WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 28, 2022)—Amid a national shortage of homecare workers that deepened during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study unveils fresh insights to increase workforce capacity and reduce turnover.
The State of The Direct Care Workforce Study, completed in October 2022, was conducted in partnership between the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC), MissionCare Collective and one of the world’s leading data companies, to better understand the psyche of the people behind care delivery in America.
Measuring more than 67,000 direct care workers actively seeking work between March 2022 and July 2022 via mycnajobs.com, the study evaluated demographics, health, income, religion and hobbies. A few report highlights include:
- Caregivers are three times more likely than the average United States population to struggle with anxiety and depression
- 61% of CNAs and 59% of caregivers and home health aides have $0 in discretionary income
- Caregivers are two times more likely than the average US population to donate to charitable causes
The study also uncovers the seven personas of a caregiver with key insights to target, recruit and engage each persona to attract more people into the profession and reduce turnover.
“Despite a high demand for caregivers, who provide essential services for older adults and people with disabilities—too few people are entering the profession, workers are leaving in droves and companies are plagued with high turnover,” said Brandi Kurtyka, CEO of St. Petersburg, Florida-based MissionCare Collective. “It’s time to transform our industry and that starts with better understanding our care workers and how to engage a population that struggles to make ends meet in a hyper competitive labor market.”
One key study takeaway is agencies are targeting one persona versus all seven, limiting the impact of recruitment and retention strategies.
“It’s encouraging to see opportunities in the data,” said Bill Dombi, president of NAHC. “Talk is not sufficient, we need action to address our workforce challenges, and we need more partnerships and insights like this to move the needle in our industry.”
The State of The Direct Care Workforce Report is available free-of-charge to members of NAHC and MissionCare Collective and via a small fee for non-members.
—Via NAHC
