Caregivers

The Caregiver Retention Project

The Milwaukee Aging Consortium is the lead agency in a multi-stakeholder approach to addressing an important issue: retaining and sustaining the direct-care workforce that cares for our growing elderly population. “Staffing issues are at the center of all discussions about quality of care. …the simple truth is that the only way to provide high quality care for adults who cannot live independently is to provide a high-quality job for the direct-care worker.”

Functions of the project center around the Consortium’s own core activities: developing resources for employers and caregivers*, providing networking opportunities, fostering education, and providing public policy information.

Tandem goals of the project:

• Foster new models of community collaboration among older adult service providers
• Sustain and nurture the direct-care workforce to improve retention in the interest of improving quality and continuity of care for older adults

Key issues in retaining and sustaining the caregiver workforce include:

• Balancing work and life issues
• Relationships with supervisors and work environments
• Pay and benefits, career progress, and training that relates to pay incentives as well as quality of skills

The caregiver workforce is vital because:

• Caregivers are the backbone of long-term care
• Increased demand will soon outpace the number of workers
• Turnover results in poor continuity and wastes resources, affecting quality of care and resulting in high costs to employers

Recommendations to address caregivers’ work-life concerns:

• Produce a Caregiver’s Work-Life Resource Toolkit
• Develop a caregiver support network
• Foster development of a local caregiver association

Goals for Inter-Agency Best Practices:

• Implement a Direct-Care Worker Turnover/Retention Survey and produce a report on findings
• Hold a Best Practices Event to share information
• Disseminate resources through Milwaukee Aging Consortium newsletter and website

Long-Term Care Industry Goals:

• Plan and facilitate a Milwaukee Feedback Forum on the Wisconsin Direct-Care Workforce Committee Recommendations
• Identify internal career ladder models already in place in various settings that might be expanded
• Represent service providers at the statewide alliance and at the state Committee on Workforce, which develops recommendations for state policy

Outcomes of the Project:

• Caregivers are respected, recognized, and aptly rewarded for their vital work and contributions to improving the quality of care in long-term care.
• Agencies collaborate to improve caregiver retention
• Caregivers have access to expanded training opportunities
• Agency personnel provide effective leadership
• Agencies provide a positive work environment
• Caregivers have access to resources to help manage their lives outside of work
• Caregivers, trainers, supervisors, and administrators network to provide support and share resources and best practices
• Caregivers are more satisfied with their jobs
• Caregiver retention rates increase and turnover rates decrease
• Long-term care service providers are able to efficiently and effectively meet the needs of older adults

The project began in the fall of 2002 with a planning phase and caregiver retention study. In February 2004, the project transitioned into the implementation phase. With a Work Group guiding the process, and full-time Project Leader, task forces develop activities to address the main concerns.

The Caregiver Retention Project is part of Connecting Caring Communities Project, administered by the Milwaukee County Department on Aging and funded by the RobertWood Johnson Project’s Community Partnership for Older Adults. Local funding is also provided by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, The Helen Bader Foundation, and the Faye McBeath Foundation.

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