After finding that one in five Americans saw a notable decline in an aging family member’s well-being during the holidays, Home Instead has announced that it’s looking to hire 30,000 care professionals nationwide.
It is common for Home Instead to see a spike in care service inquiries soon after the holidays, according to Lakelyn Hogan Eichenberger, gerontologist and caregiver advocate for Home Instead.
“This is because they were just home to visit their loved ones over the holidays, and they’ve started to notice these changes,” she told Home Health Care News. “We wanted to dig into that a little bit more, and get a better understanding of what they’re seeing and what they’re experiencing.”
Home Instead is a Omaha, Nebraska-based personal care franchise company that has locations in over a dozen countries. In 2021, the home care technology company Honor acquired Home Instead.
The findings come from a survey that Home Instead conducted in January. The survey also found that, of respondents that saw a decline in their family member’s well-being, 65% were specifically concerned about physical changes.
Additionally, the survey found that 64% of respondents were concerned about their family member’s ability to care for themselves, meaning things like daily hygiene and household tasks.
Declining cognitive skills were also a concern of 57% of respondents, and 44% were concerned by emotional changes, such as depression and loneliness.
Overall, 48% of respondents expressed that they don’t feel capable of helping their family member that is experiencing this decline.
“I think the most alarming finding was that many of them don’t feel capable of helping their loved one,” Eichenberger said. “They kind of feel at a loss. They are seeing these changes, but they’re not quite sure what to do.”
The need for care services across the country influenced the company’s goal of hiring 30,000 care professionals.
“We definitely know that there’s a need for care professionals in all of our locations, in all 50 states, across the U.S., because we’re seeing a growing need for care and support,” Eichenberger said.
Home Instead doesn’t plan on relying on one recruitment strategy to achieve this goal of 30,000.
“There’s not one silver bullet,” Eichenberger said. “There’s not one thing that we’re honing in on, it really takes a variety of approaches to find good care professionals, whether that’s online advertising, hiring days within local offices, where they invite the public to come in and learn about the role and do on-site interviews. There’s those more traditional media of newspaper advertisements, it really varies by the location. Our franchise owners, over time, have found ways to get creative in their various markets.”
Individual franchise owners will also receive support on the corporate level including advertising and robust marketing initiatives, according to Eichenberger.
“Getting people to see this as a desirable career that is meaningful, and one where they’re able to give back, is in our messaging,” she said.
Companies featured in this article:
