By Stephen Tweed
It’s pretty clear that the quantity and quality of caregivers you have will determine your ability to grow your home care or hospice business. Research at Leading Home Care and
Caregiver Quality Assurance show that in 2015, the biggest barrier to growing your agency will be your ability to attract and retain high quality caregivers.
A new report with ongoing research by the Gallup Organization shows a direct connection between employee engagement and company performance. Between January 2013 and December 2014, Gallup interviewed 166,409 employed adults. The results are quite startling, but not surprising for those of us in the home care industry who have faced low levels of employee engagement for years.
US Employee Engagement
% of Employees 2013 2014
Engaged 29.6% 31.5%
Not Engaged 51.5% 51.0%
Actively Disengaged 18.8% 17.5%
Gallup defines …
Engaged – Employees who are involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work and workplace.
Not Engaged – Employees who have essentially “checked out.”
Actively Disengaged – Employees who are not just unhappy at work; these employees undermine the accomplishments of their engaged co-workers.
Engagement Varies by Geography
The study was able to determine that the level of employee engagement varies by geography. The states with the highest employee engagement were:
- Montana – 39%
- Mississippi – 37%
- Louisiana – 36%
The states with the lowest level of engagement:
- Connecticut – 21%
- New York – 21%
- Michigan – 21%
According to a report on the study in USA Today, the data show that businesses with engaged employees have a 22% higher profitability than other companies.
Caregiver Quality Assurance Measures Employee Engagement
The data from this study reinforces what we know about engagement in home care. When employees are engaged with the company and with the job, they stay longer.
Employee turnover goes down, client satisfaction goes up, client referrals and word of mouth marketing go up, and costs go down. The result is a faster growing, more profitable home care company.
According to the 2015 Private Duty Benchmarking Study from Home Care Pulse, caregiver turnover took a huge leap this year from 53.2% in 2013 to 61.6% in 2014. According to Gallup, work units in the top quartile for employee engagement have from 25% to 65% lower turnover than work units in the bottom quartile for employee engagement. For all practical purposes, companies with high employee engagement have lower employee turnover.
The CQA pre-employment assessment shows graphically the extent to which a prospective caregiver believes they are engaged with the company and the job. It’s important to explore this in your behavioral interview as we see some candidates exaggerating their level of engagement. However, the assessment report gives you a sound basis for organizing your interview and getting at the real issues. We encourage you to look more closely at this issue of employee engagement as you look for ways to improve caregiver retention in the coming year. For a FREE 30 Day Trial of the Caregiver Quality Assurance pre-employment assessment, click the link or call Diane West at 502-339-2132.
