The home-based care industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States with over 10,000 adults turning 65 each day. Measure your agency’s performance against these top industry metrics to see if your business is thriving in the ever-evolving landscape of home care—or merely surviving.
98% of agency owners admit that the caregiver shortage has had a negative impact on their business—which means only 2% of providers felt like they had adequate staff to run their agency.
To make matters worse, agencies who reported that the shortage caused an extremely negative impact jumped by nearly 10% from last year. We surveyed over 760 providers, representing over 1,461 locations, to uncover the top 3 Key Performance Indicators that you need to track and improve for your business to thrive.
You’ll end this year on top if:
- You have a below-average care staff turnover rate
- You’re building strong relationships with clients and referral sources
- You offer your staff career advancement
You Have a Below-Average Care Staff Turnover Rate
The average agency will hire around 81 caregivers this year, but our research shows that 65% of them will quit by the end of the year. At $2,600 per caregiver, that means it will cost your agency approximately $136,890 in annual caregiver turnover costs to replace them.
While the number of agencies that experienced caregiver shortages has increased, the rate of caregiver turnover has stayed nearly the same for the past 3 years.
Therefore, agencies with an employee turnover rate lower than the average of 65% recognize that the issue with employee turnover doesn’t lie in the recruitment of employees, but in the retention of them.
How to thrive with this KPI:
As 85% of all home care providers have had to turn down client cases due to a lack of staff, agencies that are thriving are prioritizing building a strong caregiver recruitment and retention program at the top of their to-do list. Start building yours by:
- Offering orientation and ongoing training: The average agency currently only offers 5 hours of orientation training and 8 hours of ongoing training. But those who offer at least 8 hours of training in orientation and 12 ongoing training hours are making $701,072 more in revenue each year than agencies who only train the minimum hours needed for compliance.
- Fostering a culture of recognition: Gather feedback about what makes your staff feel validated and regularly recognize their accomplishments according to their professional “love language.”
You’re Building Strong Relationships with Clients and Referral Sources
What your clients think about you generates over 35% of your agency’s total income, making their opinion worth $582,700 for the average agency.
As a result, providers who are thriving despite the caregiver shortages are focusing their energy on building strong relationships with their clients and other referral sources.
In fact, agency owners who do this are doing better than they have for the last 4 years. Providers experienced 7.3% client growth on average last year, surpassing the mere 5% growth seen in 2020; client growth hasn’t been this high since before 2018. Median revenue also has continued to grow. In the last 4 years, median revenue has grown by 7.1%.
How to thrive with this KPI:
Your clients notice when your employees have the skills and tools they need in their roles. Likewise, it’s just as clear when your care staff doesn’t feel confident in fulfilling their job responsibilities. Potential referrers want to be confident you’re able to care for new clients they send your way, so address your clients’ (and staff’s) number one complaint this year: lack of adequate training.
To ensure everyone is delivering consistent quality care on behalf of your agency, your caregivers need to have enough training to feel confident in their role before their first scheduled shift in the field. Train your caregivers in the following basics that will equip your employees with the skills they need to confidently care for your clients, according to the latest HCP Benchmarking Report:
You Offer Your Staff Career Advancement Opportunities
With 10 million job openings in the US right now, agencies are having to strengthen their offerings to compete in the job market.
Big chain employers all over the country combatted pandemic-induced employee shortages by raising their minimum wages, making it more difficult for independent home care agencies to compete.
But agencies who are thriving know it’s about more than increasing pay to combat workforce shortages.
How to thrive with this KPI:
Providers thriving in the industry understand that in order for their staff to invest their best efforts towards working for their agency, they must first invest in their staff.
Actively demonstrate your involvement in your staff’s professional development by:
- Showcasing your agency’s career ladder: As 3/4 of caregivers enter the industry with the intent to pursue a career in nursing or healthcare, providers are promoting their agency’s career development opportunities. Allow your care staff to advance in their own interests by offering specialized training to see an increase in both client and staff satisfaction.
- Offering the top benefits: 90% of all home care agencies now provide their employees with benefits and are improving their compensation packages for less than the cost of high salary bumps. The top benefits from providers are travel reimbursement, PTO, major health insurance, dental/supplement, sick leave, and daily/weekly payment options.
- Periodically reevaluating your wages to stay current: Agencies everywhere are increasing their employee wages by $1-2 for the following positions: Companion/Homemaker, Personal Care Attendant, Certified Nurse Assistant, and Registered Nurse.
Data: The Secret to go from Surviving to Thriving
Thriving in this industry is an ongoing conscious practice—one you can’t do without data.
Measure yourself against more top industry metrics like these with the HCP Benchmarking Report to ensure your business isn’t falling into survival mode.About HCP: HCP leads the home-based care industry in experience management, training, and reputation management. Through its Care Intelligence Platform, HCP empowers providers in home care, home health, and hospice to attract and retain employees during workforce shortages. HCP also conducts the annual HCP Benchmarking Report, the most comprehensive survey of providers in North America, and administers Best of Home Care awards to agencies that achieve best-in-class satisfaction scores. For more information, visit https://www.homecarepulse.com/.