Home Care Careers ‘Are Suddenly on the Map,’ But Recruiting Remains a Challenge

According to this article from Home Health Care News, recruiting and retention in both the home health and home care industries has always been an uphill battle for providers. Operators had hoped that the home-based care labor pool was going to grow this last spring, thinking the COVID-19 crisis would help on those fronts. And in some ways, there have been some positive signs for recruitment and retention. For example, the Indeed Hiring Lab previously found that home-based care was no longer a job seeker’s market, suggesting agencies were finding the workers they needed.

However, conversations that Home Health Care News has had with providers — and more recent data from myCNAjobs — is now painting a different picture. “I think we have to respectfully disagree with that point, because it is challenging for us to find caregivers — and very challenging for us also finding the right one,” Ryan Iwamoto, the president and co-founder of 24 Hour Home Care, told HHCN in September. “That has been probably the biggest challenge that we’ve had.”

In a recent survey by myCNAjobs, the majority of agencies (nearly 60%) said they were struggling with recruiting. Over 70% of the agencies said they had recently turned down cases because they were unable to staff them. Despite more workers looking for jobs in 2020 than any time in recent history, 87% of respondents said COVID-19 has made recruiting harder than it was before.