Care provider payment

Kibbee

I have been working on finding a caregiver for my DH.  Many of the agencies wanted a commitment of a certain number of hours per week  (12 to 20), which was more than what we needed.  At this point I am looking at Care.com, since their caregivers offer more flexibility on scheduling and many are OK with accepting one-time / non-recurring job postings.

What experience have you had with Care.com?  Pros?  Cons?  Average cost per hour?  Did you pay for the upgrade to run background checks on each caregiver?  How did you handle paying the caregiver?  Did you pay them directly, or did you pay them by using Care.com's Home Pay function?   It appears the benefit of using Home Pay is that it calculates, pays and tracks the required employment taxes, and provides a bona fide record of home health companion for your income tax purposes.  Just curious to find out in general how Care.com worked for you and specifically, how you handled paying your caregivers and if you used Home Pay, how that worked out.  

Unknown By Man

The commitment was nice for a few reasons in my case due to my mother's less than ideal behavior. She is a racist and views anyone she does not know that helps her as a servant and refuses to address them by name.

So the commitment with an agency allowed for some sense of peace of mind someone will be more likely to show up. I have had far too many people flake on me last min with care.com though I have also heard great things in terms of reliability and professionalism. 

I did not use homepay.

mommyandme (m&m)

We used care.com and I keep it in my back pocket if the need arises again. I found some good reliable people there.  We payed them directly.  I didn’t pay for added background checks.  I vetted them myself. 

Good luck with your search! 

Kibbee

Thank you for your feedback - all good things to take into consideration.  I've met with one potential caregiver, and have two additional prospects that I will meet with as well.  I have my fingers crossed that I will be able to put together a small pool of caregivers that I can reach out to as things come up that require me to be out of the house.  I guess we'll see how it goes!

Wilted Daughter

I do not have experience with them, but in our state PCAs looking for work and families may access the state's website under PCA then contact the PCA directly. 

Here Medicaid pays for PCA services so PCAs who have worked for families and paid by Medicaid can post resumes and clients may search the website. Elder services, Independent Living, etc. or Personal Care Management (PCM) agencies that contract with the state may have a list of PCAs. Also try posting in local churches, on social media, and word of month, etc. (i.e. help wanted).

In regards to background checks if you find someone through above noted agencies and check references you may be okay. If that's not enough security/comfort then find the cost for Cori background checks ($50?) or check with local police for warrants/arrests. An interview, reference checks...may be sufficient. You may add that you reserve the right to check applicant's background. 

*You can add nanny cams for extra security.

mommyandme (m&m)

I think if you find a good one, maybe guaranteeing a few regular hours or day per week might help keep them for you.  Maybe after some trials you’ll start to get a feeling of what could work. In our case, a schedule helped for sure. Regular time for you to plan for your own self care may be helpful for you too.  

If the caregiver has time they can count on they can also schedule work accordingly.  I forgot to mention that we paid between $15-20/hr which is cheaper than a home care service. If you don’t have cameras set up, you may want to get them up and running first just to make sure your DH has the best possible and trustworthy care. They are a great comfort for us.  

Im really hoping you can find a good fit for both of you. 

Kibbee

Good advice on setting up some regularly scheduled hours each week, or at least committing to a certain number of hours per month.  I will do that once I figure out who is in my caregiver pool.  Costs here seem to be in the $25 to $30 an hour range.  I have a monthly budget so that will have to taken into account as I commit to regular hours.  

So far I've interviewed a mother / daughter team.  Kind of nice since one is back up for the other if need be.  I have two more prospects to go...hoping one of them works out.  And, buying and setting up security cameras is on my To Do List.  I have already created a locked closet where all of my important records are housed.

Old89

I am using HomePay and am very happy with it.   It takes a bit of set up, but their telephone and email support was excellent and very responsive.  Now that it is set up, it is very easy and saves a lot of hassle that comes with employing people.  I have them direct transfer the payment to the caregiver, withhold income tax, and then they transfer the withholding to the IRS, provide the W-2 and the tax forms I need.  I have not gone fully through the tax season as it is just now coming up, but I get regular emails informing me what will be happening.  This is the sort of thing I don't want the additional burden of doing and I am confident they are doing it better than I would.

Old89

I should add that both my attorney and accountant supported using HomePay.