Our EasyLiving team will be choosing five finalists each month for the Inspirational Caregiver Award, and announcing the winner on the last Monday of each month. The four semi-finalists will receive a $25 gift card and the winner will receive a $100 gift card along with being spotlighted as our featured caregiver. We’ll be announcing the winner on a local radio show, The Caregiver Hour (11AM-12PM EST Mondays on Clear Channel 1250 AM WHNZ) and featuring the winning home caregiver on our website and Facebook page. We’ll share the inspirational story of our caregiver winner, with a little bit about why he/she became a caregiver, favorite parts of the job and some feedback from clients about how the caregiver has made a difference.
Why did EasyLiving create the iCaRewards program and caregiver award?
We have set up a number of concrete initiatives to create an environment where we set our team members up for success, as our mission states. To us, this is more than a statement we make and forget. It is a guide for what we do each day and the business decisions we make. This is why we focus on the best ways to train, support, and reward our employees. We want to take responsibility for doing everything we can to make our caregivers successful. Likewise, we think it is important to celebrate the successes of our team members. We know caregivers are not always acknowledged or praised for the hard work they do. Our caregivers are working in clients’ homes and the community, handling many tasks and changing situations. We want to make sure they are best equipped to handle these situations, and also get the kudos they deserve.
We want to bring caregivers’ work to the forefront and celebrate them in the community. It is also another way we can thank and reward our staff for doing high quality work. We believe that encouraging and rewarding positive behavior is a much better way to improve quality than a punitive system.
What types of qualities make an “Inspirational Home Caregiver”?
Beyond the core competencies of a home health aide (all of our caregivers must pass the home health aide exam with a 90% or above score, so they’re all “A students”!), each caregiver brings unique skills, specialties and personal qualities to their work. Because this is such a personalized business, this diversity makes our team strong and enables us to fulfill varying client needs. Some clients may need a skilled cook, others may enjoy someone who is able to engage them in conversation or play games together, and another client may prefer a quiet caregiver who can handle nighttime tasks around the home while the client sleeps. We celebrate the different qualities of our caregivers at our orientation:
In addition to the different skills and qualities caregivers bring to their work with clients, a quality caregiver is compassionate, creative and hard working. He or she takes the information provided about the client and gets to know what the client prefers. A caregiver must also have great communication skills, both in communicating with clients as well as listening and communicating information back to the office. Because many different situations arise, caregivers must be great communicators as well as creative problem-solvers.
In addition to the home health aide exam, our prospective employees complete an assessment process which enables us to screen for these essential qualities. This new Inspirational Caregiver Award will highlight those caregivers who exmplify these skills and have gone above and beyond in working to better the lives of their home care clients.
Does this sound like a great place to work? For more information on working as a home caregiver with EasyLiving, click below:
If you need home caregiving assistance in Pinellas County (Largo, Clearwater, Dunedin, St. Pete, Palm Harbor and everywhere in between), give us a call any time at 727-448-0900!
