Since the Fair Labor Standards Act went into effect in 2015, granting home care workers the right to overtime compensation, overtime management has become a significant challenge facing home care providers. Not only is it difficult for small agencies to afford paying employees overtime, but the manual process of tracking aide hours and calculating overtime pay also costs agencies a significant amount of administrative time.
So, how can agencies effectively manage overtime and even out aide workloads, so one caregiver isn’t underused while another is overscheduled? Automate the process. Automating systems that optimize scheduling and integrate with existing tools allows agencies to maximize each aide’s day while avoiding overtime scheduling. This way, disproportionate aide schedules are minimized, saving the agency money and benefiting the employees by ensuring no one is overworked, and all aides are able to provide the best possible care to members. An automated scheduling module will also alert agencies to potential overtime pay before an aide works the shift, allowing agencies to adjust schedules in advance.
An optimized scheduling system has the functionality to identify an aide who not only possesses the right qualifications for a particular member, but also hones in on the worker who is geographically the best fit to provide care. This allows agencies to avoid the issue of paying for an employee’s long travel time, potentially pushing hours worked into overtime, when there is an equally qualified aide in closer proximity to the individual in need of care.
But what happens if an agency is short-staffed, and all of its available workers are approaching the overtime threshold? Automated systems can broadcast unfilled cases to a network of home care aides, ensuring every member is accounted for, while keeping overtime costs at a minimum.
Overtime management can be a challenge for home care agencies, but it doesn’t have to be. An automated scheduling system is a cost-effective option to maximize schedules while reducing costs.
Learn more about the integrated HHAeXchange platform and how you can optimize your scheduling system.
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