How long should new caregiver orientation be?
Georgia’s licensing rule sets a minimum for aide training: 20 of 40 hours before serving clients for personal care aides. For keeping people, Home Care Pulse’s earlier research found agencies with five or more hours of orientation had turnover about 27% lower than peers. Orientation should also cover expectations, not only tasks.
Two different questions hide in here: what the law requires, and what helps people stay.
What Georgia requires: under Georgia’s private home care rule (111-8-65-.09), a personal care aide who is not already credentialed needs a 40-hour program. Twenty hours must be done before she serves clients. The other twenty must be done within six months. She also cannot be assigned any task until she has been trained and shown she can do it.
What helps people stay: Home Health Care News, reporting Home Care Pulse’s research, said agencies that gave five or more hours of orientation had turnover about 27% lower than their peers. That is older research and not a guarantee for your agency.
What to put in orientation beyond the minimum:
- Who she can call, and how fast they answer
- How scheduling and pay work, in plain words
- What a good visit looks like
- How to clock in, and what to do if she forgets
- How to report a concern
- A first-week check-in
Plan the first week so she never feels thrown in. A caregiver who feels ready in week one is more likely to be there in month four.
Sources
- Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 111-8-65-.09 Administration and Organization (Private Home Care Providers) · Cornell Legal Information Institute (Georgia DCH rule text)
- Top 10 reasons caregivers leave home care agencies · Home Health Care News (reporting Home Care Pulse caregiver interviews, 2018)
- Georgia caregiver training · Vitable Health (private compliance summary, secondary source)
Reviewed by Beth Bledsoe, Care Business Advisor®, 28 Oct 2026. Rules change. Confirm with your state Medicaid agency before you act.
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