The Caregiver Bottleneck
The Truth About Establishing Your Caregiver Team
If you are a new agency owner, you are likely obsessed with client acquisition. But in the modern home care landscape, the challenge isn’t usually finding someone who needs care—it’s finding someone to provide it.
At 24/7 Solutions, we often talk about the "hypothetical tiger." This tiger represents the massive labor shortage in our industry. No single provider is immune to the supply and demand discrepancy. The tiger is chasing everyone.
The only way to survive? You have to run faster than everyone else.
The Shift: Caregivers are "Internal Customers"
Gone are the days when a "help wanted" ad and a polite receptionist were enough to staff your agency. Today, if your HR team acts like traditional HR, you will lose.
Your recruitment team needs to adopt a consultative sales mindset. Your applicants are shopping the market, and you are competing against every other hourly employer in your area—not just other agencies. You need to:
Mystery shop your competitors regarding wages.
Be transparent about pay and screening immediately.
Maintain a rigorous pipeline so no lead falls through the cracks.
The Burden of Onboarding and Compliance
Winning the applicant is only half the battle. Once they sign, the real work begins.
Effective onboarding isn't just paperwork; it is an experience designed to build trust during the crucial first 90 days. This requires branded welcome kits, scheduled touch-points, and a structured retention program.
Simultaneously, you must manage the administrative nightmare of compliance. From background checks to I-9s, one missed checkbox can lead to license revocation or lawsuits. Even the most well-intentioned teams make mistakes, and without a fail-safe system of audits and checklists, your agency is at risk.
Read more: Building Your Agency’s Infrastructure
You Don’t Have to Outrun the Tiger Alone
Does this sound like a massive undertaking? It is.
Building a sales-minded HR department, designing retention programs, and creating fail-safe compliance audit systems can feel like a full-time job—because it is a full-time job. As a new owner, trying to build these complex infrastructures from scratch while trying to grow your census is a recipe for burnout.
Don't let the administrative burden slow you down. In Mastering Home Care Operations, we don't just tell you what to do; we provide the blueprints, the checklists, and the systems you need to secure your supply of caregivers.
