A Growing Crisis: Shortage of 65,000 Home Care Professionals in Oregon Expected by 2030
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Often coined the invisible workforce, demand for home care support is far outpacing job growth; learn about a campaign we led to bolster awareness and recruitment including differentiated outreach strategies for rural and multicultural communities.
What was the challenge?
Longstanding shortages in the home care workforce are making it increasingly difficult for older adults, younger people with disabilities and people with mental and behavioral health needs to live at home. Demand continues to grow and far outpaces workforce growth.
Shortages have been driven by low wages, high turnover and low retention rates. The gap was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and more recently by ICE targeting of immigrant communities, who make up half of the workforce.
What did we do?
MG designed and led a comprehensive effort to grow the home care workforce in Oregon (particularly among multilingual and in rural communities) and expand the visibility, perceived value and respect of the profession. We closely co-created with three state agencies, the Oregon Home Care Commission and communities across the state.
Our recruitment focus was on home care professionals supporting three unique populations: older adults, people of all ages with disabilities and people needing behavioral and mental health support.
This campaign was fully comprehensive in its reach. It included full-scale traditional, digital and place-based media; a significantly enhanced recruitment website; trusted messenger collaborations; differentiated culturally specific marketing and outreach;, and a host of strategic partnerships (including with Community Colleges, Workforce Boards, and other regional entities to ensure broad reach in rural communities).
What happened?
Outreach spiked interest (web visits increased 3000%), showing the effectiveness of messages framed around meaningful work, full benefits offered, and flexibility. Home care providers increased by nearly 20% during the campaign period.
From our client:
“The campaign involved a lot of complexity and we were on very tight timelines requiring that we compress some facets of the work. Even with that, the MG team was able to execute and achieve campaign objectives. We formed a close partnership and the MG team was flexible and innovative as we navigated through the work.”
– Elisa Williams, Communications Manager at the Oregon Department of Human Services
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