This year, IntheKnow is proud to celebrate 20 years of excellence in caregiver training!
Being in business for 20 years has taught us many lessons.
But, most importantly, we’ve learned how to help you grow your business!
In honor of our 20th anniversary, here are 20 things we learned over the years
that have helped organizations like yours train, engage and RETAIN their caregivers!
1. Your caregivers WANT and NEED quality training.
Without training, 81% of your caregivers will quit within three months of being hired. Assigning a caregiver to care for a client for whom they have little or no training, places the caregiver at risk for stress and injury. This risk is what drives many caregivers to quit. It’s more important than ever to make sure your caregivers have the training they need.
2. It starts with a fantastic orientation.
Harvard business school says, “The first few minutes of new employee orientation, if done right, can lead to happier and more productive workers. Unfortunately, a lot of companies do it wrong.” The good news: There are a couple of easy things you you can do to avoid the most common orientation pitfalls! Download A Framework for a Fantastic Orientation. This report shows you the 4 most common mistakes organizations make during orientation. And, gives you plenty of practical tips to avoid making them yourself.
3. You must have a plan in place.
The late, great Yogi Berra said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” This is true of most things in life and business—but it’s especially true of your caregiver training program. Check out: A Step-By-Step Guide to Designing & Delivering A Dazzling Continuing Education Program to learn how to plan and prepare the most effective program that will meet the unique needs of the caregivers on your team.
4. A focus on training and development can improve your reputation.
Well-trained caregivers are more competent. And, competent caregivers provide a better client care experience. Better care leads to better outcomes—and better outcomes lead to more satisfied clients! Satisfied clients tell others and improve your reputation!
5. Certification can make ALL the difference!
Millions of non-medical home care workers across the U.S. provide personal care (bathing, feeding, dressing, grooming), companionship, housekeeping and transportation to our nation’s most vulnerable citizens—our elderly, disabled, and frail civilians and veterans. And they do it all with little or NO training. Read THIS BLOG article and PREVIEW a sample caregiver certification course.
6. Your clients deserve the best caregivers.
The most successful care providers know that an agency or facility is only as good as the caregivers it employs. Each caregiver you send out or assign to a client should be someone you would entrust your own family members’ care to.
7. Well-trained caregivers are more engaged.
Studies show that improving employee engagement reduces staff turnover, improves productivity and increases client satisfaction. But more than that, engaged employees have a greater sense of purpose and are generally happier, both at work and at home. Happy employees who want to stay on your team means less turnover. Lower turnover stabilizes the care environment. And a stable care team makes HR and scheduling a breeze! Download: 5 Ways to Build a More Engaged and Connected Caregiver Team.
8. You can STAND OUT in your market by offering caregiver specialists.
Specialized caregivers have advanced training in common conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, diabetes, heart disease, or even common mental health conditions. Having “specialists” on your team increases your credibility. Improved credibility sets you apart from the competition. Standing out as a specialist will increase your referrals! Read: Creating Advanced Roles for Caregiver Specialists.
9. If you want to RECRUIT and RETAIN quality caregivers, it’s time for a different approach.
Experts agree, it’s nearly impossible to make a living on a caregiver’s income. But, offering more money (or more hours) may not be an option for every employer. That means it’s time to start working WITH caregivers—the same way you work with clients—to identify services and additional funding sources to fill in the gaps. Read: 38 Ways to Motivate Your Caregiver Team for ideas such as; setting up a Health Savings Account (HSA) for your employees, partnering with a local daycare to offer tuition subsidies or back-up childcare, and setting up an “Uber for Business” account so emergency transportation is always available.
10. Talk about training to recruit top talent.
Our friends at myCNAjobs dove deep into the psyche of caregivers across the country to find out what makes them decide to take a job—and what makes them stay. They found that 71% of Caregivers say they must be learning to stay with a company. And 44% of workers cite a lack of training opportunities as the reason they left their last job. The most successful recruiters describe their training opportunities in every job ad. That helps them keep a fresh stack of applicants to choose from any time a need arises.
11. Make sure you’re hiring the RIGHT people.
Most senior care providers need people—and they need them NOW. That leads to hiring anyone (or everyone) who shows an interest and can make it to the interview. But not everyone is cut out for this work. That’s why SCREENING is so important! Read the blog, Caregiver Screening Tools for Facilities and Home Care and download your free screening tool today.
12. Educate consumers by promoting value over price.
There’s no doubt that price is factored into any purchasing decision. In fact, the price of home care services is the number one concern for most family caregivers. But price alone will not seal the deal. Your clients want to know what VALUE (such as professionally prepared caregiver training) your agency offers that sets you apart from your competitors. Watch a replay of our webinar, How to Sell Value Over Price with guest speaker, Merrily Orsini from CoreCubed.
13. A peer mentor program can solve several challenges.
You go to great lengths to hire the right people. Keeping them is the problem! A peer mentor program can offer support, provide a competent role model for problem solving, clinical skills, and help caregivers handle the emotional aspects of care giving. HERE’S HOW to start a peer mentor program in your organization.
14. Well-trained caregivers reduce hospital admissions and re-admissions by knowing what’s “normal.”
Knowing what’s normal leads to early reporting and early intervention as soon as something abnormal is observed. Early intervention reduces hospitalizations. Reducing hospitalizations reduces risk and costs! Download: 5 Ready-To-Use Home Care Tools for Preventing Readmissions to the Hospital.
15. Professionally prepared employee training packs a powerful return on investment (ROI).
There’s a widespread myth that employee training offers no ROI. In fact, the average ROI for employee training is 24%.
*When calculating your ROI, be sure to include “benefits” such as more effective
caregiver recruitment, increased retention, improved client care
and client satisfaction, and increased referrals.
16. You can increase your ROI even MORE by reducing your training cost and increasing your benefits!
Spending an average of $49 per caregiver/per year for IntheKnow‘s unlimited, expertly prepared, mobile-friendly, interactive, and engaging caregiver training, leads to improved recruitment, retention, client care, and client satisfaction.
17. In senior care, happy clients are the KEY to success and profit.
Do you really KNOW how happy your clients are? You may already have a survey tool that measures your clients’ overall satisfaction with your organization. However, there are likely only one or two questions on it about the ACTUAL CARE your clients receive. Download: How to Measure Client Satisfaction in Your Caregivers to get an inside look into how your clients really feel about the care they receive from your organization. Then, take concrete steps toward improving your clients’ experiences, in response to their survey feedback.
18. Regular knowledge assessments keep everyone fresh and on their toes!
By far, the most popular downloads on our FREE Resources Page are the Caregiver Challenges! Supervisors use them to take a quick inventory of their team’s knowledge on important topics. They make it easy to identify knowledge gaps and plan caregiver training around filling those gaps. Caregivers look forward to the helpful reminders and practical tips they can begin using right away. Check out all of our Caregiver Challenges today!
19. It takes more than technical skills to deliver EXTRAORDINARY care.
It takes People Skills! Did you know that 77% of employers think “people skills” are just as important as technical skills? Yet, only 31% of employers offer this type of training to their employees. Having good “People Skills” means your caregivers have empathy, self-awareness, flexibility, problems solving skills, time management skills, excellent communication and strong work ethics. Find out how to add “people skills” training into your caregiver training program by reading: Inspire Your Ordinary Team to Deliver Extraordinary Care.
20. Absenteeism is expensive.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found that across all industries, the average absenteeism rate for all workers is just under 3%. The absenteeism rate for Caregivers (CNA, PCA, HHA, Aides, etc.) in Long Term Care Facilities and Home Care is closer to 10%. Find out how to reduce absenteeism in your organization with 44 Ways to Reduce Unplanned Caregiver Absences.
Which of these 20 ideas will you use?
We love to hear your success stories! How do you train, engage and retain your caregivers? And what impact does training have on your business? Let us know in the comments below!
