2018 was the year of the Office Staff at Gere Consulting. Why?
Because after the year of the caregiver in 2017, it became apparent that caregivers are the lifeblood of an agency and the office staff is its backbone.
2018 was the year when we took stock of the impact office employees have on client satisfaction, caregiver recruitment and retention. Because it sets the tone for your agency, your office staff determine its trajectory, towards growth or stagnation. They impact so many aspects of your business.
No agency can thrive if the office positions are not staffed properly. We put a special focus on the different aspects of managing an office team in home care. We published a number of articles on this subject:
- How to create a mission driven staff
- How to upscale your office staff
- Looking at office processes and managing staff performance
If you are a member of our group HR in Home Care, you can access those in your membership area.
If you are not a member of HR in Home Care, consider joining. Learn more here.
We held a webinar on How To Upscale Your Office Staff which is available for purchase here. It makes for great digital stocking stuffers at only $37! Why not organize a viewing party in the office?
Besides talking and writing on the subject, I also worked with my clients to help them upscale their office staff. Here’s what we learned along the way.
With Caleb Roseme, President of ASQ in Connecticut, we wrote job descriptions for existing positions and a new hybrid position combining the role of recruiter and marketer in the community. Caleb sees multiple benefits of having job descriptions across the board. “It makes recruiting and identifying a candidate so much easier. We even created job descriptions for ourselves, the owners.”
Having job descriptions for the owners is an unusual and bold step. ASQ developed those to guide in decision making to set the boundaries of their respective roles. It also provides clarity to staff in the office about the owners’ role.
If your agency recently hired a new recruiter, they will benefit from this training webinar to refresh their knowledge of recruitment and provide the skills necessary for behavioral interviewing. This webinar is available for purchase here, another the ideal stocking stuffer for the recruiter in your agency!
With Julie Sailer, formerly of Sunlight Support, we developed a solid employee handbook. Julie credits the work as a great investment in the professionalism of her office staff. “[Working with a consultant like Anne-Lise] saved me TONS of time. I didn’t have to do the research and figure out the policies we needed out on my own. Being a stand-in owner and running a business with little support, I had peace of mind that I had a professional resource that I could trust to provide sound direction.”
Revamp or create your employee handbook in 2019, get started now! Contact me (subject line: I want to revamp my employee handbook) and let’s get the new year rolling right!
With Julie we also worked through some challenging employee situations. Disciplining and terminating employees is never easy. Julie felt supported emotionally and professionally through very difficult situations that required delicate handling. By provided wording and examples for what actions were needed, Julie learned and build her own HR skills.
Like many agencies across the country, consider pre-paid HR support for your agency: 12 hours or 25 hours for one year. Contact me today to learn more and take advantage of the last days for the 2018 rates!
