Home Care Agencies Find Success in Employee Referral Programs

Updated June 11, 2025

Faced with ongoing staffing challenges, home-based care providers are increasingly turning to employee referral programs to recruit and retain quality care staff.While innovation in⁢ recruitment is constant, many companies find⁤ internal word-of-mouth referrals provide the ⁤best return.

These programs, which include social media groups, physical materials, and email ⁤campaigns, improve retention rates by tapping into existing employee networks. Even though employee referrals may not generate the highest volume of leads, they frequently enough result in higher conversion rates and lower acquisition costs.

Tribute Home Care, operating in Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, and northern Virginia, reports that 50% of its ⁣caregiving team was hired through employee referrals. The company offers ⁤personal care, companionship, housekeeping, and dementia care services.

To⁣ streamline the referral process, Tribute provides employees with cards ⁤containing QR codes for easy sharing. They also use email campaigns to encourage referrals from both current and former employees.

caretech, an independent home care company based in omaha, Nebraska,⁢ also utilizes employee referrals.While the percentage of hires from referrals is lower,⁤ the conversion rate is considerably higher, according to Chief Operating Officer Kerin⁣ Zuger. Caretech⁣ provides‍ non-medical services across Nebraska, Wyoming, and Iowa.

Caretech uses ⁤an engagement platform ⁢to manage internal caregiver referrals, tracking ⁤start dates⁣ and shift performance to measure the return on investment of different recruiting methods.

Activated Insights reported in 2024 that word of⁣ mouth was the third most utilized method for professional caregiver recruitment,⁤ resulting in the lowest employee turnover rate and among the lowest acquisition costs. In contrast, employment websites‍ like indeed, while⁣ the top recruitment method, produced a much higher turnover rate.

Alison Jenkins,⁢ a recruiter at ProHealth Home Health & Hospice in Birmingham, Alabama, noted that word-of-mouth referrals frequently enough yield stronger candidates as employees understand the qualities to look for. ProHealth, which serves about 1,200 patients⁣ monthly, filled 40% of its positions ⁤through referrals in 2024, utilizing an employee newsletter and an internal Facebook⁢ group.

Tribute Home Care prioritizes repeat referrers, seeking their insights into why their referrals are more prosperous. According to Jeanine Desatnick, director of caregiver talent acquisition at Tribute, these employees often pre-screen ‍candidates, ensuring they align with the company’s values.

“There’s no one size fits ⁤all here,” Desatnick said. “We’re constantly⁢ learning how to do this the best. ⁣We try to hit at every angle. We let our caregivers know from the very beginning of their employment here that they’re like ambassadors for us.”

“You’re going through 200 interviews with Indeed, and maybe 10% of those⁢ start,” Zuger said. “With ⁣our employee referrals. I would say about 75%⁢ of them convert.”

“Birds of a feather flock together,” Jenkins said. “A good team member is always looking out for another good team member.They are stronger nurses, or stronger clinicians, if they’re referred here by a good team member.”

Rachel Gartner,⁤ founder and CEO of⁤ Carework, a home care recruitment company, emphasized the importance of⁤ formalizing employee referral programs. She noted⁢ that companies should diversify their recruiting strategies and not rely solely on⁢ online job platforms.

“It’s a channel that you control and can directly impact, because online job platforms are always going to make changes,” she said during a recent Zingage webinar.⁤ “You don’t want your business fully reliant on that.You don’t want ⁤your business to be fully reliant on one channel. You always want to have a diversified ⁤recruiting strategy, ⁢just like marketing and just like sales.If your sales were all ⁢coming from one referral source, people would tell you that’s really dangerous.”

Gartner also suggested that a lack of prioritization frequently enough leads to unsuccessful referral programs.

“If your referral channel isn’t generating a lot of consistent referrals, it’s probably either on the back burner or you’re not really doing it, or you’re not communicating it,” she said.

Desatnick believes⁣ that employee referrals reflect a company’s culture.

“I ⁣think a caregiver referral is the biggest compliment to a company’s culture that there is,” she said.“It’s basically someone saying,‘I’m happy here. I think that I’m treated well. I think that the mission, the values, the culture are such a good fit for me that I want to tell people that I love, and ⁤that are close to me, to join this community.’ We never take that lightly.”

What’s next

As the demand for home care services continues to rise,⁢ agencies will likely continue refining their employee referral programs, integrating technology and personalized⁤ approaches to attract and retain⁢ qualified caregivers.