The home health care industry is rapidly growing and shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, Americans are projected to spend $5.7 trillion on home health care by 2026. But despite the growth, the industry faces significant challenges with securing top talent and remaining profitable. Between baby boomers retiring at a rapid rate, a talent shortage in home health care and costly compliance hurdles, home health care agencies need to identify new ways to stay competitive and profitable.
One way to increase profitability at your home health care business is by improving your overall people operations. We’ve pulled together a few key ways to get started.
Save on Sourcing Costs Without Sacrificing Quality Candidates
Do you have a process in place to track the various channels you use to source applicants and the associated costs? Chances are you’re tapping into several job boards, social media, outside recruiters, your home health care business website, and more. But the most critical channel when it comes to sourcing quality candidates – while saving money – is your home health care agency’s career site.
When comparing job board costs to a career site – which has better SEO value and is a great destination to showcase your employment brand in front of candidates – you get a much higher ROI when you invest in your own careers page.
Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)
| Cost Per Applicant | Cost Per Candidate | Cost Per Hire | |
| Career Site | $5 | $7 | $14 |
| Typical Job Board | $20 | $112 | $634 |
Caregiver
| Cost Per Applicant | Cost Per Candidate | Cost Per Hire | |
| Career Site | $5 | $7 | $13 |
| Typical Job Board | $7 | $16 | $194 |
If you don’t have a dedicated careers page on your home health care business website, you might be missing out on star candidates. Career sites are a top source for attracting qualified candidates because job seekers who are qualified and excited to join your team will take the extra time to learn more about your home health care business rather than simply clicking “apply” on a job board.
To encourage top talent to apply, your career site should include detailed information about the opportunity joining your team presents, such as a company overview, list of benefits, outlined career paths and employee testimonials.
Other than building and maintaining a strong career site to attract quality candidates, it’s important to have an understanding of which sourcing channels are driving the most quality candidates – and eventual hires – and which channels aren’t driving results. Once you have a grasp into the performance of different applicant sources, you can reduce sourcing costs without sacrificing overall quality of hires.
Follow a Standardized Hiring Process to Add Profitability Back to Your Business
According to Hireology research, many businesses wait up to 10 days to initially review an application once it’s submitted. And during this waiting period, you risk losing prospective job applicants to a competitor with a quicker hiring process.
You wouldn’t let a customer lead go unanswered for 10 days – or longer – would you? You should take the same approach to hiring, or your home health care business will lose gross profitability due to lost productivity the longer you have an open role.
Given the record-low unemployment rate and a limited number of job seekers interested in home health care careers, waiting to review and respond to applicants will likely cost you top talent. But if you follow a standardized, proven hiring process you can reduce your total time to hire.
A standardized hiring process should include prescreen surveys, which are automatically sent to applicants, helping your team save time instead of reviewing each applicant individually. Once the prescreen surveys are automatically scored, only qualified candidates will move on to the candidate stage of the hiring process, helping you significantly decrease candidate review time. Other steps that can help your home health care agency speed up the hiring process include interview guides, integrated assessments, and automated background and reference checks.
Challenges associated with the home health talent shortage and costly compliance regulations will continue to impact the home health care industry in the years to come. With a more strategic, efficient approach to your hiring and people operations, your home health care agency can save money by reducing your candidate sourcing costs and add profitability by reducing your time to hire.
Reach out to learn more about how Hireology can help your home health care business save money and increase profitability through more efficient hiring – schedule a demo today.
