Where Policy Meets Practice: Employer Perspectives on Scheduling and Hours for Home Care Aides

In a context of growing demand for home-based direct care services, the need to retain direct care workers (DCWs) is clear. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act, and state-level changes in Medicaid support for home-based care together have affected agencies that hire DCWs, with implications for an issue that affects worker satisfaction: scheduling. Many home-based aides employed by agencies cannot count on consistent or sufficient hours. Hours shortfall and instability have been recognized as important issues for retail and restaurant workers, but focused on less for care aides. This study uses semistructured interviews with agency representatives to examine these issues from an employer perspective, with a focus on how the competing influences of health care, labor, and employment policy shape scheduling and a review of how recommendations for changes in policy and practice in other sectors might apply to home care.