Looking for a Home Care Worker? Here’s How to Hire One

Watching our loved ones age but not having the time to take care of them during this tough period of their life can be heartbreaking, but fortunately, professional home care workers can be a massive help. When it comes to hiring a caregiver for in-home help, you need to choose someone who gets along with your loved one and is trained to professionally care for them. Finding that ideal person is easier said than done, however, especially if you’ve never hired anyone before.

To help everyone who is looking for a home care worker, here are our top hiring tips.

  1. Come Up with a Clear Job Description

A clear job description is essential to help attract wonderful candidates who are willing to do what’s needed to care for your elderly loved one. You should list down all your loved one’s needs carefully to include all the tasks you’ll expect the home care worker to do. You can take them through an entire week of care or break it down into daily responsibilities, making sure to be as detailed as possible.

Once you have finished, you should be able to figure out how many hours of care and how much flexibility is needed from the candidates. Make sure you are specific about the following factors:

– Training desired: whether the home care worker needs to be a CNA (certified nursing assistant), an LVN (licensed vocational nurse), or an HHA (home health aide).

– Transportation agreement: whether they have to transport your loved one, and whether this will be done in their car or yours.

– Experience with specific health issues that your loved one has.

– Language requirements: especially for those whose primary language is not English.

– Housekeeping: detail out all sorts of housekeeping you want them to do in addition to care for your loved one.

– Hours: What times/days are you hiring for?

– Wages: Whether you want to pay hourly or per shift, holiday, vacation, or sick pay.

  1. Interview the Candidates

Interviewing can help you identify if a person is trustworthy, responsible, and right for the job. For initial screening, you can go through all the resumes and select some candidates to invite for an in-person interview later. There are many fantastic home care workers in every state, from New York to California. One San Diego senior care agency explains that it’s important to make a list of questions about what you want to in order to keep your interview concise and informative. You can skip all this and save yourself time and effort if you just hire through an agency. Often, an agency representative will come to your house and interview you and your loved one to find out what type of help you are seeking. They will then match you with the care worker that best suits your loved one’s needs.

  1. Check their References

Even if the interviewee seems great for the job, it’s wise to do background checks and follow up on their references. You should ask about how they performed in their previous jobs, and whether the referee would hire them again. You can also discuss your situation and your needs to see if they think the candidate is suitable for the job. Don’t forget to run a criminal record check in all the areas that the candidate has lived or been employed, since elderly people are often at greater risk of fraud and abuse.

  1. Sign an Employment Contract

Before signing the official contract, it’s wise to arrange a paid trial period so that you have a chance to observe how well they get on with your loved one and how they handle all their responsibilities. Once you are totally happy with the person, you can then offer them an employment contract. It doesn’t have to be complicated; you just need to clearly lay out the details you’ve discussed. Some important information to include is the job description, hours and schedule, pay rate and periods, and other things you’ve agreed on in the interview and since. While you can save money by paying your hired caregiver cash “under the table,” it can get you in a lot of trouble if they get audited by the IRS. Creating your own W-2s and tax forms isn’t too complicated and will ensure that everything is above board.

It is easy for family and friends to suggest finding a home care worker to take care of your elderly loved one, but finding the right candidate is not always so simple.  Make sure you consider all your loved one’s needs so that you can find the perfect match. Follow this hiring guide, and you will be able to ensure that your elderly family member is well taken care of.