Home Instead Case Study: Same-Day Caregiver Background Checks Across Two States

CASE STUDY

Hiring caregivers is a race. When a good candidate applies, every day of waiting gives another agency a chance to hire them first. For one multi-state Home Instead operation, slow caregiver background checks were costing them people and money. Here is how they moved to same-day onboarding with Sure Check and cut their screening costs by 36% to 45%.

About the Home Instead operation

This Home Instead group runs several senior care offices across two states, including locations in Chapel Hill and Asheboro, North Carolina, and Bryan, Texas. Together, the offices hire about 40 caregivers every month.

Every new caregiver needs a 7-year background check plus a driving history (MVR) report before they can start working with clients. Caregivers often drive to clients’ homes, and some drive clients to appointments, so the driving record matters as much as the criminal record.

The challenge: slow, scattered screening

Before switching to Sure Check, the operation ran into four problems that slowed down every hire.

• Waiting on candidates. Screening could not start until each applicant answered an email and filled in their own details. Some took days to respond.
• Slow results. Once a check started, results took 2 to 3 business days. In that time, strong candidates often accepted other jobs.
• A scattered process. Offices in North Carolina and Texas each screened candidates on their own, with no shared view across locations.
• Hard-to-reach support. When questions came up, staff had to go through an overseas call center.

Turnover makes these delays even more costly. Caregiver turnover tops 70% a year in many home care markets, according to Home Health Care News. When agencies are always hiring, a few extra days per check adds up fast.

The Sure Check solution

Sure Check set up the operation with a simpler process built around speed.

• Manual candidate entry. Office staff can enter a candidate’s details themselves, so screening starts right away instead of waiting on an email reply.
• One central platform. Every location now orders and tracks checks in the same place.
• Same-day results. The background check and the driving history come back together, so the candidate is ready to onboard the same day.
• Direct customer service. Office managers reach Sure Check’s U.S.-based support team directly.

Every check still follows the Fair Credit Reporting Act. That means the employer gives the applicant notice and gets written permission before the check is run, as the Federal Trade Commission explains. Sure Check is an FCRA-compliant consumer reporting agency, so that process is built in.

The results

• Same-day onboarding for new caregivers, down from 2 to 3 business days.
• 36% to 45% lower screening costs. Monthly screening spend had been $2,600 to $3,000.
• $940 to $1,340 saved every month, or an estimated $11,000 to $16,000 a year.
• Direct access to a U.S. support team in place of an overseas call center.

Why faster caregiver background checks matter

For a home care agency, the time between “you’re hired” and the first shift is when candidates are most likely to walk away. Cutting that wait from several days to the same day helps agencies keep the caregivers they worked hard to recruit. It also means clients get care sooner, and office staff spend less time chasing paperwork.

Lower costs matter too. Savings of $11,000 to $16,000 a year can go toward caregiver pay, training, or recruiting.