Minimum wage: $100 an hour?
Would it shock you if I told you that the minimum wage was going up to $100 per hour?
Maybe not this year.
But sometime down the road it might just come to that.
On July 1, the federal government raised the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour. Many states add to that number. In Illinois, it’s $14 an hour, and on Jan. 1 it will go up a dollar. In California, the rate for fast food workers recently went up to $20 an hour.
When will it end, you are probably asking?
And how does it affect home care agency owners — especially independent ones?
Those who push the minimum wage theory claim to be helping give the smaller-wage earners a break. For a while it’s easier to buy milk, bread and eggs. But it tends to raise the costs of all goods and services. And then, disappointingly, the minimum wage earner is back to square one.
Little guys in home care
In any case, private home care agency owners will likely be unfavorably impacted by such measures. In the fast-food industry, large chains such as McDonald’s simply deal with this by automating their selling systems with payment kiosks. Ironically, the teenagers are left looking for jobs elsewhere.
When all of this hits the home care agency owner, he or she must pay their caregivers more, with the result is that the increases will be passed along to the elderly clients and their families.
Like McDonald’s, large home care chains will deal with this to some degree by upgrading their backend services with centralized software systems.
But the independent home care agency owner must select, buy and learn this software. It’s all part of the market forces that must be dealt with.
Marketing depth
Marketing is one area that obviously has expanded in complexity over the years. Ways to reach new clients and keep up with current ones are carried out through sales visits, websites, texting, bulk email programs, social media, and so on. Marketing is much more than hanging a shingle on the wall and taking an ad in the local newspaper.
And it takes a lot of sophistication to know the technology, and do it right.
Get Savvy with your marketing
Why not let Savvy Senior Marketing handle the marketing of your growing home care agency?
It often takes an outside view of an expert to see the weak points in your promotion efforts, and to draw up a plan for you that will retain your current clients and find new ones.
Here at Savvy Senior Marketing, we will offer you:
- Brand strategy
- Website and logo creation
- Printed and emailed newsletters
- Discharge planner referrals
- Sales training
Our ideal client is one which has: successfully operated for at least two years, is privately owned, and willing to work with us on long-term results. Why not contact us today to discuss the best marketing strategy for your home care company?
