Home Instead Senior Care (HISC)

Home Instead Senior Care (HISC)

Abstract

This submission analysis Home Instead, a home care facility and provides recommendations that might assist the organization in improving its performance, especially on employee retention and using zero-hour contracts.

Keywords Zero-hour contracts, employee retention, corporate leadership

• Introduction

A zero-hours contract is an agreement with a declaration that an employer should not provide an employee with any minimum number of working hours. Such an arrangement might also require that the employee should not accept any employment hours offered by the employer (Koumenta & Williams, 2019). Zero-hours contracts are becoming increasingly common in a market environment termed as the gig economy. A gig economy is where temporary positions and independent workers are common (Pyper & McGuiness, 2013). About 30% of the employees in developing economies have short term engagements, and the trend is expected to grow (ONS, 2020). This submission outlines the company background of Home Instead Senior Care which will be used as a case study, identifies the problem in the organization, analyses zero-hour contracts and recruitment challenges in the home health sector and lastly provides recommendations to improve performance in the industry.

• Company Background
  • Company profile

Home Instead Senior Care (HISC) is a global franchise providing individualized care, support and knowledge of improving older people and their families. The organization was established in 1994 by Paul and Lori Hogan in the USA; today, it operates in more than 12 countries around four continents. The guiding vision is to invest a personalized ageing experience for each generation.

2.2 Problem situation and impact on company performance

Currently, the company is faced with low retention in employees, which negatively impacts the organization’s ability to attain its strategic objectives in growth. Besides, the organization invests in training and development of its employees, and the high turnover rate leads to loss of talents and increased training costs. The competitors, on the other hand, benefit from the proficiency acquired by the exiting employees. Generally, the home care sector has been experiencing high turnover rates since 2013, with the most recent report showing a 66% turnover rates (Home Health Care News, 2018). The turnover rates represent all employees who quit or terminated (ONS, 2020).

Secondly, HISC has challenges in recruiting employees, for instance, in the last set of recruitment, the advertisement attracted 19 applicants, but none turned up for the interview. Currently, the carer to client ratio is 1:7, which is above the legal ratio in any nursing home. Due to inadequate employees, the existing workers have to commute to clients from one to another. This transit approach reduces the number of clients they can provide care for, and they are not compensated for the time lost while commuting (ONS, 2020).

Although the company has tried to restructure itself to increase performance, the efforts have become futile. Besides, the process was not valid since it did not identify proper goals to improve its operation more, especially the performance management system, which is needed most. Even though the owner has the necessary qualifications to run the organization, her management and leadership competencies need to be improved to affect employee engagement, organization culture, working relationships and employee performance positively. Because of the inefficiencies in hiring and operations, the organization has resorted into zero-hour contracts to cut costs on labour and maximize returns.

• Analysis
  • Evaluation zero-hour contracts

Most often, zero-hour arrangements are referred to as a casual working agreement where an employee has no guaranteed working hours. However, the potential flexibility of this approach raises queries, whether it outweighs the negatives (Koumenta & Williams, 2019).

This type of agreement has several critics, including labour unions which perceive them as novel tools for controlling labour and wage expenses rather than focusing on employees’ needs (Pyper and McGuiness, 2013). Similar to this argument Wood and Burchell, (2014) highlight that labour unions oppose this approach because employers use it as a tool in cutting wages, avoiding payment to schemes and other benefits which employees are entitled to. A survey conducted by HISC finds that many employers are struggling the meet their worker’s needs.

For an employer, they might not get anyone available for working at the hour of need since the workers don’t usually accept work. According to Broughton et al., (2016), an employer can run into a crisis because they did not plan appropriately on demand for workers. This argument is also supported by Koumenta and Williams, (2019) who argue that since the employer has no control over a worker’s working hours, they can lose the best talents in the market.

The use of Zero hour contracts in HISC increases general inequality by providing a setting where caregivers cannot work adequate hours to earn sufficient income, thus remaining in poverty and unable to receive top-up welfare benefits. Besides, tentative salaries make it difficult for them to have access to loans, credits, among other financial assistances as compared caregivers with permanent contracts. At this situation, the worker is pushed to a state of continuous uncertainty as they cannot do any financial planning on a zero-hour contract. As compared to other companies in the industry, this model is used as a model of increasing the options of greater participation of several stakeholders in the labour market for individuals who might not be willing to work on a full-time basis. This situation enables adequate policing that promote the labour market.  Also, Zero-hour contracts provide a higher level of flexibility and work-life balance to employees. This option offers them an opportunity to accept work that they want and also afford them the ability to arrange their time as they wish (Koumenta & Williams, 2019).

For other employers, zero-hours contracts assist in avoiding the need for short-term contract employees and job redundancies.  According to Pyper and McGuiness, (2013) zero-hour workers are not assured of employment and can only be paid for the hours they work; therefore this helps organizations cut costs and save a lot of finances in this do or die economic times. A survey conducted by the Office of Nationals Statistics shows that zero-hour contracts suit several employees in the gig economy, such as the home health sector (ONS, 2020). The results find that over 60% of the employees working on zero-hour contracts don’t wish to work additional hours. This is converse to the full-time workers who around 65% preferred that they will be willing to work more hours. From this findings, we can reasonably presume that employees who work in the gig economy prefer the level of flexibility and accept that it provides them with the benefits that outweigh the job insecurity and low compensation as compared with full-time employment.

Zero –hour working contracts make caregivers at HISC unable to take on another work since they are obliged to be available for work, and this leads to high levels of job insecurity. This argument is supported by Koumenta and Williams, (2019), who argue that the use of zero-hour contracts increases general inequality and promotes gender pay inequalities. In this regard, such agreements provide a setting where caregivers cannot work adequate hours to earn sufficient income, thus remaining in poverty and unable to receive top-up welfare benefits. Besides, tentative salaries make it difficult for them to have access to loans, credits, among other financial assistances as compared caregivers with permanent contracts. At this situation, the worker is pushed to a state of continuous uncertainty as they cannot do any financial planning on a zero-hour contract.

• Analysis of Retention and Recruitment Challenges in the Home Health Care Industry.

Employers cite the recruitment and retention of employees in a home health care sector as the most challenging operations in providing care today. Recruitment might not be a challenge to the employers but retaining talents is more than half the battle (Bin, 2015). The home care sector sees applicants from various industries, including hospitals or other acute care facilities. For some providers, getting a job at a Home-based care facility requires a first-time experience in-home care. The first experience involves necessary skills in providing care in a home care facility; in this regard, the expectations are a sufficient supply of labour given that the nature of the job requires low levels skills; yet the industry suffers a high turnover rate.

Over 50% of the working caregivers feel that they are compromising their careers to offer care for ageing people. According to a survey conducted by Home Instead, (2020) on working caregivers, 43% perceive that their career growth has fallen off because of the sacrifices they make in providing care and support in homes.  Today more than ever, the caregivers devote an extensive off the unpaid outside of the office while providing care for the ageing people. In the last two years, caregivers providing care for over 30 hours a week increased by 10%, the average working hours in a week increased by 18.4 in addition to their part-time or full-time roles. These underpaid employees are having it difficult in balancing their work and family life goals (Ha and Kim, 2010).

Several employers are struggling to meet the needs of the caregivers as required because of casual agreements such as Zero-hour contracts. Further, according to the survey, only 30% of the caregivers are satisfied by the benefits they receive from their employers, including compensation and vacation duration. Some are even forced to use their vacation periods to attend to the employer’s responsibilities (Home Instead, 2020).

From the above, it is reasonable to assume that a Zero hour contract causes financial worry to employees because of the uncertain amount of income they would receive. Besides, they would also feel undervalued since they only have little or no hours and might feel vulnerable and inept of speaking up for themselves regarding their role in the company for fear of intimidation including not being given working hours. Such a contract can also make them feel that they don’t have a clear progression path and inadequate skills and training competence, which makes them leave for better conditions in other organizations.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs states companies should consider the needs of their workers, such as career development opportunities, job security and compensation. Unless these attributes are achieved, the employees will be forced to leave the organization. On the other hand, if the employer knows that they have better opportunities for career development, then they will be committed to the company (Raziq and Maulabakhsh, 2015).

Working caregivers also consider home environments hostile than in workplace conditions (Bin, 2015). For instance, they could meet inconsiderate clients when requesting time offs. As a result, they are forced to make hard choices, including turning down promotions, quitting the jobs or even skipping opportunities for career development in the search for an opportunity that suits their needs. All these circumstances add pressure and stress to the employee leading to physical or mental health effects. The Job embeddedness theory highlight that the connection an employee has to their organization determines if they stay or leave (Ha and Kim, 2010).

Employee recruitment and retention effectiveness depend on the structure of the internal processes of an organization (Raziq and Maulabakhsh, 2015). Rayton and Yalabik (2014) also highlight that to attain high levels of employee retention the employer should implement processes that focus on improving the job satisfaction of an employee. Therefore, in the case of HISC, internal processes are not driven in a manner that increases job satisfaction among employees. For instance, the following aspects are happening in the organization.

• Ineffective leadership– leadership in the home care facility involves various activities such as ensuring overall responsibility for the quality and safety of care in both caregivers and clients, overall oversight role for every employee, financial sustainability and ensuring ethical behaviour. The transformational leadership theory highlight that an effective leader motivates, inspires and helps people to see the significance and higher good in performing a task (Northouse, 2018). The owner of HISC lacks the kind of corporate leadership that supports the needs of employees within their workplaces to attain the company’s objectives. For example, HISC leadership lacks vision in strategy formulation. They are not able to identify active concerns within the organization and develop solutions to increase efficiency and motivation among employees.
• Poor HRM practices– HISC is run by poor HR practices such as lack of a performance management system. Employee performance in the organization is not given the attention it requires as a factor of employee motivation. Besides, recruitment and selection are not done effectively to attract the best talents in the market. Also, the employees are subjected to inadequate compensation, especially when the caregiver is forced to commute from one client to another without being paid for the commuting hours. The equity theory highlight that employees seek to attain equity between their inputs and the results they get as compared with others. The notion is that employees value fair treatment which is a motivator in keeping a better relationship with their employer and her contacts Li and Li (2018).
• Operational ineffectiveness– HISC undertakes a restructuring process that aims at increasing operations and lowering employee turnover rates. Despite the process, the outcomes did not achieve the desired goals and objectives. This action shows that the organization is not keen on formulating its tactical strategies in meeting its goals. Mintzberg’s theory argues that a strategy formulation exercise should include judgemental planning where all stakeholders are invited, analyze the demanding environment and come up with a befitting solution after a thorough analysis and judgements (Mintzberg, 2014). Therefore, Home Instead fails to do an in-depth analysis and evaluation in creating an advantage for itself.

• Impact of employee engagement

Employee engagement and staff retention are two interconnected variables. According to Collini et al., (2015), when employees are not engaged at work, they have little motivation in staying at the company. Bin (2015) also supports this perspective, noting that even additional compensation to an employee won’t make them stay at the company if they are not engaged. Particularly if they do not see a promising future which includes job satisfaction as well as a clear career development path. Whether permanent or zero-hour contract agreements, all workers should be treated equally and fairly.  Home Instead does not have engaged employees, their ineffective recruitment strategy and lower retention rates increase its overall costs which limit its financial performance. The organization does not have clear career development goals for its employees to enable employees to develop a stronger bond to the organization’s mission and vision.

• Conclusions

Employee retention is a real concern that should be addressed at HISC since it has a high turnover rate. Factors affecting employee retention include the type of employment contracts, leadership strategy, HRM practices, engagement levels and the organization culture. Therefore, the company should adopt employee referral programs, develop recruitment marketing strategies, increase candidate engagement levels, employ practical employment approaches and use performance management systems to improve its performance. These strategies are attainable if HISC adopts a transformative leadership style which is committed to advancing employee welfare. Taking these approaches would enable it to retain its employees, develop a sound culture that enhances motivation and reduce operational costs, especially in recruitment and selection of employees.

• Recommendations

HISC should work on its internal processes to increase its performance more, especially on its employee recruitment and retention function. Some of the recommended strategies that might improve its operations include;

Recruitment and selection strategies

The objective factor theory perceives organizational choice processes as a function of assessing and balancing various measurable traits of employment proposition including compensation, benefits, opportunities for growth, and the nature of the responsibilities among other aspects (Sanjeev and Surya, 2016). Therefore these processes should be evaluated adequately to achieve the desired goals.

Employee referral programs- HISC should implement an organized and structured program to ask existing employees to vouch for suitable candidates for open positions that could arise. This approach could be an appropriate approach for hiring the best talents from the existing networks.  If HISC employs the best skills to its workforce, then organizational performance would increase generally.

Recruitment Marketing– the organization should develop a marketing platform where they will brand and market themselves long before they hire candidates to fill open positions. Marketing themselves could enable them to reach a wider audience and attract the best talents in the market. HISC could achieve this function via its website and engaging in Public relations efforts.

Engagement with the candidates- at the marketing platforms, HISC should engage candidates with most relevant and vital content; this action could interest candidates and encourage them to apply for open positions. HISC has the potential of increasing its engagement with candidates by starting conversations with suitable candidates before undertaking the employment process.

Effective recruitment and selection process- HISC should employ guiding principles that ensure the recruitment process is effective. For instance, it should make the process systematic and impartial, select individuals according to the job specification and also provide immediate feedback.

Employee motivation strategies

Employee motivation arises from two factors, i.e. intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic factors originate from within an employee, while extrinsic factors are external components such as compensation. All these factors develop job satisfaction in an employee. However, the environment at which employees work in determines whether job satisfaction is attained. Therefore, HISC should adopt the following approaches.

Performance management systems- the company should employ a systematic approach to evaluate employee’s performance; this action will assist in aligning with the mission, goals and objective of the company. HISC should establish clear performance expectations to assist employees in understanding their roles and evaluating their own performance. Lastly, the organization should create a culture that supports, inspires and motivates employees to perform better. And this needs to begin with effective leadership that engages employees in every decision that affects them. The organizational culture theory highlights that company culture is made up of a set of values determined by the company systems and processes. When processes are open and fair, a sound culture is created which in turn enhances performance and achievement (Al Saifi, 2015). If all these strategies should be implemented, then the organization could reduce hiring costs through reduced turnover rates, increase service delivery which could increase the amount of revenue.

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