Home health aides and personal care aides account for some of the highest levels of turnover in the home-based care industry. They also account for some of the highest areas of growth in the job market. In a recent webinar, Hayley Gleason with the Home Care Aide Council presented information on aide turnover and the numbers serve as a stark reminder of the problem. Their research found that turnover rates for home care aides ranged from 35 to 65 percent each year. The council found that agencies spend between $3,500 to $10,000 to replace a single aide.
Gleason explained the problem as a triple threat: exploding demand for aides, a limited supply of aides, and falling unemployment. Axxess has touched on the incredible demand for aides and the shrinking supply in our white paper: “Staffing Care in the Home: A Critical Need and Creative Solutions.” The improving economy is a recent development that is also factoring into the shortage. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the overall unemployment rate at 3.8 percent, which is the lowest it has been in 18 years.
Low unemployment means there are a large number of jobs available for workers of every skill level. That increases the challenge for agencies to find innovative ways to retain the aides they have, and attract new people to fill vacancies. Gleason offered suggestions for strategies to reduce the likelihood an aide will leave an agency.
The strategies focused on two areas: feeling respected and feeling valued. These could be accomplished by making a personal connection between each aide and their employer. Gleason recommended a concerted effort to communicate with the aide via text, phone call, or email so they know someone is interested in how their visit/shift went. She also suggested helping them understand the culture and feel included in the agency.
Giving aides a consistent schedule also goes a long way to improving their morale, Gleson said. This may be a challenge for agencies, but Gleason said it was one of the top things that helped improve aide satisfaction. Increasing hourly wages is often hard to do as margins shrink with the shift to value-based care. However, Gleason suggested agencies try to connect aides with new clients sooner so they can get more hours and end up with a higher paycheck.
The continual turnover of staff can also have a negative impact on patients. Gleason pointed out that interacting with the same aide is ideal for the patient’s continuum of care. Sending a different aide to a patient can create anxiety among the patient and the aide. The consistency of interacting with the same patient also helps improve job satisfaction. In the worst-case scenario, patients can go unseen when an agency cannot find an aide for the visit.
Respect can go a long way to help keep aides happy and connected to their agency. This is one of the many creative solutions Axxess has highlighted in our latest white paper. Millennials have shown a strong desire to help others, and that can make home health aide and personal care aide jobs a natural fit. “Staffing Care in the Home: A Critical Need and Creative Solutions” offers four strategies that can specifically help an agency attract and retain millennial workers.
Download it here and read more of Axxess’ library of white papers that focus on key issues such as the value of care in the home, mobile technology’s impact, streamlining agency operations, and many more. These white papers can be found under the Resources section of Axxess.com.
