How to Spot the Best Home Care Jobs in Wisconsin
“The best caregivers want to work for the best home care agencies.”
The home care industry is experiencing its fastest growth in history and full-time and part-time home care jobs are abundant here in Wisconsin.
With so many potential opportunities, why shouldn’t you work for a home care agency that values your work and your love of providing compassionate care?
Whether you're looking on indeed.com, mycnajobs.com, or in the local paper, finding the right home care employer can be tricky. Too often, job postings look exactly the same. How can you be sure that the employer you pick will actually keep its promises? Read on for three simple tips on how to find the best home care jobs.
The Trouble with Home Care Jobs
For decades, most seniors and people with disabilities have preferred to age at home, and the COVID-19 pandemic only increased that desire. But for far too long, caregiving has been undervalued. Too often, people assume care work is “easy” and that caregivers are “unskilled”. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.
Anyone who has ever worked in home care or hired a caregiver for a loved one knows how important the work is and how much skill it takes. Companionship and support with activities of daily living mean the difference between remaining safely and happily at home or moving to a facility, and caregivers are often the first to notice critical changes in health and wellbeing.
Because of these misconceptions, care workers are often neglected and their contributions are overlooked. But change is coming. The pandemic put a spotlight on the importance of care at home. And with not enough available caregivers to meet the need for services, caregivers have more choices and more power to demand better job quality than ever before.
If you are a dedicated caregiver ready for change, here are four tips to help you spot the best home care jobs in Central Wisconsin, or wherever you live and work.
Key #1 - The Best Home Care Agencies Care about Caregivers!
What kind of language do employers use in their job postings?
- Do their job postings look like every other home care agency?
- Do they highlight sign-on bonuses but then skip over job features and benefits that actually make for good jobs, like respect, communication, flexibility, and/or work-life balance?
- Do they claim to be the “best” or “highest quality” employer but then provide no actual examples or proof?
- Do they say, “No experience needed”, but don’t give information about training and safety measures?
These are all sure-fire signs of an employer that is more interested in getting caregivers in the door quickly than investing in people who want to grow with their company. Good home care employers will give concrete examples that show how they’ll look out for you, and that you're not “just another caregiver” moving through their revolving door.
What to Look Out For
Language that demonstrates understanding and appreciation for your work, and job features and benefits that prove it.
Key #2 - The Best Home Care Agencies Care About Your Wellbeing
As a caregiver, you work hard and deserve the peace of mind knowing you can take time if you get sick or need a break. But too many home care companies don’t offer any benefits. In fact, only one-third of independently and franchise-run home care agencies provide some form of benefits like travel reimbursement, major health, dental, or sick leave. While health insurance can be hard for small employers to afford, even if they want to, you should look closely at each agency’s benefits and weigh them against your needs.
Taking care of your whole self and having a work-life balance are ingredients for a rewarding career in home care, and just like every other professional, you deserve benefits!
What to Look Out For
- flexible scheduling
- paid time off
- paid sick time
- paid training
- paid travel time, mileage reimbursement or public transit passes
- workers compensation
- health/dental insurance
- other advanced benefits like life insurance
Key #3 - The Best Home Care Agencies Provide Growth Opportunities
The best home care employers see your potential and want to help you achieve your personal and professional goals. Does your agency provide access to advanced caregiver trainings? Do they offer peer mentor opportunities? Beyond caregiving, does the agency offer opportunities to participate on staff committees or to learn more about the back-end of the business? Does the agency hire caregivers for internal office roles, or do they always hire from outside?
The best home care agencies will know that caregivers have a lot to offer and many talents that can help the business grow.
What to Look Out For
Opportunities to advance your caregiver skills, learn and get involved in other areas of the business, use your many skills, and gain diverse knowledge and experience.
Did you know that there are caregiver-owned home care companies that center the needs and voices of caregivers? Today there are fifteen worker-owned home care cooperatives across nine states, employing over 2,400 caregivers, with 1,100 caregiver-owners (ICA Cooperative Summary, 2021)!
Did you know that Cooperative Care is a worker-owned cooperative home care agency? Learn more at Cooperative Care and look at our current career opportunities in multiple neighborhoods in Central Wisconsin.
What is Best for You and Your Home Care Career?
Caregivers are essential workers. You are the backbone of our economy and you deserve to work at a company that sees your value and puts its money where its mouth is. Whether you choose to work at a worker-owned home care agency or not, you deserve to be treated with respect and to be supported to do your best work and be your best self.
We hope you find these tips useful as you consider your current employment or search for a new employer.
Communities We Serve
Cooperative Care currently serves the following neighborhoods in Central Wisconsin:
- Berlin, Wisconsin,
- Wautoma, WI,
- Green Lake County,
- Adams County,
- Marquette County
- Neshkoro,
- Ripon,
- Princeton,
- Montello,
- Oxford,
- Adams/Friendship,
- Westfield,
- Coloma,
- Hancock
- Plainfield,
- Aurora,
- Dakota,
- Deerfield,
- Marion,
- Mt. Morris,
- Plainfield,
- Redgranite,
- and Wild Rose.
