The Buyer’s Journey for Caregivers
You’ve probably created a client experience journey for consumers, but what about the caregivers? Here are some ideas and guidance for your caregiver journey.
When your home care agency started, you may have sat down with your team to create a map or template of the marketing process your clients go through from the first inquiry call to maintaining loyalty after becoming a client.
Has this process, or journey, been implemented equally for your caregivers? Follow along as we outline the customer journey for home care caregivers.
Awareness/Attraction
Awareness is the first stage of the customer journey process. For caregivers, this part of the journey means understanding what home care is and becoming familiar with your home care agency as a potential employer.
What are some things that happen during this stage?
- An applicant sees an ad, job posting, or brochure about your company
- The applicant applies for the job
- You receive the application and evaluate them to see if you want to do a phone screen
What can you do at this stage to stand out among competitors?
- Create insightful job postings that speak to caregivers
- Limit the number of steps and barriers that applicants have to go through in order to apply for a job (such as using Indeed’s easy apply jobs)
- Have a member of your staff respond to each applicant to let them know that their application was received (even if you have an auto-responder on)
The first stage of the caregiver journey is all about spreading your company’s name and awareness of what you do. Help caregivers see the value in working for your home care agency by explaining what your agency does differently.
Conversion/Recruitment
The second stage of the customer journey process is conversion or recruitment. The purpose of these efforts is to convert the applicant into a caregiver.
It’s not just a matter of evaluating the applicant for how good of a fit they are or extending them an offer. The conversion stage is also about presenting your home care agency as a great workplace and somewhere that this caregiver can work and advance in for a while.
Here are some tasks that take place during this stage:
- Phone interview
- In-Person interview
- Deciding to extend an offer/Applicant deciding to accept an offer
Here are some ways that you can stand out during the conversion stage:
- Maintain an optimistic tone while on the phone and establish rapport with the applicant
- Create a relaxing and welcoming interviewing room that will help applicants feel more welcome. Offer water or snacks if you have them available.
- Have some of your caregivers participate in the evaluation process to see if they can lend help or their knowledge in deciding if someone is a good fit for your team and culture.
Treat the interview as a deal, in the sense that it’s an equal opportunity for both parties to express their thoughts, opinions, and agreement. As an agency, does this person fit with your values and goals?
For applicants, it’s an opportunity to evaluate if this is somewhere that they envision themselves enjoying work while improving their community. Once you extend an offer to an applicant, and they choose to accept it, there is still a lot more to be done.
Retention
The third stage of the caregiver’s journey is retention. According to HCAOA, the average caregiver turnover rate is 65.2% for 2020. Retention is a hard game to master, however, with the right tools, it’s all achievable.
Here are some tasks that occur at this stage:
- Orientation
- Continuing education/training
- Communication
- Recognition
What can you do to stay above water and retain caregivers better than the rest?
- Continually communicate with your caregivers, whether it’s about their schedule, a client, or their personal lives
- Train your caregivers to remain compliant, but also take time to ask caregivers what topics they want to learn more about
- Understand how your caregivers like to be recognized and take advantage of timely opportunities to recognize them individually and collectively
Caregivers are the backbone of the healthcare system. For your clients, they are a lifeline. By treating your caregivers well and recognizing them when they do, you will retain your caregivers.
Loyalty
The fourth stage of the caregiver’s journey is loyalty. Caregiver recruitment and retention are talked about a lot in the home care industry, but what does it mean for a caregiver to be loyal?
Loyalty means having a positive reputation, and that doesn’t just mean reviews. How do your employees talk about your agency when they’re not at work? What do you think they would say?
What happens during the loyalty stage?
- Giving feedback/evaluating performance
- Moving away from a job mentality to a career mentality
- Employees become advocates
How can you create agency loyalty that’s above and beyond?
- Make sure to create regular cadences of feedback and performance evaluations with goals and raises in mind.
- Help your caregivers draw up a career plan, what’s next for them in their career? Think of ways you can guide caregivers along the way and move them up the ladder.
- Be there for your employees when they need you most. When they are experiencing car problems or have other loved ones to take care of, respond tactfully and with compassion.
Try putting yourself through a caregiver’s onboarding process: do you notice any hiccups or gaps in what should be covered? You could also ask some of your caregivers to share their thoughts on recruitment operations and how things are being done to attract new caregivers.
Finding great caregivers is easy, keeping them is the harder battle.
Recruitment is only the beginning of hiring a caregiver. That’s when the real work begins. How are you going to keep your caregivers loyal?
If you are looking to create a sustainable recruitment journey with caregivers for your home care agency, it needs to have a start and finish line. That is an infinite finish line, because you have to achieve it every single day. It’s not a checkbox; it’s a daily reminder.
Whether you’re new to the game or you’ve been in the industry for years, we can help you create a solid plan for your agency’s future. By scheduling a 30-minute call with one of our recruitment experts, we can help you finish the last quarter of 2021 on a good note.
