Why a Home Care Franchise Is a Smart Investment | Homewatch CareGivers®

The in-home care industry continues to show its strength as an in-demand service market. Studies on aging completed by various organizations, including AARP, indicate that an overwhelming number of seniors—up to 89%— wish to remain in their own home as long as they are able to do so. As the country adapts to a variety of challenges, including those brought on by the pandemic, seniors are looking for ways to maintain their independence as safely as possible.

As a franchise investment opportunity, Homewatch CareGivers® presents an appealing option, backed by strong franchisor support and an established business model in a high-growth industry. If you have been entertaining the idea of starting your own home care business, we’ve compiled a number of reasons to show you why there’s no time like the present to join our franchise family.

Home Care Is Essential

For seniors with mobility challenges or those living with dementia, in-home care provides them with the assistance they need to accomplish daily tasks vital to everyday life such as bathing, eating, grocery shopping, taking medications, and more. With so many more restrictions in place due to social distancing, in-home caregivers are even more essential to the lives of seniors than ever before.

Growing Concerns over Facility-Based Care

Pandemic statistics for nursing homes and long-term care facilities are disheartening, with a New York Times database positing that residents and staff of these centers appear to make up at least 40% of U.S. deaths from COVID-19. Numbers like these support the decision of many seniors to age in place, relying on family, a third-party caregiver, or a combination of both for any additional care they may need to continue to live independently. With proper precautions, disease transmission may be able to be mitigated more easily in a private home care situation than in a care facility.

Beyond nursing homes and long-term care facilities, primary and preventative health care is also shifting to the home setting during this time, through telehealth and telemedicine. As a precaution, health professionals are encouraging virtual and phone appointments for non-urgent matters, and in-home caregivers can help seniors attend these virtual appointments and act as an advocate just as they might in the clinic setting.

Projected Growth for the Home Care Industry

If you’ve started doing research into the anticipated growth of the home care industry, you’ve certainly seen mention of projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Even prior to the current pandemic, the health care and social assistance industry was projected to have the fastest job growth by 2024, adding more than twice the jobs of the next-fastest growing industry. Broken down in more detail, BLS projected home health care services to make up the bulk of those additional roles.

While those numbers were based on data such as the age of the population, new factors will certainly support and perhaps even increase those projections. Since there is a growing trend toward receiving non-urgent care at home as a safer alternative to hospitals, clinics, or long-term care facilities—especially for those in more vulnerable groups—more families will be looking for ways to accommodate an age-in-place lifestyle for their loved ones. For those family members currently serving as caregivers, they will be looking for safe, reliable in-home care to fill the need if and when they return to work outside the home, or for respite care when they need to take time for themselves.

A Larger Pool of Potential Caregivers

One concern of projected growth for the in-home care industry has been recruiting enough quality caregivers to fill the need. For owners of home care businesses, the silver lining to the recent spike in unemployment is that qualified individuals who previously may not have considered becoming a caregiver may find they are well suited to the vocation. The Homewatch CareGivers® Care to Stay initiative aims to develop and implement best practices for recruiting and retaining strong talent .

The goal is to provide sustainable jobs to caregiving staff, maintain consistent quality of care and in turn drive revenue to the owners. We track the efficacy of this proprietary approach through our business management platform.

Established Franchise Brands Minimize Risk

Perhaps work-from-home orders and business shutdowns have given you time to reevaluate your corporate career and consider going into business for yourself. Or maybe starting your own business is something you’ve been thinking about and researching for a while. Either way, investing in a franchise opportunity, such as Homewatch CareGivers®, is widely believed to involve less risk than starting a business from scratch. We have an established business model, name recognition, and—perhaps most importantly in the current landscape—safety guidelines and procedures available for you. To individuals searching for in-home care for themselves or their loved one, these safety and credibility factors are key in the decision-making process.

Home Care Is Mission Driven

If the recent events of 2020 have left you with a desire to be of service to others, the in-home care industry provides an excellent opportunity for a fulfilling career. Entrepreneurs with altruistic traits often find it rewarding to serve the community by offering person-directed care for seniors or other individuals with mobility issues or health challenges. If you’re interested in learning more about Homewatch CareGivers® and how you can bring caregiving services to your area through our home care franchise opportunities, reach out to us today.