How the Right Caregiver Training Can Reduce Turnover

Hiring and retaining employees is a huge focus for most home care agencies this year. Turnover is at an all-time high, but, as it turns out, recognizing caregivers for their hard work and offering them opportunities to continue their education may help agencies reduce turnover.

Providing ongoing training to caregivers also correlates with the rate of turnover. In fact, the more orientation training new caregivers receive, the less likely they are to leave an agency, findings from the 2017 Home Care Benchmarking study suggest.

The study, conducted by satisfaction management firm Home Care Pulse, included participation from 646 home care providers and 1,047 total home care locations. Sixty-four percent of those surveyed are part of a franchise, 28.4% are independent/corporate-owned and 3.9% are part of a home health/Medicare-certified agency.

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Of the home care agencies surveyed, those that gave caregivers five or more hours of orientation training in 2015 saw a median turnover rate of 61.1%, while those agencies that gave caregivers less than five hours of training saw a median turnover rate of 77.3%.

In 2015, 72% of providers used professional training programs, the study found.

Caregivers are interested in ongoing trainings, as well as acquiring specific skills. Above all, caregivers are looking for additional CPR, first aid and medical training, the study revealed.

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Caregivers also crave hands on/client specific training, dementia/Alzheimer’s training, and certified nursing assistant (CNA) training, in addition to any extra training that is offered.

In addition to providing ongoing training and education, agencies may also want to try showing recognition to their caregivers in various ways.

The majority of agencies—92%—showed recognition for their caregivers in 2015 with gift cards. About 77% of agencies surveyed gave hand-written thank you cards, 70% gave pay raises, 69% gave bonuses and 62% made telephone calls.

Caregivers’ preferred forms of recognition were different, however.

Above all, caregivers would prefer to be recognized with verbal recognition by a supervisor, followed by vacation time/bonuses/perks/gift cards and pay raises, respectively.

Written by Alana Stramowski

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