Homewatch CareGivers (HWCG) — one of the larger home care franchises in the U.S. — is trying to remain innovative as it navigates the same external headwinds as everyone else.
For instance, it’s made recent partnerships with meal preparation company Chefs for Seniors, payroll software company Viventium and the long-term care convener The Helper Bees.
But it’s also invested in a workforce tool that it thinks will yield significant and unique results. The company has a proprietary system that identifies workers outside of the home care industry that could be a good fit for its own workforce.
“We have been doing a bunch of research to identify the different talent pools out there that might be predisposed to having a caregiver’s heart, but without all the skills,” Homewatch CareGivers COO Jennifer Tucker told Home Health Care News. “We can then upskill them through the use of Homewatch Caregivers University.”
The Denver-based Homewatch CareGivers is a home care franchise company that operates in over 30 states and seven countries. The franchiser employs over 4,500 caregivers at its estimated 230 total locations.
Staffing continues to be the No. 1 priority for HWCG, Tucker said, and finding any kind of advantage in that arena will be key to the company’s success.
“Yes, we can work through the Home Care Association of America (HCAOA) and try to influence immigration policies and things like that, but we also need to get as serious as we can and work at every possible level to help our franchise owners identify new pools of caregivers,” Tucker said. “While making sure that we are keeping the great caregivers we already have from either resigning or getting swayed by a competitor out of the industry entirely.”
Experts have told HHCN in the past that simple tweaks in regulation could greatly help the home-based care workforce in the U.S.
Tucker is optimistic that even a slight improvement on immigration policy will pass soon, but she admitted that alone won’t be a panacea.
HWCG’s recruiting tool, however, has enabled the company to tap into new fields for workers.
“We’ve identified these really good [talent] pools of potential caregivers that don’t have the skill set to be a caregiver at this time, but have the right mindset and that caring attitude to really help solve the boredom, hopelessness and loneliness components of many of our clients’ lives,” Tucker said. “That’s a huge focus for us, to essentially be able to create our own caregivers and have a platform that can take an Amazon employee or a fast food worker and [turn them] into a caregiver as quickly and effectively as possible.”
HWCG didn’t want to give out specifics on what kind of workers they’ve identified outside of retail and fast food, however, likely due to competitive advantage reasons.
Meanwhile, the company has been keeping a close eye on inflation, like many in the home care space have, and has had to raise prices and wages.
“It’s so important that our franchise owners and small business people are able to continue to thrive,” Tucker said. “There was about a 7% overall increase in prices in 2021 across our network. Shift rates didn’t go up quite as much, but hourly rates went up into the double digits in terms of percentage of growth.”
Tucker said HWCG’s franchise owners are raising rates every six months – at a minimum – and are constantly paying attention to what competitors in other industries are offering employees.
Additional reporting by HHCN Editor Andrew Donlan
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