Best Life Brands CEO on the Staffing Crisis in Home Care

The most challenging issue in home-based care continues to be staffing, a fact that every provider that makes up the space is aware of.

Home care’s turnover rate is about 65%. Additionally, as the population of seniors continues to grow and more people wish to age at home, the size of the caregiver pool is just not adequate.

As the leader of a holding company that has over 500 home care franchise locations across the U.S. and Canada, Best Life Brands CEO J.J. Sorrenti knows these issues intimately.

Advertisement

Best Life Brands, based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, has a portfolio of companies across the care continuum that includes ComForCare — known in the Houston area as At Your Side — in addition to other senior-focused companies Blue Moon Estate Sales, CarePatrol and most recently, Boost Home Healthcare.

Despite some of the industry-wide issues, Sorrenti spoke to Home Health Care News about some of the changes the company has made to adjust to the new hiring environment and what else can be done to address the ongoing staffing problem.

You can read HHCN’s conversation with Sorrenti below, edited for length and clarity.

Advertisement

HHCN: Staffing shortages continue to be an issue in the home-based care industry. What, in your mind, are some of the main factors driving this shortage?

J.J. Sorrenti: I wish it was something as simple as one thing.

As we look at surveys and talk to our franchisees, low wages is an issue. The wage pressure that caregivers receive is a problem. Certain businesses don’t necessarily provide career advancement, so there’s limited opportunity for that, and I think people get frustrated by that potential and they start to look at other opportunities. There’s also not always great health benefits or travel reimbursements in the home care space.

Those are the three things that come to mind, but there are other things as well like competition with other industries for talent — big box retailers, restaurants, fast food restaurants, grocery stores and all those places.

The competition is fierce right now.

Aside from better wages, what do you think employees want, from your experience?

We have an engagement platform that we collect data from that includes our caregivers, nurses and recruiters, so we have lots of data here.

Above all else, what we hear is that caregivers want transparent communication. They want recognition for the work that they do. They are interested in competitive wages, but they also want to feel like they’re making a difference and that they’re being treated fairly.

We just did a survey of our caregivers, and 94% of them feel like their job has special meaning. That’s a big number. And that’s really important because our franchisees are aware of caregivers wanting transparent communication and genuine recognition.

That doesn’t cost anything except a little bit of time and some attention. Then you can become an employer of choice when you then put competitive wages into the formula.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the way you hire and recruit?

It’s changed our processes internally. The hiring process is almost all virtual now — and that’s not always easy to do, especially when you want to make sure that the caregiver is going to be good to work with the client that we already know. That’s been a big change.

Then, the demand for home care has certainly gone up since the start of the pandemic. Remember, many caregivers were unable to work during the pandemic because they needed to care for their children who were at home from school. As the world becomes a little more normal, I think there will be more caregivers in the marketplace to help us meet the demand.

What should the government’s role be in helping the home-based care staffing issue?

I think the government could offset some of the expenses associated with home care for families beyond labor programs that exist in some states. I think that would allow home care agencies to pay caregivers a better wage, while keeping home care affordable for the consumers. Helping beyond the Medicare waiver programs.

There are new regulations that the current administration is proposing that will establish a minimum nursing facility staffing requirement within the next year. The work we do at CarePatrol, where we help clients find the best community for their seniors, we want to make sure those facilities are safe and that they’re staffed appropriately. If there were some kind of government rule there, I think that would be helpful.

What is one piece of hiring advice you’d give to home-based care providers?

We’re talking with our franchisees right now about making sure that their hiring process is still thorough, but as short and as expedited as possible. Then, engage with those applicants very quickly because there’s a lot of competition out there.

Another thing providers and caregivers can do is help build value by not just helping recruit new people into the caregiver world, but to get the word out on the importance of being a caregiver.

Companies featured in this article: