My first encounter with Kisha was over the phone. She scheduled a strategy call with me to review her efforts in caregiver recruitment. It turned out that Kisha was doing everything right as an HR professional! She was implementing most of what I recommend for a successful recruitment plan. She was a gold star student! She has done so well that I had to bring her to you. I hope her journey inspires yours.
Kisha is a true HR professional success story. She has worked her entire career in senior care. HR wasn’t her first calling. She started out as a student nurse and realized that HR was a better fit for her. After college, she got a job as an HR Assistant and grew her position to a level of an HR Generalist. She was again promoted and is now the HR Manager for her home health agency.
Like many agencies, Responsive Home Care provides a full-service agency in Broward County, FL. It employs about 160 caregivers.
Kisha is keen to point out that all caregivers and staff are employees of the agency. One of the big selling points for both caregivers and clients is the careful matching of caregiver and client. “We are the ‘Match.com’ of home care,” she says with a giggle.
Thanks to new scheduling software and their long-tenured office staff, the agency knows its caregivers and wants to utilize them as best as possible.
Kisha has a number of recommendations for her colleagues in the HR function:
- Improve the HR processes that support your agency’s goals. For example, recruitment is a major part of the HR work in home health. Kisha realized that the paperwork and the process of recruiting was getting in the way of connecting with candidates quickly. She worked with the owner to streamline their recruitment and turn around applications in record time. The result: more chances of getting the best caregivers!
- Don’t be afraid to change things up even when they work. This is part of continuous improvement. Kisha uses behavioral questions during interviews to get to know each candidate on a personal level. Face to face time is about getting to know each other rather than fill out paperwork. Caregivers appreciate this personable interview style.
- Project a professional image throughout the selection process. This is particularly important at interview time. Kisha interviews most applicants. She has a trained back-up interviewer and a number of back-up interviewers. Only trained interviewers get to interview prospective caregivers to ensure the quality of the recruitment experience.
- Create a fast-track on-boarding to scoop caregivers available for work. Kisha has the process set up so that new hire orientation can be completed on the same day as the interview if a candidate has all their paperwork completed and wants to start work immediately. In Florida, Agency of Health Care Administration (AHCA) provides immediate access to a background check for all home care personnel. In states that do not have an AHCA service, online background vendors can provide a similar service.
- Get certified to showcase your professional credentials. Kisha studied for her PHR after a few years in the profession. She hopes to take it a step further and take the SPHR. Certification is a great way to back-up your knowledge and get a seal of approval from HRCI. She self-studied and used practice exams found online.
As a true HR professional, Kisha likes to promote the role of HR. “HR is more than hire and fire. When there is high turnover, it’s important to work on success strategies to keep the best employees. It’s the foundation for a long-term healthy business.”
So even if your agency is too small for a full-time HR, consider getting help with a part-time hire or outside support with Gere Consulting.
