Creative Strategies to Bring More High-Quality Applicants to Your Home Health Care Agency

The problematic shortage of homecare workers industry wide is on repeat this year. Agencies are looking for ways to turn the attention of potential direct care staff towards submitting applications to their agency, but how? The competition is fierce. In this blog, we will cover effective ways to boost your recruitment numbers with the use of some creative strategies.

Look Inside

Some of the best employees are those who hear how great your organization is to work for from an insider. Consider an employee referral program to incentivize your current employees for recruiting new, qualified staff to your organization.

The program should incentivize the referring staff only if the recruit is hired and on the job for a set time period. The investment in this type of program is likely to return a better investment to your agency due to benefits such as:

• The new recruit is slightly familiar with your organizational culture before applying,
• The recruit is likely to be qualified, have integrity and a good work ethic since the referring staff member should both want to work with the individual and get the reward for referring.
• Lessening the burden of recruitment on one person or department and
• Finds recruits that may not have initially been looking for a new career due to capitalizing on the connections of current staff.

What might a homecare employee referral program look like?

According to a collaborative community article widely reviewed on LinkedIn and contributed to by expert recruiters, the best homecare referrals programs have several common attributes.

• Offering incentives such as cash or paid time-off for the “most referrals”
• Launching an internal contest to create urgency among caregiver advocates
• Offering recognition companywide, and/or on social media, in company newsletters
• Gift cards or tickets to a local movie theatre, or sporting event

If you can, invest a little

For some smaller agencies budgets can be tight. Of course there are necessary expenses associated with running your agency, ranging from tech stack items like home care software to marketing and operational expenses. That said, depending on your agency’s budget and social calendar, even a small investment in making the process of driving recruitment referrals fun and exciting increases the chance of getting solid new candidates. Additionally, once those candidates arrive and get acquainted with your work atmosphere and culture can go a long way in keeping them with you. Building an atmosphere where the best nurses and caregivers love to work for you and actively try to bring in more of the best, is a win/win.

Look to the Community

If your organization is located within or near a community that hosts nursing or nursing assistant programs, you may be in luck. Schools struggle to find clinical partners. Partnering with an educational institution can be a creative way to steer those about to enter the workforce to your agency’s doors. Nursing schools are often looking for insight into the work of a home health nurse to inform the students about the field and get them hands on experience. Offering a contract with a school of nursing to work alongside your staff can pay off in the long run if they have a positive experience. Write in the contract with the school, you will host an end of semester meeting with all the students to gain insight into their experience, offer lunch and hear about their experience. In addition, this provides a perfect opportunity to spotlight your agency to communicate:

• Open positions including the pay, benefits and working hours,
• Why your organization is an excellent choice for new staff, emphasizing the support and ongoing training or mentorship they will receive and
• How they can make an impact on their community, feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day and work in a setting where they get to really know their patients over a longer time.

Look Online

In today’s digital world, an effective online presence captures a wider audience. The process of remembering requires repeated exposure. Indeed,  a top search engine online for careers, offers the advice that the technique “recruitment marketing” is a more successful strategy to approach for filling positions. Sure, nearly all companies have a website, but how much are you intentional about promoting your company online outside of that web address? Recruitment marketing involves heavy brand promotion through techniques that are more aggressive and are more likely to reflect your company’s image online in a positive way and make your name known. Suggestions include:

• Regular monitoring of the company name online and responding to any community comments promptly,
• Starting a blog on your company’s website to build trust and demonstrate your commitment to the industry and
• Sharing positive patient feedback or spotlight staff members and have them tell their story of why they enjoy working for your organization.

When creating online content, keep in mind the audience you want to reach. Direct care workers in home care are reported as typically under the age of 35, excluding registered nurses. When marketing to this audience, know where they go. To maximize your marketing strategies, use platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Include a link back to your organization’s website or platforms hosting your open positions.

Hiring a recruiter well versed in several of these techniques and more can be beneficial to companies but is more expensive. Most smaller agencies would prefer to take action internally. Creative approaches plus consistent effort can give your agency a leg up on the competition to boost your recruits.

The Takeaway

In an era where nearly 80% of agencies report problems with attracting and retaining high quality caregiving staff, it takes a concerted effort and a multi-faceted approach to inspire your current staff to help make the case to attract new team members. Mastering this process can help you to create a more connected culture that keeps your staff growing with strategic investment of time, resources, and positive work culture-building techniques. Aligning internal, external, and community resources while building company programs and activities will pay off. Don’t be afraid to start small, and as you build these efforts up the payoff will begin to stem the tide of long term caregiver retention issues.

References:

Linkedin – What incentivizes solid employee referrals?

Other blogs you might find helpful:

1. Home Health Certification Training – The key to exceptional staff building
2. Six keys to solving staffing issues in homecare agencies
3. Boosting job satisfaction to retain home health nurses
4. Home care agency work/life balance tips for clinicians
5. Top strategies for developing strong homecare teams
6. Is it time for a policy update in your home health agency?