Four Reasons To Use An Agency To Find An In-Home Caregiver For Your Elderly Loved One

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Finding an in-home caregiver for your elderly loved one can be a daunting task. You want to find someone you can trust as well as someone with the skills to do the job. There are several different ways to go about finding the right caregiver, but using a placement agency has many advantages. The following are a few of the most important advantages.

An agency will screen the caregivers

Unless you have a relative or friend that you have known for many years, this is something you will have to do yourself. And you may have to go through a private investigation firm to do a thorough background check. An agency does background checks on all of their staffing hires. Granted, you will still need to do a little research on the agency you wish to use, but it is less time consuming than doing background checks on individuals.

You don't need to worry about replacements

When you go through an agency, you can make arrangements for someone to fill in for your caregiver during vacation or sick leave. When you hire someone yourself, it can be difficult to adjust to this problem. This is especially true if you are working a job and cannot take time off to substitute in your caregiver's absence.

You can still specify requirements

Just as you would compile a description of the needs you have in a caregiver that you would use to advertise for the job, you can specify this to a placement agency. Not all caregivers have the same set of skills. An agency has a complete list of what each caregiver is capable of doing. In addition, an agency will know certain things you may require that you may have overlooked.

You are not involved with payroll issues

You don't have to worry about what to pay a caregiver when you go through an agency. You will pay the agency directly. This means your caregiver's paycheck will come from the agency. You don't need to be concerned about taxes and filing W2 forms. And because you are going through an agency, they are responsible for workers' compensation insurance.

The above reasons to use an agency to find an in-home caregiver for senior care should give you enough incentive to at least contact one. However, you should first write down everything you require for an in-home caregiver, and then contact an agency. They can take your information and give you an approximate price for the cost in using their agency. There is no obligation in doing this, so is is a good place to start your search.


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