In most corporate environments, micromanagement is an inevitable phenomenon. Most employees have encountered a micromanager in their working life.
Although some companies believe it’s necessary for better productivity, research in the last decade says otherwise. In fact, surveys show that 69% of employees considered changing jobs due to micromanagement. This is not surprising since micromanagement can cause employees more stress and even burnout.
Repelling employees and diminishing their morale are not the only negative aspects of micromanagement in a workplace. It also costs businesses money because of its effect on turnover rates and productivity.
Home care providers already experience challenges with high turnover rates. But, at the same time, they must ensure their clients receive the best quality care. This is why it’s important to have a caregiver team that is well-informed and confident to undertake most of the work without supervision.
So what can you do for your caregivers to be autonomous and deliver the best quality of service even when they aren’t micromanaged?
In this blog, we will cover the 4 ways home care providers can empower caregivers and reduce the need for costly micromanagement.
Establishing a thorough onboarding process
A successful onboarding process is one of the quickest ways to ease new caregivers into their new job and familiarize them with your agency culture.
Caregivers who receive an effective and digestible orientation understand what is expected of them, the policies and procedures, and what they can expect from the job.
The onboarding process lays the foundations of communication between the caregiver and the agency. Caregivers must feel comfortable learning and asking questions without being overwhelmed with information or dismissed when they fall behind.
When the onboarding process is complete, caregivers must be armed with the knowledge, tools, and skills to work with self-motivation and autonomy. Consequently, boosting their confidence and professionalism brings excellent results to home care providers without micromanagement.
Another benefit of a successful onboarding process is retention. Studies show that 69% of employees are more likely to stay for at least 3 years if they experienced great onboarding.
Using mentorship programs to support caregivers
Mentorship programs are highly beneficial for improving caregiver engagement and retention. They empower caregivers by building a support system between them and encouraging peer-to-peer learning.
Even though caregivers mostly work independently, matching them with a good mentor engages them and connects them to the agency. As a result, they can develop their skills, learn new ones, and identify further training opportunities.
Caregivers also feel more accountable for their responsibilities when they have a role model who holds them up to a standard. Having a mentor or coach who can guide caregivers rather than micromanaging them is more effective in building the caregiver’s skills.
Smartcare’s matching tools help home care providers easily identify suitable matches between caregivers and mentors.
Letting caregivers manage their own schedule
Enabling caregivers to work at their pace and plan their schedule is key to caregiver retention as well as reducing the need for micromanagement.
Giving caregivers more autonomy over their schedule and helping them take time off, work extra shifts, or occasionally hand over their shifts to other caregivers provides them with adaptability.
Commitment is an important part of being a caregiver. A good client-caregiver relationship can only be built with consistency. So long as there is good communication between schedulers and caregivers, a consistent routine can be nurtured with the caregiver’s input.
Taking the travel time, the client’s and caregiver’s personality types/communication styles, and the caregiver’s skills into consideration are also ways of empowering caregivers and reducing the need for micromanagement.
You can use scheduling software for caregivers that help schedulers or agency executives easily keep track of caregiver and client availability.
Helping caregivers set and achieve goals
Achieving goals and being rewarded for them motivates any employee. However, caregivers need to self-motivate often to continue doing their best work. In order to help them, home care providers must recognize their successes.
By helping caregivers set and achieve goals, home care providers can align them with company goals as well as guide them in their careers. During the goal-setting process, caregivers can identify gaps in their skills and training that can be provided by the home care agency.
Setting goals and rewarding caregivers increases motivation, performance, and productivity without the need for micromanagement.
In addition, using Smartcare Caregiver Rewards motivates and engages caregivers with gamification tools and rewards them in real-time when they achieve their goals or complete smaller tasks.
How Smartcare Software can help reduce micromanagement in home care
Home care providers use Smartcare Software to enhance the effectiveness of each method to empower their business and their caregivers.
Thanks to the Smartcare Software mobile app, caregivers have all the information they need, such as schedules, care plans, documentation, and more at their fingertips. As a result, they have more autonomy and can confidently carry out their tasks without requiring constant management.
If you’d like to learn more about how Smartcare Software can help you manage and engage caregivers, please get in touch with us for more details or request a free demo. Our expert team is here to answer all your questions.