For a home care business, finding clients is only part of the challenge. Dan Deak, founder and CEO of Home Halo, sees the ability to keep good caregivers as one of the biggest factors determining how far an agency can grow.
Home Halo, the personalized in-home care franchise designed to help seniors live safely and independently in the comfort of their homes, has built its model around W-2 caregivers. The approach carries employment costs that contractor-based operators can avoid, but Deak said it also gives Home Halo and its franchisees greater control over who enters a client's home and how care is delivered.
Home Halo's decision to employ its caregivers is particularly relevant in states such as Florida, where nurse registries commonly work with independent contractors. The company takes on the added costs that come with employment, including employment taxes and workers' compensation insurance, because Deak believes Home Halo should be responsible for the people providing care in its clients' homes.
"The other alternative to W-2 is to hire caregivers contractually, and there are a lot of downsides to that," Deak said. "While you could probably save a couple bucks as a client with that contractor model, in the long run, it's going to come back to bite you. You want to work with a company where the caregivers are employees of that company. They can be supervised by that company that you're paying money to."
That supervision also gives franchisees more say in how caregivers and clients are paired. Availability still matters, but Deak does not want it to be the only consideration.
Instead, Home Halo can look at a caregiver's skills as well as how well that person fits with the client. That becomes particularly important when a caregiver may spend months or years working with the same family.
Deak said caregiver retention is one of the biggest barriers to scaling a home care operation. Home Halo's employee structure is intended to give franchisees a foundation for building a consistent team rather than continually finding contractors to cover individual assignments.
"When you're looking at contractors, what companies are trying to do is they have a client who needs a caregiver and they have a caregiver who happens to be available. They slam them together," Deak said. "With the employee model, what we can do is carefully select the appropriate caregiver for the appropriate client, based not only on what their skills are but also on whether they're a good fit from a relationship standpoint."
The approach also gives Home Halo a direct employment relationship through which it can establish expectations for caregivers. Deak said that helps the company build its culture around treating each client with the same level of care team members would want for their own parents.
For franchisees, the trade-off is higher labor-related expenses in exchange for more oversight of the people delivering the service. Families, meanwhile, work with an agency that employs and supervises the caregiver rather than one that primarily facilitates a connection with an independent worker.
Deak also sees the structure as important as worker classification receives greater regulatory attention. His concern is what happens when a caregiver is classified as an independent contractor while the company still controls when and how that person works.
"If somebody is truly a contractor, they have 100% control over their schedule, in theory," Deak said. "In practice, that's not how it works with the home care agencies. If you're a nurse registry in Florida, you're going to tell that caregiver they'll be at that house from 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock, and if you want to leave early, you need to contact us. That's not autonomy over your schedule."
Home Halo's model puts those employment costs on the business from the outset. Deak acknowledged that workers' compensation insurance and employment taxes are significant expenses, but he considers them part of the responsibility that comes with directing a caregiver's work.
For a franchise system built around long-term relationships between caregivers and clients, that responsibility is central to how Deak believes the business should operate. "All those are major costs for a company like ours," he said, "but it's the right thing to do for clients."
To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/home-halo.
Home Halo
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Founder and CEO Dan Deak explains why Home Halo employs its caregivers and how the model gives franchisees greater control while preparing the brand for increased scrutiny of worker classification.
For a home care business, finding clients is only part of the challenge. Dan Deak, founder and CEO of Home Halo, sees the ability to keep good caregivers as one of the biggest factors determining how far an agency can grow.
Home Halo, the personalized in-home care franchise designed to help seniors live safely and independently in the comfort of their homes, has built its model around W-2 caregivers. The approach carries employment costs that contractor-based operators can avoid, but Deak said it also gives Home Halo and its franchisees greater control over who enters a client's home and how care is delivered.
Home Halo's decision to employ its caregivers is particularly relevant in states such as Florida, where nurse registries commonly work with independent contractors. The company takes on the added costs that come with employment, including employment taxes and workers' compensation insurance, because Deak believes Home Halo should be responsible for the people providing care in its clients' homes.
"The other alternative to W-2 is to hire caregivers contractually, and there are a lot of downsides to that," Deak said. "While you could probably save a couple bucks as a client with that contractor model, in the long run, it's going to come back to bite you. You want to work with a company where the caregivers are employees of that company. They can be supervised by that company that you're paying money to."
That supervision also gives franchisees more say in how caregivers and clients are paired. Availability still matters, but Deak does not want it to be the only consideration.
Instead, Home Halo can look at a caregiver's skills as well as how well that person fits with the client. That becomes particularly important when a caregiver may spend months or years working with the same family.
Deak said caregiver retention is one of the biggest barriers to scaling a home care operation. Home Halo's employee structure is intended to give franchisees a foundation for building a consistent team rather than continually finding contractors to cover individual assignments.
"When you're looking at contractors, what companies are trying to do is they have a client who needs a caregiver and they have a caregiver who happens to be available. They slam them together," Deak said. "With the employee model, what we can do is carefully select the appropriate caregiver for the appropriate client, based not only on what their skills are but also on whether they're a good fit from a relationship standpoint."
The approach also gives Home Halo a direct employment relationship through which it can establish expectations for caregivers. Deak said that helps the company build its culture around treating each client with the same level of care team members would want for their own parents.
For franchisees, the trade-off is higher labor-related expenses in exchange for more oversight of the people delivering the service. Families, meanwhile, work with an agency that employs and supervises the caregiver rather than one that primarily facilitates a connection with an independent worker.
Deak also sees the structure as important as worker classification receives greater regulatory attention. His concern is what happens when a caregiver is classified as an independent contractor while the company still controls when and how that person works.
"If somebody is truly a contractor, they have 100% control over their schedule, in theory," Deak said. "In practice, that's not how it works with the home care agencies. If you're a nurse registry in Florida, you're going to tell that caregiver they'll be at that house from 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock, and if you want to leave early, you need to contact us. That's not autonomy over your schedule."
Home Halo's model puts those employment costs on the business from the outset. Deak acknowledged that workers' compensation insurance and employment taxes are significant expenses, but he considers them part of the responsibility that comes with directing a caregiver's work.
For a franchise system built around long-term relationships between caregivers and clients, that responsibility is central to how Deak believes the business should operate. "All those are major costs for a company like ours," he said, "but it's the right thing to do for clients."
To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/home-halo.
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