Having the right compensation structure is key in every home care agency. Whether you are just starting your firm or have been in the industry for a while, you need to regularly review your pricing to attract the most clients and retain your caregivers as well.
Do you offer competitive pricing to your caregivers? According to Payscale, the average salary of a home caregiver is $11.99 per hour. This amount changes from state to state, so you can consider the minimum salary for caregivers in your state to avoid legal repercussions.
With the state’s minimum remuneration in mind, you can consider the experience and workload of employees to determine the exact salary to offer to your caregiver employees:
Experienced caregivers with additional qualifications such as Certified Patient Care Tech (PCTs) and Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) can get a higher pay to retain them in your agency. For the new employees, you can begin with the minimum wage allowed in your state and increase the pay gradually.
As for the pay periods, you can decide to pay weekly, bi-monthly or monthly. The key is to ensure that your employees don’t receive late payments and that you observe all the tax requirements of your state.
Offering Benefits to Your Caregivers
Employee benefits are a great way to increase the morale of the workers. Nowadays, home care agencies are offering several perks to their employees to retain them. Here are a few examples of the numerous benefits that employers offer caregivers:
- Paid holidays and vacations
- Paid sick leave
- Performance rewards and bonuses
- Free training and promotion opportunities
- Discounts for personal enrolments in the communities such as team member’s gym memberships, movie tickets, and much more
- Paid overtime
Note: there’s no limit to the benefits you can offer your caregivers, provided that it’s allowed by the law and the employees are okay with it. The key is to ensure the caregivers are happy to work in your agency and serve your clients as well.
Managing the Caregiver’s Payroll and Withholdings
Managing payroll for independent caregivers can be challenging for the employer. The management includes calculating the hours worked by each caregiver, the salary, withholding and paying for Medicare, social security, and much more.
Proper payroll management is vital as it keeps your caregivers happy and streamlines your activities at work. That’s why it is crucial to work with a trusted team and management software to ensure proper payroll and withholding management.
Improve Your Caregiver Management with FirstVisit Software
FirstVisit software is an effective cloud-based solution that provides full support for caregivers. Our software has smart scheduling features that allow you to support your clients and employees, manage your payrolls/billing, get security alerts and much more. Request a demo today or reach out to us to help you choose the best features for your home care business.
This blog was written by FirstVisit in conjunction with Home Care Profit. Home Care Profit is a group run by Darnell Reid which is geared towards entrepreneurs who want to learn how to start, grow and profit in the home care industry. He’s an experienced home care agency owner who helps entrepreneurs all across the US through posts, webinars, and discussions on his facebook group as well as his podcast, The Home Care Insiders Secrets.
