make training more accessible by offering online courses that allow caregivers to learn at their own pace.
• Acknowledge employees who learn new skills.
• Create a career path framework for your caregivers.

Show you care

• Check in often with your caregivers. Are they satisfied with their work? Are they struggling with certain aspects or clients? How is their mental and physical health?
• Incorporate smart scheduling. Unpredictable scheduling is a major challenge for caregivers, often leading to burnout and dissatisfaction. Smart scheduling technology can help optimize assignments, improve efficiency and give caregivers greater control over their work-life balance.
• Actively listen and communicate. A study from Gallup shows that when a manager has one meaningful conversation a week with each direct report, employees are four times as likely to be highly engaged.
• Be aware of the job’s demands. With long days and increased risk of workplace injuries, create space for conversations with your caregivers about their physical and mental wellbeing.
• Address conflicts. Show you care about your caregiver welfare by addressing conflicts between clients and caregivers promptly.
• Improve the caregiver-client matching process. Improved compatibility between your caregivers and their clients can improve job satisfaction for your caregivers and care satisfaction for your clients.

Rewards and recognition

• Pay and benefits. Offering competitive compensation, comprehensive benefits, and timely performance bonuses is essential for retaining caregivers. Leveraging technology can ensure accurate, prompt payroll and benefits administration. Maintaining transparency, consistently recognizing outstanding work, and regularly updating compensation packages helps build loyalty and reduce turnover.
• Consider cash bonuses as well as non-cash perks that improve workplace culture. When offering these employee bonuses and perks, make sure to be fair and equitable. Put in writing what incentives will be available when and how and ensure that all employees have an opportunity to benefit from the incentives you make available.
• Beyond pay and rewards, recognition can help your caregivers feel valued. Consider publicly recognizing your caregivers for a job well done or send a thank you note. Celebrate work anniversaries outstanding performances and positive client feedback, too.

How to Protect Your Business from Claims Related to Hiring Practices

As you work to improve hiring practices and reduce your turnover, take care to minimize your chance of a claim. Employment practices liability (EPL) claims can result when an employer and employee have a dispute over hiring practices, working conditions or the termination of employment.

While home care businesses have little control over broader employment trends in the industry, it is possible to take steps to help reduce your own employee turnover. Improving your hiring practices and reducing turnover has many benefits, including better workplace culture, higher client satisfaction and a lower risk of EPL claims.

Along with helpful tips for managing risk at your business, Lockton Affinity Home Care offers customized insurance policies to help protect your business and employees. Learn how our Employment Practices Liability Insurance can help protect your business today.