Who Do You Hire?

Over the past few months, we have been hearing stories from our newer agency partners about
how they are growing and taking on more business. With this added growth comes a need for additional back-end office support. This month we wanted to spend some time discussing the staffing questions every agency asks as they begin to experience growth, “What offices support positions should I fill first as I grow?” and “How do I effectively run my operations with the right level of staff?”
As you start to look at this, also consider which activities can you hire out as a service, which ones you need in-office, and which are full-time versus part-time. All the previously mentioned need to be considered before making an additional hire. For example, it is far easier and more effective to find someone to help support your payroll and billing on a part-time level than it would be to bring in a salesperson part-time. Some roles initially don’t require staffing full-time or in the short-term can be divided and delegated to existing staff internally.

Benchmarking

How are other agencies staffing up as they grow? The 2018 Home Care Benchmarking Study
gives us some insight into the positions agencies fill, and what order they fill them in, depending on their revenue size. For agencies that are early in their growth development, survey data suggests they begin their hiring with part-time support for Accounting and Staff Schedulers/Coordinators as their first hires. As these agencies continue to grow, the need for converting these roles to full-time office staff occurs along with bringing on in-field supervisors. Agencies at the mid-size revenue levels ($1.6MM to $2.8MM) typically add additional Staff Schedulers, a full-time Sales Representative, and Office Management. At this point, we see a total staff of about 7-8 staff members including an active owner. Large agencies (+$2.8MMM) typically add additional Administration Staff, and In-Field Supervisors to increase caregiver and client engagement. According to the Home Care Benchmark Study agencies of this size operate with a total staff of 9 to 10. As with every business, as you grow it’s imperative to maintain a balance between profitability and strong attention to customer service.
In conclusion, when deciding which positions you will be hiring for next, the two most important aspects to look at are considering where you are on the growth curve and what positions you have already staffed. There is a lot of good data available through our industry associations and several benchmarking studies done annually to guide you in making these next steps in hiring. After you decide what role to hire the real work begins as you need to find the right person for your team the fit’s your company culture, style, and personality.
For more on hiring, check back to our blog, and register for our upcoming webinar Smartcare University: Staff and Applicant Management.