The home care world is changing faster than ever, and for leaders in Canada, the question is no longer if change will happen—it’s how you manage it. From a new recruit’s first conversation to the rhythm of the final shift, every moment along the caregiver journey matters.
Agencies grappling with turnover, fatigue and fluctuating funding know it all too well: constant change without connection leads to frustration. But what if instead of change being done to your team, change is designed with them?
In this edition, Sarah lifts the lid on what really moves the needle in managing change, culture and careers in Canadian home care. You’ll see how mapping these critical “moments that matter”, identifying the friction points and building a people-plan with your frontline staff can shift dynamics, boost retention and create a workplace people don’t just tolerate—they choose to stay.
Because when your staff feel seen and supported, you don’t just manage change—you lead it.
To shed some light on the same, we interviewed a home care industry expert to bring her perspective on managing change, culture & careers in Canadian home care.
Sarah McVanel is Canada’s recognition expert and founder of Greatness Magnified, where she helps leaders harness the exponential power of appreciation to retain top talent, reduce burnout and boost bottom-lines. With a trademarked method, F.R.O.G. — Forever Recognize Others’ Greatness™, Sarah brings 25+ years of experience as a certified speaker (CSP), coach (PCC), and HR leader (CHRL), complemented by an MSc in Family Relations.
Through keynotes, books, and consulting, she turns workplaces into vibrant communities where everyone belongs.
Let us now delve into what she has to say about managing change, culture & careers in Canadian home care.
If I had to pick one technique, it would be this:
Co-creating a simple, living people plan with your staff, not for them.
Most home care teams aren’t tired of change; they’re tired of change being done to them. When we bring caregivers, schedulers, supervisors, and leaders into the same room to map “a day in our work lives,” they can finally say, “Here’s where it hurts – and here’s what would help.”
(For example, in a community care organization I worked with called Participation Support Services in Brantford, Ontario, we brought frontline staff and leaders together for the first time to design a shared future of work based on considering the employee experience end-to-end and creating a people plan in a page.
Instead of another HR binder that would sit on a shelf, they all designed a better way to attract, hire, welcome, recognize, develop, and keep great people. The magic was not the document; it was the ownership. Staff could point to ideas and say, “That’s mine. We’re doing this together.”)
This is an expensive problem. If your agency loses even 20 caregivers a year, that’s easily tens of thousands of dollars walking out the door – before you factor in missed visits, client dissatisfaction, and manager burnout.
Practically, the essence of this suggestion is about:
For most agencies, the traditional EVP has sounded like: “Flexible hours, meaningful work, competitive pay.” Undeniably, this is important, but given industry-wide turnover, these promises cannot be kept.
The foundational shifts I see high-retention agencies making are:
Caregivers can tell in the first few weeks if they’re treated like a shift-filler or a strategic partner. Agencies that explicitly connect their business goals to staff experience – and show the numbers – are more attractive and trustworthy. This is more visible than ever before on the heels of “thank you healthcare heroes” of COVID, to now being invisible again.
Research from Gallup shows that employees who feel their organization encourages skill growth are 47% less likely to be actively looking for another job. With home care, even small steps like peer recognition initiatives, mentorship, specialty training, and leadership pathways all send a powerful message: “This is a career, not just a gig.”
Workhuman has some interesting longitudinal data that well-recognized employees are 45% less likely to have turned over after two years. Achievers similarly shows that employees who don’t feel recognized are twice as likely to say they’ll leave within a year. I can tell you firsthand, with fifteen years in healthcare, it was in embedding recognition – peer to peer, staff to leader, leader to staff – that turned engagement and retention around and quickly.
In a sector where raising rates isn’t possible, and funding is shrinking, embedded recognition (and no, not just pizza parties on nurses week) becomes a major part of the value proposition.
Many caregivers came into home care because they needed flexibility. What keeps them is predictability – reliable hours, respectful notice for changes, and a sense that their off-time and family responsibilities are genuinely respected. If you cannot offer this because of your current turnover, you can at least offer the first three.
Recognition (especially my favourite kind – FROGTM: Forever Recognize Others’ Greatness) is a big part of the story, but it’s not the only story. When I look at Canadian home care organizations that are magnets for talent, I see three subtle, day-to-day cultural elements:
People often talk about psychological safety; in home care, there’s also calendar safety:
Staff don’t just get asked for input; they see what happens because they spoke up. Whether it’s adjusting visit lengths, changing how information is handed off, or trialling a new documentation workflow, top performers stay where their ideas turn into experiments.
Many agencies have beautiful values on the wall. The irresistible ones “operationalize” those values. For example:
Layer recognition over those elements and you get what I call “scrumptious culture” – the kind of workplace people tell their friends about.
Perfectionism is rampant in caring professions. Many caregivers quietly believe, “If I make a mistake, I am a mistake.” That’s a fast track to fear, silence, and burnout.
Psychological safety – the belief that you can speak up, ask for help, or admit errors without being punished or humiliated – is not a “soft” idea. We have decades of research on healthcare teams showing that higher psychological safety is linked to better speaking-up behaviours and improved patient safety outcomes.
Healthcare is the highest incident rate industry because it’s human beings caring for humans; let’s allow our humanity to exist so we can address errors when they happen.
I use a simple framework called FLIP – Fail, Learn, Ignite, Praise – based on studying great Canadians, and ironically, it’s embracing failure that turns perfectionism into progress:
Leaders go first: share small, real stories of your own missteps and what you learned from them. When you say, “Here’s a charting error I made early in my career,” you permit others to be human, too. It also allows you to show that you were accountable, which is what you expect of everyone, too.
Short, structured debriefs after incidents or near-misses, to start a shift, or even at a team meeting, to go beyond fact-finding of what happened, also to understand:
In other words, no blame, no shame, it’s learning. People are doing the best they can and didn’t get up to cause harm; learning enables improvement.
Change who is in the room, update a checklist, tweak a communication flow, and when staff see that speaking up leads to real improvements, courage compounds. Draw on people’s strengths and acknowledge effort.
This is where FROGTM returns. When someone raises a concern early, call out their greatness: “Thank you for catching that. You may have prevented a serious issue.” Over time, people associate “I spoke up” with “I’m valued,” not “I got in trouble.”
In my work with leaders, the turning point is when they shift from asking, “Who did this?” to “What can we learn from this together?” That’s when psychological safety becomes the default, and mistakes become fuel rather than fear.
The bottom line is this: connection before correction. No one wants to be corrected if they have no relationship with the person or the organization and feel undervalued and overworked. When we have such massive gaps in talent, not only are safety issues more likely, but the people who are brave and caring enough to show up should not be thrown under the bus because, without them, how could care be given?
If you show you care, and someone needs to improve, they’re more likely to work toward that standard because they care about the person holding them to that standard, and they feel supported and believed in enough to try.
The good news: you don’t have to create the desire for connection. It’s already there. Most caregivers chose home care because they wanted deeper relationships with clients and with colleagues.
It’s a choice to get into it, so the focus needs to be on enabling and reinforcing why people made the right choice, so they don’t opt out. We’re in the business of earning people every day.
Here are practical ways agencies are tapping into that innate commitment:
Peers see each other more than leaders do, and since no one would say they don’t need to hear from their leader, they also want the people who see their direct care to express affirmation of it. Plus, there are a lot more peers than leaders, so the appreciation will multiply the more people who do it. Simple tools like FROGTM kudos cards, shout-outs on huddles, or “thank-you boards” in the office give staff an easy way to say, “I see your greatness.”
Start virtual or in-person huddles with a quick question: “Who is someone who made your shift better yesterday?” End the week with a 10-minute “wins & gratitudes” call.
These rituals might seem like they take time no one has, but actually, they simply repurpose minutes so the rest is well spent and more resourcefully.
Shadowing teaches tasks; buddies teach belonging. A structured check-in at weeks 1, 3, and 6 focused on “What’s going well?” and “What’s one thing we can improve together?” dramatically reduces the isolation that drives early resignations.
In a previous healthcare role, when we paired a new leader with an existing one, our ability to retain them and rapidly build their confidence was remarkable.
When schedulers, switchboard staff, admin staff, and the like hear directly that their work made a difference to a client or family, routine tasks become meaningful contributions.
That’s the glue that holds teams together through difficult shifts and seasons. I cannot tell you how many housekeepers were identified by grieving, hurting families as the glue that held them together some days; we need to look for and acknowledge the behind-the-scenes magic that makes care possible.
When agencies intentionally harness connection, something powerful happens: turnover conversations shift from “How do we stop people leaving?” to “How do we make it irresistible to stay?”
That’s ultimately where my work lives – helping organizations design recognition-rich, people-first strategies and stay-plans that make financial sense and feel deeply human, so your best people don’t just give you a good year… they give you their career.
Change in Canadian home care isn’t about coping — it’s about co-creating the future your team wants to work in. Drawing on Sarah McVanel’s insights and the F.R.O.G.™ principle, we’ve uncovered how to map the “moments that matter,” surface the friction points, and build a one-page people plan with frontline voices.
When caregivers feel empowered, visible, and invested, your agency doesn’t just survive change—it defines it. Lead with purpose, invite participation, and turn careers into commitments. That’s how you transform culture, retain your best talent, and thrive in a sector that demands your very best.
Our users reported 95% customer satisfaction in 2024. Schedule a personal walkthrough to see CareSmartz360, home care software in action.
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