As long-term care providers navigate post-pandemic workforce challenges, they also need to improve the onboarding process, according to the results of a new survey by Viventium.
“Our research illuminates a crucial pathway towards addressing these persistent challenges, and it begins with onboarding,” stated Navin Gupta, CEO of the Berkeley Heights, NJ-based software-as-a-service-based human capital management platform for providers of community/facility- and home-based care.
The study detailed in the company’s 2024 Caregiver Onboarding Experience Report solicited responses from 175 administrators and caregivers in skilled nursing, assisted living, independent living, home health, home care and hospice care in November and December. The survey, Viventium said, found a “shockingly low bar for what passes as a ‘good’ onboarding experience, with strong indications that raising that bar could correlate to higher retention rates.”
“A more streamlined onboarding process, with fewer hours spent on paperwork and a greater focus on richer experiences for new hires, would undoubtedly benefit new hires, administrators and their organizations,” according to the report. “Not only that, but improved onboarding in one organization will support the entire industry by increasing eNPS and making caregiving roles in post-acute care more appealing to the next generation of new hires.”
To improve onboarding, the report recommends that providers ensure that any paperwork is written in a new hire’s native language and various forms that new hires must complete is customized to the specific job.
“You don’t have to rehaul your entire onboarding experience, and the result is that you’ve turned one potentially harmful situation into a positive key moment of the onboarding experience,” the report authors wrote.
Forty-six percent of administrators participating in the survey worked at skilled nursing facilities, 33% came from home health, 14% represented home care and 5% worked for hospice providers, with the remaining participating leaders coming from independent living or assisted living communities.
Among caregiver respondents, 26% came from home health, 23% worked in home care, 22% represented skilled nursing facilities, 15% worked in assisted living, 8% came from independent living and 6% represented hospice providers.
The majority (85%) of the total respondents were women.
Viventium was the bronze winner in the Tech Partner of the Year category in the Home Care track of the 2023 McKnight’s Excellence in Technology Awards.
