How Home-Based Care’s Leaders Foster A Multi-Generational Workforce

In order for the home-based care space to benefit from the demographic tailwinds coming its way, it needs to embrace emerging leaders who are bringing in fresh ideas. VNS Health, Andwell Health Partners and UVA Continuum Home Health are just a few of the companies that are throwing their support behind the next generation of leaders.

As one of these next generation leaders, RJ Gagnon is making a name for himself at Andwell, but it doesn’t end with him. The company has already set its sights on developing the next set of future leaders.

“Our organization has really focused on development of leadership,” Gagnon said Monday during a panel discussion at the National Association for Home Care & Hospice’s (NAHC) Financial Management Conference. “When we look at our budgets, sometimes that’s one of the things that’s first cut. That’s something we need to invest in.”

Formerly Androscoggin Home Healthcare + Hospice, Andwell is a nonprofit operator that offers home health, hospice, palliative, behavioral health and pediatric care services. The company employs over 500 workers across all 16 counties in Maine.

Along with cultivating the next crop of leaders, companies are figuring out how best to work with a multi-generational workforce.

Currently, UVA Continuum Home Health has four different generations that make up the organization’s staff. Catherine Harris, the home health director at UVA Continuum Home Health, has learned to accommodate individuals based on what stage they’re at in life.

This also gave Harris the opportunity to listen and learn from her more experienced colleagues.

“When you think generationally, you’re really thinking about where that person is in life,” she said during the discussion. “My younger partners are just starting to have kids. They’re taking leave, [it’s about] giving space for that, and celebrating that, versus the generation before us, the baby boomers … who are preparing to retire. Am I listening to them? Am I focused on the lessons that they’ve learned? Because if we’ve learned nothing, it’s that history constantly repeating itself.”

UVA Continuum Home Health is an academic home health agency associated with the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The organization serves several cities across the state.

Matt Chadwick, CFO of Well Care Health, stressed the importance of not bringing preconceived notions to the workforce when working with multiple generations.

“It’s about, [for example], not going in with the perception that a younger person might know technology better than the older person, but listening to their concerns, hearing what their skill sets are and really trying to find the right space for them,” he said.

Well Care Health is a Wilmington, North Carolina-based provider of home health and hospice services. The company serves more than 4,000 patients, and employs more than 600 employees. It operates across 40 counties in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Chadwick noted that it has been important for Well Care Health to make sure they are placing people in the roles where they’ll succeed the most.

At VNS Health, leaders began to notice a higher turnover among younger nurses. The company sought to address this by establishing a nursing grad program six years ago that emphasized mentorship.

“They’re learning about home care,” Sarani Doshi, vice president of corporate financial planning and analysis at VNS Health, said. “They’re getting their feet wet and taking care of patients in the homes for real now, and we’re giving them the tools they need to be successful, to grow and develop in the way that they’d like to.”

New York-based VNS Health is a full-service home-based care organization. The company has almost 40,000 daily patients.

VNS Health has seen less turnover among younger nurses after the implementation of the program.

Additionally, the company has begun developing closer partnerships with New York area nursing schools, according to Doshi.

“We’re spending a little bit more time in the school, educating students around home care, the value of home care and the benefits of home care, and providing scholarships to students who are showing interest in coming into home care post-graduation,” she said. “That, coupled with our nursing graduate program, has started to gain some traction, and we’re seeing some of that affect turnover and retention.”

Ultimately, Gagnon believes that it’s imperative to set employees up for success by taking professional development seriously.

“We need to let the teams know that they matter,” he said. “We have management meetings where the first half is business as usual. The second half is very direct leadership development with strategies where we bring in facilitators. We are investing in that team. That lets them know, ‘We want you to be successful.’ Our No. 1 job is for our team to be successful.”