How to Find Better Caregivers, Recognize the Right Fit, and Prepare Them for Real-World Care

One bad caregiver hire doesn’t just create a scheduling headache, it can break family trust, put a client at risk, and damage your home care agency’s reputation in a single shift. We walk through a practical, field-tested approach to caregiver hiring, selection, and training that aims for something bigger than “coverage”: dependable, compassionate people who make good decisions when no one from the office is in the room.

We start where most agencies quietly lose great applicants: caregiver job postings and slow follow-up. We talk about why recruiting is sales, what to change in your headline and call to action, how to stop burying the benefits, and why speed matters more than you think. Then we shift to the in-person experience, because your office process is also being evaluated. We share the questions we ask first about hours, travel radius, and client preferences, plus how to stay honest about schedules so you don’t create early quits.

From there, we get into caregiver interview questions that reveal judgment and integrity, not just experience. You’ll hear the five traits we screen for, the red flags we take seriously, and the real-world scenarios we use to test boundaries: cash tips, late relief coverage, falls, medication requests, and shower refusals. We also outline hands-on training stations, dementia communication support, documentation standards, and a simple retention plan for the first 90 days so caregivers feel supported and stay longer.

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Transcript

Welcome, Housekeeping, And Giveaway

SPEAKER_00 0:10

We'll get going. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

So welcome, August 12th. Okay, so it's the Annette and Lisa show today. And so you guys know us. Dawn and Valerie are both out. And so we'll be going through this mastermind today. Go ahead and hit the next screen. All right, housekeeping lines muted unless you're speaking. Please feel free to share stories, experiences, tips, ask us questions, make recommendations, or tell us what you want to know. I did add a little message in the chat there. It says, hello everyone. Here is the chat. Just so you know it's there. If you don't want to ask a question, you can ask it in the chat and we'll try to monitor that. And then so free giveaway. One attendee receives a set of customized leave behinds. So done for you with your logo colors, contact info. We're going to do September. So go ahead and type yes in the chat. I just sent another message in the chat. The only catch is that you must send us photos of you using the leave behinds out in the field. It'd be really nice to see you maybe handing it over to someone and you taking the quote associate with them, or because you could also double that and use it for your marketing for your Facebook and things like that. Okay, and I'm seeing some yeses. Perfect. Awesome. Okay, so caregiver hiring, selection, and training. So how to find better caregivers, recognize the right fit, and prepare them for real-world care. And

Hiring Is Not The Finish Line

SPEAKER_01 1:42

so the agenda, I wonder if I can make this any larger. So we're going to go through attracting better applicants, of course, making a strong first impression, what to look for in a caregiver, interviewing for more than just experience. We want that heart feel too. Common sense skills, hands-on training stations, maybe in your office or see how you do it. Scenario practice representing your agency, retention, and caregiver standard. And so Annette's gonna go ahead and get started. And again, don't be shy, chime in.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Yep. Feel free, ask us questions. We know this is an important topic. Again, hiring is not the finish line. Your goal is not to just simply fill an open shift. You need to find the right people. And we know it's tough sometimes to find those right people. So the goal is to hire people that are dependable, compassionate, coachable, and prepared to represent your agency inside a client's home. A caregiver could look great on paper and still fail in the field because experience is not always equal to good judgment and common sense cannot be assumed. Poor hiring affects clients. Vulnerable clients depend on consistency, safety, and genuine care, not just somebody who shows up. Poor training affects families. Families trust your agency. You made them a promise that you were going to find that right fit and you were going to service them. And when the caregivers are unprepared, that trust erodes very quickly. So it's hard to get that back. Yeah, it affects your agency. Turnovers, complaints, misshifts, damaged scheduling, reputation, and long-term retention. So you need to attract the right applicants, identify the right people, and train for real care. Okay. Definitely. So attracting better caregiver applicants. So when hiring slows down, sometimes agencies office they often blame the labor market. Sometimes it's

Write Job Ads That Convert

SPEAKER_00 3:43

it could just be the ad itself, the way you're advertising for applicants. Most caregiver job postings fail because they don't, you don't have the right requirements. They bury, you're burying the benefits. They feel transactional rather than inviting. So common reasons applicants don't apply. The head, the headline doesn't connect emotionally. You may not have the pay clear or it's missing. Requirements appear before the benefits. The application process is too many steps. Applicants aren't contacted quickly enough. That's a big thing. No, no clear call to action. Competitors offer better pay and schedules. So you have to realize that recruiting is also sales. Your agency accepts expects applicants to sell themselves. But you also must make the case for why someone should work for you. Communicate what makes your agency different, what schedules are available, how caregivers are supported, how quickly they can start earning, moving applicants through the process quickly can and complete them with the onboarding as fast as possible while they're still in the office. That's a really big thing. I know Lisa, you worked in an office hiring the caregivers, but but they it's taken a few days for them to hear from you, then you're making the having them come in for the interview, then we're interacting with them a week later. Forget it. You want to get it all done, bing bang, done so they don't go to someone else. Lisa, I don't know if you want to share how it worked in your office.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Yeah, definitely. The idea is to when you do bring them in, hopefully they can leave with a job, depending on where you are, right? Or with the promise of a job within the next few days. So I think that also moving them through that the stages it quickly is important. One of the I know that we use a system here with our CRM that kind of pulls in the applicants and it reminds them and gets them to self-schedule. That type of stuff is going to really help. If you can get them to self-schedule for a quick interview, sorry, their phone is ringing, or get them to schedule for an in-person. That's really what you want to do. And you want to do it quickly because if you have them jumping through a ton of hoops and no result, then they're just going to go to the next agency over.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

And some language shift when you are placing the ad, replace, complete the application, and we'll call you with, we're looking for dependable caregivers who care about seniors. Let's talk about what hours and client types would best fit you. We know people aren't coming into this position to be rich. You're looking for people that have a mission that want to work with seniors that have that heart. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Yeah. Even that headline could be want to help seniors age in place safely, happily at home, or something like that, really playing on that emotional versus want to be a caregiver.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Absolutely. First impression works both ways. So applicants, they evaluate your agent, your agency the moment they walk through the door. Just as you're evaluating them, your office, your team, and your process

First Impressions On Both Sides

SPEAKER_00 6:43

all send a message about what it's like to work for you. Make a good one. I actually have a funny story here. We would have applicants come to our office, and we know first impressions mean a lot. We actually had somebody that applied to be a caregiver and she came in sponge bomb pajamas. So needless to say, she was not tired, but you look at the whole picture, just like we're looking at them, how they present themselves, they're looking at you. Is your office organized? Is it a mess? Is the office organized? Does it look professional? Are they greeted warmly when they come in? You know, whether the interview seems rushed or distracted, whether their availability is taken seriously, whether anyone asks what they need from an employer. Questions you your agency should ask first is how many hours do you need a week? This is a good one. And especially for like home care, we were always really careful. We'd have applicants come in and they would say, We want 40 hours. And you know, in the home care world, it's hard to just guarantee that 40 hours off the bat. So you have to be up front with them. You know, we can work towards that 40 hours. We can eventually hopefully get you a client with 40 hours. But you know how clients come and go. If you're losing a client, then they may lose those hours. And we were always really transparent with them, letting them know that we couldn't always guarantee that 40. Just depending on it. That's a tough thing. What days and times are they looking for? How far are you willing to travel? The agency I worked with, we had a 15 mile minimum. You guys may have something different, but we had they had to be able to at least travel 15 miles. What did you have, Lisa? Was it about the same?

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Or you know, I think it was really more dependent on. I know there's a magic number for everywhere that you're at because it's different everywhere. So I think there was maybe like uh maybe a little more because we I don't know how large your territory was. Ours was pretty, pretty big in San Diego. And then in so I would say 30 miles, but sometimes and not every caregiver is gonna drive that either. So I'm not really sure exactly where that will fit into everyone's, but I feel like nowadays no one wants to drive past 10 miles, like everyone wants it right next door.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

Yeah. Ask them what type of clients they enjoy working with. Maybe somebody, oh, I have all this experience. I took care of my grandpa that had dementia, or they're gonna you want to find out what the right fit's gonna be. Ask them what skills they want to learn, and what would make you stay with an agency long term? These are questions you can ask them. Yeah, and again, remembering do not promise hours or schedules the agency cannot consistently deliver. Sell your company honestly, over promising leads. Usually, if you're telling them, okay, you're gonna get 40 hours right off the bat, and then they don't get it, they're gonna quit. So you just you really have to be honest with them when you're doing the interview, okay? But you do want to make sure that they keep good hours with you or they will move. Absolutely. So, what to look for in a caregiver? Skills can be taught, character is much harder to develop. The best care caregiver applicants bring five core qualities and set them apart from the start.

Five Traits That Matter Most

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Heart for the work. Like we said, you're people they're not coming into this position, they're not going to be millionaires, you're not making a ton of money. We always looked for somebody that had a heart for it. They speak respectfully about seniors, they see the client as a whole person and can explain why this work generally matters to them. I worked for a non-medical home care agency. So we every state's different. There's some states you can do all hands-on. We were strictly non-medical companion. So we could hire anybody. We could have we could hire the daughter that took care of her dad for several years that was had dementia. So we look for people that had a heart and really wanted to have a mission for helping seniors. Reliability, we know that's really big, arrives on time, communicates early about problems, has dependable transportation, big. We know how that can be with the I don't have a car or my car keeps breaking down, and understands that leaving a shift uncovered puts someone at risk. So they need to know that. Judgment knows when to call the office, follows the care plan, stays within the role, notices when something has changed in the client's condition. These are all important things that are out in the field. You're not at this client's home every day. So they need to know when they should call you, when to contact the office. We had a lot of problems with that. We used to have to coach a lot on that.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Yeah, they're the eyes and ears, and they need to understand that they definitely are. Maybe more care is needed. Like you said, there's a change in condition that needs to be addressed right away. Maybe it's more hours, maybe it's less hours, but definitely communicating emergencies and all of that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Absolutely. Communication, they give clear answers, listen actively, accept correction respectfully, and willing to document and ask questions when unsure. And then coachable. You have to have somebody coachable that they're going to be able to accept feedback without defensiveness. You're not blaming them. You're just, there's times and many times you have to call the caregiver. Hey, what happened here? Sally fell last night. Why didn't you call the office? The daughter called us and we just found out about this. You know, about this. So coaching them when something happens, when the client falls, or maybe even sometimes the clients would just tell our caregivers, hey, we want to switch hours. You have to call the office. We need to know when things are switching. So they need to know if you're going to be coaching them, that they're able to accept without getting defensive. These are these are all really important things. So it's hard to find a really good caregiver, but once you have them, you want that you want to keep them forever. Definitely. Feel free to write anything in the chat if you guys have any questions. All right. So interviewing for more than the experience. So a structured interview reveals attitude, past behavior, and problem solving, not just employment history. I

Interview For Judgment And Integrity

SPEAKER_00 12:31

used to find a lot of caregivers that they were at a lot of multiple places. Sometimes we really didn't take that to word to that. We still wanted to come in and interview. Using these questions together can help you when you're doing the interview. Offer open-ended questions. Understand the person. Why do you want to be a caregiver? Again, find out their mission. You love to hear their stories. We had so many different stories of our caregivers of why. What would a previous client say about you? It'd be nice to hear. What would they say? How would you brighten a client's day? These are good open-ended questions that they can answer. Behavioral questions. Tell me about a mistake you made at work. What happened next? Describe a time you disagreed with a supervisor. Tell me about feedback that was difficult to hear. These are going to help you understand that person. Situational questions, test real-world judgment. This is really important. Of course, we need to know what is their judgment. A client suddenly doesn't recognize you. What do you do? What's wrong with you? Why can't you remember me? You're not going to say that. It's okay. You forgot my name. They have to know how to respond. A client offers you a cash tip. How do you respond? Yeah, that's a big one. I just take that. I just take that cash tip. Your relief caregivers have shown up. What do you do? Oh, I leave. No, you don't leave. You never leave a shift if you're care if your that next person doesn't show up. No way. We had that happen sometimes. When it was a 24-7, and the caregiver would just leave because the other caregiver didn't show up. And they need to know that they have to stay there till their relief. And sometimes it caused some problems. They needed to get to another job. Maybe we had to rush somebody over there.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

They have to pick up their kids. There's so many things. They have an appointment of their own and they want to leave.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Yeah. Strong candidate signs. So they protect the clients first, contacts the office before acting independently, big, admits mistakes honestly, documents what happened, red flags to watch out for, blames every previous employer, speaks disrespectfully from about former clients, would accept money or gifts from clients, and says, I just use common sense without explaining steps. So these are all good questions that you can do when you are interviewing.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Okay. Oh, one thing I used to tell caregivers, if someone asks you money, almost every single time when someone wants to give a cash tip, caregiver will say, Oh, I can't accept that. And then they say, I won't say anything. And I would tell them your response is, would you really want a dishonest person in your home working here and me to just not say anything? So again, I can't accept it. Thank you so much. And then I would, if the caregivers let us know, I would let the clients know that you can buy them lunch or whatever, but don't offer them any money. You can get them in serious trouble. If you don't tell on them or not, it doesn't matter. So that was one of the things I used to tell them to say. Would you really want a dishonest person in your home if I take this and don't tell my supervisors? And it seemed to be okay, seemed to work a little.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

We had a policy around holidays, and I don't know if anyone else wants to share, but we they a lot of the clients would call and say, We want to give Susie, we want to do it, we want to give a gift. So we had a limit, they could do, I don't know, $20 or something, but we gave that we gave them permission to get a little gift for the holidays.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Did you do that too, Lisa? We would have them, yeah, we would have them send it to the office. And when they sent it to the and they would we obviously talk to them all the time. So we knew it was coming. And when it came to the office, we'll go ahead and gift it to that caregiver, but we document it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

All right. So common sense skills that cannot be assumed. Again, one of the most important lessons in training is what feels obvious to experienced professionals is not obvious to

Common Sense Skills You Must Teach

SPEAKER_00 16:17

someone entering the home for the first time. So arriving for the shift and schedule. So they enter calmly, professionally, wash hands immediately. That's something that we train during onboarding, review the care plan, ask about changes from the last shift, confirm the client is safe before starting. Never add a shift change or change hours directly from the client. This office, the office sets the schedule. That's a big one. And sometimes they just need to, they really get to know the caregiver really well. And the client's just, I don't want you to come Wednesday, but can you come Thursday? Or they just change things. The office needs to know because, especially if they're adding shifts. So that was something that we used to have to coach on a lot. Phone use boundary boundaries. So not a lot of time nowadays, many of the caregivers are clocking in on their phones. So making sure that you're letting the client know that your caregiver is going to be on their phone clocking in, that don't they're not sitting there on their phone, but also limited personal calls during shifts, no photos of clients at the homes or medications, no social media posts from a client's home. I we know how social media is nowadays. They have to get everything approved, no headphones while supervising a client. I've seen that before. Never let a phone call distract from a transfer bath. We did not allow any use of phones in the client's home other than clocking in or if they had to look at the care plan. There were times when we walked in and the caregiver was sitting on the couch on their phone. Scan the environment. They need to, it's the walkway clear of fallen hazards. Is the client wearing safe footwear? Has the client eaten and had water? Does the client look or act different than usual? Are they able to tell if something's changed? Are the dishes trash or spills becoming a concern? And then support independence. All of these clients want to age gracefully at home. A lot of them aren't really happy about having to have somebody at home. Let the client do what they can do safely. Offer choices. Don't be like a dictator. Explain before touching or assistant. And don't talk to them. Hey, honey, don't speak to them like a child. They don't want that. And ask before moving anything personal. But have how you want them to be as independent as possible. And documentation, making sure that they know how important it is to be documenting. Mrs. Smith ate two bites of breakfast and said she wasn't hungry is a proper observation. Mrs. Smith is getting sick as a diagnosis, and that's not the caregiver's role to diagnose, but they do need to document.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

And some families want even further, like two bites of what, right? Of A. Or some families want every single thing that that happens bulleted. So you just have to know that in the care plan.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

Absolutely.

unknown 18:59

All right.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

So hands-on training stations. In your orientations or your onboarding, I know everybody's all due. We had a, I think it was like a six-hour. Some people have a couple

Hands-On Training Stations That Work

SPEAKER_00 19:09

days. It's important that you do the right training. Hands-on training stations are great. You may have a station one where the caregiver is entering the home, washing their hands, care plan review. You may have another station where you're offering standby assistance, safe transfers, gate belts, sit-to-stand, depending on what you're allowed. Now, my here in New York, it's really strict. We couldn't use gate belts. Everybody's different. We couldn't use hieroglyphs. But whatever you're allowed to do, making sure you're trained that personal care and dignity, privacy, warmth, allowing participation. Maybe you're helping somebody in the shower and just ask them, do you want me to hand you the soap or do you need me to help you? Find out what they can do on their own. I love, we always love doing meal preparation. We taught them some people we would make sure if we had somebody, a client that wanted meals prepared, that we had somebody that was good at preparing meals. We had some people that were not, and they would let us know. But food safety, again, washing hands, station five, dementia communication, related correct questions, redirection, validating. This is something you get a lot of clients with dementia. So you want to make sure people are trained. Just a side note if you have a contact your local Alzheimer's Association, they offer free guest speakers. We used to have quarterly in services with all our caregivers, and we would call the Alzheimer's Association and they would send somebody to speak on dementia. We had a collaboration with a physical therapy office in our area, and we would have a physical therapist come and do come at one of our in-services and talk to the team. So you want to have ongoing training. It was great. They didn't charge anything. We would thank them by sending them a thank you card and maybe like a gift card, but they appreciated. And the Alzheimer's Association does this for free. I don't know if did you connect with them, Lisa?

SPEAKER_01 21:05

I don't know if in San Diego they we didn't do that, but we did have Relias training. So we used Relias for the dementia care part, but all of these stations are awesome because I remember, and I think the meal prep was one of my favorites too, because we had a local farmer's market that was literally next door to our office. So we would go there, get ingredients, and then we would actually teach how to prep a meal for those. You never know the walks of life that people come from. They may not know how to prepare fresh vegetables, or you never know. You can never assume, right? But I love these stations. We had all of these, and we did have gate belt and transfers to a vehicle and toyer lift first, and yeah, all of that, and transferring from bed to wheelchair to bed, using the walker to get up from the bed and so on. So we did have a lot of that. So I love that this is in here for sure.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

We actually even used to take our caregivers out to the parking lot and show how somebody can get in and out of the car. And that this is something you may do this, but this was something that we did. We every caregiver that we hired, we documented what. Kind of car that they had in their personal file. Because if we were transporting one of the clients, we needed to know was she a tiny little lady? She's not going to be able to get in this big SUV. Needed to know what kind of car the caregiver had before we assigned them to the client. So that's a really important thing because sometimes these big SUVs they can't get into the their car. And then having a station about reporting and documentation, pretty big, telling them what they need to report, what they need to document, when they need to call the office. These are all things that they need to be trained on. Some of these caregivers that you hire maybe have never worked in a home care agency. And you need to have ongoing training. Does anybody have any questions? If you guys want to share what you're doing, we'd love to hear, but everybody does something different. I actually talked to one agency. They had a whole week of training. I think we have a six-hour day, and that was it. But we packed in a lot, but we also had ongoing training and quarterly in services again where we had these special speakers and training. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Yeah. We did like two and a half days.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Yeah. Okay. Ours was short.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

I don't know why, but so also because you just said you can't do hands-on care, right?

SPEAKER_00 23:25

So that's all hands-on care. We're just not medical. Yeah. Have scenarios when you're doing your training. Scenario like a client is more confused than usual. Keep the client safe. Do not force a transfer. Call

Scenario Practice For Real-World Problems

SPEAKER_00 23:39

the office immediately. Document. Follow emergency procedures as indicated. That was our our scheduler was so great when a caregiver would call, freaking out. I don't know what to do. She just fell and she'd be like, okay, let's be calm, making sure that whoever's answering the phone when the situation happens, that you're able to calmly walk the caregiver through whatever it may be. That's right. Family asks you to give extra medication. You are not do not give medication outside the authorized care plan. Calmly explain that the office must be contacted first and notify your supervisor and document the request. We we always have to have the doctor's orders. We couldn't just, unless the family said it's okay to give the Tylenol, whatever. Scenario three: a client a client refuses a shower. This is a really big one. Do not argue or force. Ask why, offer a different time or alternative, redirect gently. If the refusal continues or creates a safety concern, notify the office. That's why it's good when you can have somebody that is especially a lot of the dementia clients refuse showers. I remember we had a guy, he would not take a shower. He was previously a very he owned a really large business. He used to go to the office all the time. So we use that therapeutic lie and we said, Hey, Jim, you got a meeting tomorrow. You really should shower. And he took a shower. So sometimes you got to use these creative things. And he actually ended up taking a shower. Or that's something client care director was really good at that kind of stuff. And she went in there and she said, Jim, you got a big meeting tomorrow. We gotta you gotta take that shower. But if they're refusing, you don't want to force them. And this is something that happens often.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

And you can sometimes push it to a later time. Used to have someone who would always refuse that and/or being changed. Yeah, and so that why do we have to do it right this second?

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Do it a little later, try again later. This is another one you accidentally break a household item. Oh, I will never forget this. We had this really well-to-do lady, her home was gorgeous. She had glass everywhere. We she wanted a specific caregiver, and we found the perfect caregiver. And I remember it was her first day, and the caregiver called me a couple hours later, and she goes, Oh my gosh, I opened up the cupboard to get a glass, and I broke one of her wine glasses. So these things happen. So if you accidentally break and tell the client, let the agency know I accidentally broke something, document it, do not hide it, don't replace it secretly. Transparency protects both the client. I remember when one of our caregivers accidentally scratched a coffee table with something, she dropped something. Our owner went and refinished the whole, he was real handy. He actually took that coffee table home and refinished it. But you know, things happen. And then scenario five, your relief caregiver is late. Do not leave a client alone under no circumstances. I have to get to another shift, I have to get to my other job. Call the office, then maybe the office will send somebody else. And you have to continue providing safe care until the the relief is your relief is come and follow the agency escalation procedure. But this happens a lot. Um a lot of these caregivers have other jobs and they have to get somewhere. They need to get to their home to their kids' buses or whatever, never leaving a client alone. Ruth just said one of my aides got the client. One of my aides got the client's doctor to write a script for a shower three times a week for a woman who had not showered in over a year and at work. Yeah. I love that. That's such a great idea. It's like telling asking the doctor to tell them they can't drive, or that's great. Yeah. That's so good. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Thank you for sharing that. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

So training caregivers to represent the agency. Again, in home care, your agents, your caregiver is your agency. So families from the entire impression of your organization

Caregivers As The Agency Brand

SPEAKER_00 27:34

is based on that person that walks through that door every day. They judge your agency on punctuality, appearance, quality of communication, cleanliness, hygiene, level of initiative, attention, how concerns are handled in the moment, and consistency of documentation. Again, with the Sally fell last night, and then the daughter calls, and you didn't have that document. So very important. Professional language caregivers should use. Say, I want to make sure the office is aware of that. Not the office never tells me nothing. I didn't know that. You need to make sure they communicate. Caregivers should never criticize the agency or other caregivers, the care plan, the scheduler, the family, or the client, even when they have a legitimate concern. Concerns belong in the office and handle professionally and promptly. Sometimes your caregivers have issues with another caregiver. We know this all happens. Call us, we'll we'll work it out. We used to have some the butt heads, so we maybe we had to move them to another client. They were very it just they just didn't they didn't get along. So sometimes we had to change that, change the caregiver. So very important. All right, so retention begins during hiring and training. Again, the first 90 days is when most caregivers decide whether they're gonna stay. Agencies invest in early, consistent

Retention Starts In The First 90 Days

SPEAKER_00 28:52

communication and recognition retain far more of the people they work hard to hire. So day one, introduce the caregiver to a specific office contact. Check in after the first shift. So important. Confirm the client match is working. You need to do an intro when you are starting a new client. Somebody needs to go introduce that client to that caregiver. Somebody in your office should be assigned to we used to have our scheduler do it, assigned the next day. How did that shift go? How are things going? Week one through four, check in weekly, give positive feedback, not only corrections, ask whether the schedules are meeting their needs. Month two or three, recognize reliability openly, offer additional skills training, address concerns before the caregiver quietly stops accepting shifts. 90 days plus, reinfor reinforce performance expectations, continue appreciation, build a career path through skill development and trusted client relationships. We all took turns in our office sending little notes, thank you notes to our caregivers. We had to do a couple a month because their caregivers are out in the field and sometimes they feel like they're alone. They're at a client's that you've had for a while and you're not even checking in. It's really important to give kudos when kudos. We used to do gas cards, dunk and donut cards, little thank you notes. And we all had a we I think we had to do three a month, everyone in our office. So we consistently did kudos and gave appreciation. So they they need open communication, they want to have support from the office staff. If they're not being heard, nobody's connecting with them, they're gonna probably end up leaving and going somewhere else. You want to nurse them. Lisa, do you have anything to add?

SPEAKER_01 30:38

I think that's a very good plan. Asking them if they're happy with their hours and are they loving their shifts and keeping that open communication. Sometimes people just want to blah, they just want to talk about it and then it's done and it's over. And they want to make sure that there's someone to listen to them. And there might not be like a solution, it's just hearing them out and then going, okay, we'll note that. And so I just think keeping that communication open, you always have that those caregivers that are better than I, all the other caregivers in the world, and they want to tell you all about the other caregivers too. So I think just being open to listen and let them get out whatever they need, that really does help them just with communication and just stay, just stay with you when they feel like there's someone that's dedicated to to hearing them.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

All right, so the caregiver standard, strong caregiver does not need to know everything on day one. We know that they must be honest, dependable, respectful, safety-minded, and

The Caregiver Standard And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 31:36

willing to learn. You can train them, recruit with intention, write ads that attract the right people, move quickly, make a strong first impression, interview for character, uh, use behavioral, situational questions, look for judgment, honesty, coachability, not just experience. Train beyond the checklist, use hands-on stations, real scenarios, and observe skill practice we for placing them in caregivers' homes. You're not going to put the caregiver that you hired that has no dementia experience in a home with somebody who has dementia. And support, check in with them often, recognize good work, address concerns early, give them reasons to stay, hire for heart, integrity, reliability, and then you train for the skill, judgment, consistency, and support them all along the way. I know that the agency I worked for, we really supported our caregivers. It was really important. We checked in with them. If there was an issue, we didn't like if sometimes a caregiver would call, maybe the HR was supposed to call her back and she didn't call back. We made sure that we connected with them. They, when they're calling you, they're looking for some answers. So making sure that you're connecting with them and supporting them because they're out in the field every day. All right. So that's it for if you guys have any questions. Hopefully, you got some tips and tricks. Before we go into our fun leave behinds, we have the go care sales sales training program. We

Sales Training Invite And Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_00 33:00

have our August and September dates. I know I have some of our class members here. We it's once a week for 12 weeks. You're going to increase your referrals. There is a 12 hour video training that goes along with it. If you're interested, let us know. We would love to have you join us. Okay. So it's time for the Leave Behinds.