In 2023, Right at Home’s caregiver count checked in at 45,453 across the company’s vast franchise network. The company is now hoping to add at least 26,000 caregivers to meet the current demand for care services by the end of 2024.
The impetus behind Right at Home’s hiring initiative was the increased growth in client populations that the company was seeing, Nikki Holles, vice president of people strategy for Right at Home, told Home Health Care News.
“The world is continuing to age, and not only are we continuing to age, but we’re continuing to see people who, otherwise, would have gone into a facility realizing that their options include home care,” she said. “With that population continuing to grow, we know there’s an average number of hours that are generally used by clients. As our clients grow, we’re going to have to continue to increase the number of caregivers available to take care of those clients.”
Based in Omaha, Nebraska, Right at Home has more than 700 home care franchise locations across the U.S. and six other countries. The company recently earned a spot on Entrepreneur’s annual Franchise 500 list.
In addition to hiring to meet the care services needs of the senior population, Right at Home is also hoping to get ahead of turnover associated with the caregiver role.
“We also recognize that there are a lot of people who take caregiver roles while they’re in nursing school, or while studying to be a doctor or what have you,” Holles said. “There’s a little bit of a transient nature of this role. We also recognize that we have to continue to increase the number of people that we are hiring, because we know there’s kind of an organic cycle that happens based on the lives of the caregivers.”
Right at Home will be utilizing several strategies to reach 26,000 hires this year.
The company has formed preferred partnerships with a few job boards. These collaborations will allow Right at Home franchise owners to work with both local and national job board platforms, according to Holles.
Right at Home is also implementing different technology solutions across the franchise network.
“With different technology, it allows them to create efficiencies in their office and allow them to continue to hire more,” Holles said. “It gives their office staff the time and energy to be able to go through the mechanics that they have to go through to bring on a caregiver. Those pieces are things like electronic onboarding resources, or workflows that can help automate communications through an applicant tracking system, or engagement platforms to reward and recognize the caregivers.”
The strategies in place for Right at Home’s current hiring initiative fall in line with the company’s larger efforts around cultivating an appealing culture for caregivers, Right at Home CEO Margaret Hayes told HHCN.
“We want to be that employer of choice,” she said. “That [term] might be overused, but at the end of the day, we really focus on creating a culture and encouraging our franchise owners, and helping them develop a culture where they are the employer of choice in their local markets. We break down the elements of the caregiver experience into micro elements so that we can make it a great experience.”
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