Stephen Tweed is one of the home care industry's top consultants. I met Stephen at my first home care conference, where he was a keynote speaker.  In my view, two things that set Stephen apart are 1) his process-centric approach, and 2) his ability to pull agency owners into "mastermind groups" to establish best practices.

Our conversation focused on Caregiver Quality Assurance and Stephen walked us through a 5-pillar approach (where he outlines each pillar in detail), as follows:

1. Company culture
2. Recruiting System
3. Selection
4. Onboarding
5. Retention

As a bonus, Stephen mentioned that the 6th pillar is using your Caregiver Quality Assurance program as a marketing tool to differentiate your agency. 

I usually pick a key takeaway and this time I have two:

1. Stephen's team measured cost of caregiver attrition at around $1,600.  He also shared that caregivers who come to you via the referral of another caregiver are likely to stay 10 times longer than one who finds you on an online site like Indeed,  and a $250 referral bonus goes a very long way with caregivers.
2. One of the most important keys to retaining caregivers early on is determining how many hours they expect to work and making sure that they get this number of hours. If for example, a caregiver is "expecting" 40 hours (and really is expecting the $345 after taxes that go with 40 hours), and they only get 30 hours, they can find themselves in a spot where they can't pay their bills and become vulnerable to being poached by another agency. 

To learn more about working with Stephen, visit CaregiverQuality.com or HomeCareCEO.com.

Home Care Heroes is produced and sponsored by Ankota - the Software for the Heroes of Home Care. We truly embrace the notion that caregivers and home care companies are heroes. Our top priorities simplicity, caregiver retention and outstanding service. Visit us at https://www.ankota.com.