With home care workers being increasingly hard to come by, the ability to attract and retain is now more important than ever for providers’ success, according to Nikki Holles, the vice president of people at Right at Home.

“Strong recruitment and retention strategies, and effectively executing on those strategies, will be the key to success for the future of home care,” Holles said in an interview with McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse.  

The company has demonstrated recruiting success this year. The firm, which provides nonmedical home care services at more than 400 franchise locations across the United States, set a goal of adding 26,000 new caregivers in 2024. So far, it has hired more than 15,000, according to a release. 

Right at Home’s focus on hiring is indicative of a “philosophical shift” in home care, Holles said. Years ago, it was more important for firms to attract new clients, she explained. Now, as the baby boom generation reaches old age, demand for home care is ever-present, and providers’ success hinges on their ability to meet that demand. But with available workers being in short supply, that can be a challenge for many home care companies.

“Several years in this industry, it was very easy to find caregivers and it was more difficult to sell to the clients, so there was a lot of focus and energy put on the client side of the business,” Holles said. “Now that’s not to say that still isn’t important — it very clearly is — but the shift has taken place where now clients need care, and we’re only going to be able to be there for them if we have the caregivers. With this shortage in caregivers, we’ve had to really be intentional about how we work with our care staff all the way from the minute they apply for a position, through the tenure of their employment and as they leave the role.”

Though recruitment is crucial, Holles said that retaining workers is even more important. However, retention is not an exact science, so Right at Home uses a variety of strategies to keep employees onboard.

The company offers specialty programs to train and educate caregivers, which encompass topics such as palliative care, dementia care, LGBTQ-inclusive care. Additionally, Holles said that providing adequate pay and benefits are critical to retaining employees. And offerings like paid time or medical benefits, which would have been “unheard of” in years past, can play a significant role in keeping employees around.

“Retention is your best recruiter,” Holles said. “If you don’t have retention, your recruiting efforts will fail … When you have a good retention program, it makes recruiting just that much easier.”

Clarification: This study was updated to reflect the number of Right at Home franchise locations across the US.