A recent survey for the home health and home care professionals provided insights into the present staffing situation of the industry. It revealed some key staffing pain points and opportunities in home-based care for 2022 by asking how home-based care providers are mitigating employee churn, maximizing the efficiency of their operations, and navigating labor shortages.
Hurdles in Staffing
Staffing continues to be a significant pain point as home-based care providers shift their focus to growth in 2022. Recruiting and hiring, followed by employee retention and churn, were identified as the top inefficiencies among survey respondents. Below are some insights:
- Government vaccine requirements fuel employee churn
21% of the respondents identified the government’s vaccine requirements as the top reason for employee turnover. This is closely followed by ‘Inconsistent schedules’ at 18%, and ‘Lack of proper training, development and/or growth opportunities’ at 15%.
- Staffing shortages are leading to higher care costs
75% of respondents reported an increase in the cost of care due to staffing shortages amplified by the pandemic.
- Referrals lost due to capacity
80% of the respondents agreed that they turned away referrals due to high capacity or lack of resources on top of managing employee churn.
- Preventing employee churn
To prevent staff burnout and employee churn, 36% of the respondents said they are increasing training and development opportunities, 34% said they are hiring more staff, and 19% said they are investing in technology to improve employee experience.
Strategize Towards Your Advantage
Providers need to optimize their resources during this critical turning point for home-based care. With the need for greater efficiency and innovation in the current staffing climate, providers should be more resourceful in tackling these challenges.
While others are resorting to contract staffing at higher costs to mitigate staffing shortages, another smart strategy agencies can take advantage of is outsourcing clinical back-office functions to maximize in-house clinicians for patient care. This will allow for time and cost savings in recruitment for back-office positions, provide support to reinforce clinician training and development and help improve employee experience. There are significant benefits that outsourcing can give, especially when it comes to staffing challenges.
The online survey was conducted between December 15, 2021 and January 10, 2022 by the Home Health Care News and home care software, AlayaCare. It shows the views of 145 home health and home care professionals polled. Download the full survey results here>
