Home care turnover is the highest it has been in five years, indicating an industry-wide employee retention crisis.
This was one of the critical insights from Activated Insights’ – formerly Home Care Pulse – 2024 Benchmarking Report.
The report found that the home-based care turnover rate has increased by more than 14% over the last two years to 79.2%. Inefficiencies in the recruitment process also contributed to this, with only 16.4% of home health care and hospice nurses and 12.8% of home care applicants hired.
Due to this lack of hiring, 63.3% of providers turned down cases in 2023.
This rejection of cases places home care providers in an unfortunate position, as client turnover in this sector is at 26.8%.
“Retention begins the moment you post the job,” Activated Insights wrote in the report. “To attract and retain the right candidates, highlight what makes the home health care industry unique.”
The organization suggested that building a solid employer brand, highlighting benefits, showcasing career growth, creating a positive work culture and offering continued training are all vital to attracting and retaining optimal talent.
And while it isn’t all about money for frontline workers in home-based care, it was found that providers who paid their staff above the 75th percentile saw a 35.5% decrease in turnover.
Positives emerge
To proactively improve employee retention, Activated Insight leaders recommended gathering feedback from customers and staff to identify strengths and areas for improvement while prioritizing relationship building.
Clients surveyed rated their care professionals’ ability as their highest satisfaction factor, while employees expressed the highest satisfaction with the compatibility between clients and care professionals. This high client satisfaction may account for the 18% decrease in providers consistently declining cases due to staffing shortages.
“As if an industry-wide staffing shortage wasn’t enough to prove the value of recruiting and retaining home-based care employees, the median revenue per employee is the highest in four years,” the report read.
Revenue, however, did increase by $1,000 per care employee, resulting in $14,822 in revenue per hire, higher than the last four years.
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