Welcome to the second issue of GenSuccess. This month we're focusing on Caregivers, and we'll look at best practices, answer questions, and reveal new webinars.

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This month we're looking at best practices for working with caregivers. We'll explore in-services, orientations, requests for time off,  what to do when a caregiver leaves, and more. 

 

Availability and Requests for Time Off 

Managing a workforce of caregivers demands that you keep track of availability and requests for time off. In Generations, these things are managed in the Unavailability and Absences tabs in the caregiver's file.  

• Both absences and unavailability can display on the schedule calendar and weekly schedule view. Turn that ability on in Company Settings > Calender Options.
• When trying to match a caregiver to a client, the caregiver search uses (among other things) absences and unavailability to determine if a caregiver is a good fit for a given shift.
• Scheduling alerts you if there is a conflict based on absence or unavailability.

Definitely not, although they serve a similar function of helping you know what's up with a particular caregiver.

Absences are the best place for recording upcoming vacations, shift no shows, and similar requested times off.  If caregiver Sue Smith needs to take off a week in March because it's spring break and she has to watch her kids while they're home from school, add those dates into the absences tab. If she has a schedule during that time, you'll get an alert, and those shifts can be changed to available shifts, so you can find a sub.

Likewise, if caregiver Polly Potter doesn't show up for a shift, add an absence into her file. In this case, it's an unscheduled absence - you didn't know about it in advance (and probably had to scramble to get a caregiver out to the client's home.) During employee reviews, you can look at the Vacation and Absences Report to determine just how many no shows and other unscheduled times off that Polly had during a given time period.

Unavailability, on the other hand, is for specific days and times that the caregiver typically cannot work. Use this tab when the caregiver reports things like:

• I have a class on Tuesday and Thursday from 5pm to 8pm.
• I need to have every Sunday off.
• I can only work Monday through Friday, and only from 8am to 3pm.

The theory behind unavailability is that you want to leave as much time "available" as possible. This effectively increases the chances that the caregiver will be able to work - and that caregiver search will consider the person available.

 

Watch a video about absences and unavailability.
Orientations and other trainings are best managed via the In-Services tab. This is the place to record any classes that your caregiver attends to develop and improve skills needed to perform their jobs. There's also an in-services report.

You can quickly use the in-services master list to build a list of the classes your agency offers throughout the year. Then navigate to the the individual caregiver's file to add the specific training attended - include date, title, and CPU's earned if any.

If you offer a class and many caregivers attend, explore the mass update feature from the home screen which allows you to add that class to many caregivers at one time - instead of one at a time.

Watch the in-services video.

Whether voluntary or via termination, it's important that you clearly document when a caregiver is no longer working for your agency.  Here's our recommended best practice:

1. Use the Notes to document the details. Why did the caregiver leave? Under what circumstances? Would you rehire?
2. On the personal data tab, change the reason to indicate why the caregiver is no longer working for your agency.
3. Also on the personal data tab, change the status to inactive.
4. Depending upon which circumstances the caregiver leaves, you may also want to place a checkmark in the "do not rehire" box on the personal data screen.

If you want to see a list of terminated caregivers, use the report writer (found under reports, then select report writer.) Using this powerful part of the system, you can:

1. Choose the report source of caregiver
2. Click display report
3. Use column chooser to select fields (Status & Reason should be included)
4. Manipulate the data as desired
5. Export to Excel, print, or save the report.

What's Your BP?

Now it's your turn. What are your best practices for working with caregivers in Generations?  

• Do you offer in-services? How many? What topics?
• What do you do when a caregiver terminates?
• How do you record absences and unavailability?

If there are best practices you'd like us to cover, please let us know at gensuccess@idb-sys.com.  

This month we're opening the door wide and inviting you to ask us (just about) anything regarding clients and caregivers. We also want to explore Caregiver Search Beta with you. Click the link below to sign up for one webinar - or attend all three to turbo-charge your learning!

Ever wish you could sit down and talk with other Generations Users? While it may not be possible in real life at this time, you definitely can connect in digital life on LinkedIn. Our user group  has discussed many interesting things including:

• Do you have a disaster protocol?
• I'm interested in hearing best practices for relationship management in the referral module. What do you do?
• We're considering having our caregivers use the web portal. Can anyone give me feedback on how it works with your caregivers?
• We're opening a second office in a new market. Can someone who owns or manages two or more offices be willing to discuss best practices in Generations?

The other terrific thing about the user group is that it is moderated by Generations staff. We're very careful that only people who use Generations are added to the group so you'll be amongst friends! Join us today.

This month we're answering questions about emailing, HR, and more.


As mentioned, the history tab in the caregiver's file also shows an ongoing record of emails sent from Generations to the caregiver. It does the same for text messages, too. Watch a video about caregiver history.

And yes, you most definitely can send mass text messages. Find that capability under the Interfaces menu at the top of Generations.

• Reminders: Found in every caregiver's file, reminders track credentialing (TB tests, licenses, etc.) There is also a caregiver reminders report that can create a letter (or email) to send to the caregiver.
• In-Services: This area of the caregiver's file records the various trainings that you offer to the caregivers (or trainings they attend elsewhere.) There is also a caregiver in-services report.
• Vacations and Absences: Best recorded in the caregiver absences tab, these interact with both scheduling and caregiver search. Plus there's a caregiver vacations and absences report.
• Scheduled Overtime Hours Report: This shows you which caregivers have overtime currently scheduled.
• Full Time Equivalent Report: This helps you comply with the employee mandate of the Affordable Care Act. This area of Help talks more about FTEs.
• Caregiver Notes: If you're looking for a place to document any and all communication with the caregiver, notes is the place to start. Be sure you also add note types for superb reporting capability.
• Information Summary: This can be run either from the caregiver's file or from the reports menu and can include skills, custom fields, visit history, unavailability, and more.
• Caregiver Birthday Report: This is the easiest way to see which caregivers have a birthday this month - or any other month. The report makes it super-easy to get a card in the mail.

Question: I want to keep track of my client's preferred hospital. There's no field for that. How can this be resolved?

Answer: If you want to report on something that isn't in Generations, you can do that. Here are three tools that can help you:  

 

Custom Fields are a master list that you build. If you need to keep track of a client's preferred hospital, the custom fields is the best place to make that happen. Just add a custom field called "hospital preference," then navigate to each client's file to fill the custom field with the name of the hospital.  

 

You can use a custom field for anything you'd like to track and report on for clients or caregivers. Think about things like: pet name, responsible party, living will/location, gave uniform/shirt, or employee number.     

 

Column Chooser in the Client (or Caregiver) List. Remember that the client and caregiver lists are customizable - you can show whatever information you need to see. Plus you can see that information for reporting or research purposes, export to Excel if desired, and then change it back to the way it way it was - all quite quickly. And yes, you definitely can show those custom fields in the client or caregiver list. 

 

As described in the Best Practices article above, the Report Writer gives you the flexibility to create reports that are currently not available within the list of formatted reports. And the reports you create in report writer can include custom fields. 

 

Have some questions you'd like us to address in the next issue? Let us know at gensuccess@idb-sys.com.