Why do my caregivers keep quitting?
Caregivers usually leave over how they are treated, not only pay. In a large Home Care Pulse set of caregiver interviews, the top reasons were poor communication from the office, hours and scheduling, pay and benefits, too little training, and no recognition. Fixing the first two costs little and often helps most.
A Home Care Pulse study of more than 40,000 caregiver interviews (2018) ranked the reasons caregivers leave. The top ten, in order:
- Poor communication, especially when the office is hard to reach during a problem
- Hours and scheduling
- Pay and benefits
- Not enough training
- No recognition
- Unclear expectations before the first client
- A bad match with the client
- Rude office staff
- Ideas and feedback not welcome
- Commute and travel
Notice what is on the list. Pay is third. Four of the top five are about how the office treats her: answering the phone, giving steady hours, teaching her the job, and saying thank you.
This list is from 2018, so the order may have shifted. But the pattern fits what many owners say: a caregiver who feels alone at a client’s house at 9 pm, and cannot reach anyone, starts looking for another job.
A simple way to start: ask the last three caregivers who left, in one plain question, "What would have made you stay?" Write the answers down. If two of them say the same thing, fix that first.
How CareBravo® helps
CareBravo handles check-in questions and call-outs under rules you set once, so caregivers get fast answers and the office is not the bottleneck.
Sources
- Top 10 reasons caregivers leave home care agencies · Home Health Care News (reporting Home Care Pulse caregiver interviews, 2018)
Reviewed by Beth Bledsoe, Care Business Advisor®, 28 Oct 2026. Rules change. Confirm with your state Medicaid agency before you act.
How CareBravo’s Retention agent handles this
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