Dal Ben Home Care and Senior Care – Best Use of HR FINALIST– 2017

Currently, the Company has over 300 employees making an average of 4.000 home visits per month. Dal Ben is expected to reach approximately R$ 40 million in revenues in 2017 and has grown +110% and +55% in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Dal Ben provides a wide range of medical and non-medical home care services to private and institutional clients, which includes: (i) Medical Home Care (Mechanical Ventilation, 24/12/6hs), (ii) Specific procedures, (iii) Palliative Care, (iv) Inventory management of materials and medicine, (v) Chronic Diseases Management Program, (vi) Management of Hospitalized Patients, (vi) Multidisciplinary team of visiting doctors. In addition to these services, for out-of-pocket clients the Company also offers: (i) Elderly care programs – senior home care (24/12/6hs), (ii) Family advisory for elderly care, and (iii) Nursing support at hospitals and clinics.

Change 1 : Dal Ben has been one of the first companies in the country to successfully use formally hired labour in home care
Change 2 : Dal Ben was able to invest in the development of a comprehensive training program for nurse technicians and assist

Month : May

Year : 2015

In Brazil, medical and non-medical home care services have been traditionally provided by nursing technicians and assistants who are not formally hired by service providers. Although this reduces significantly labour costs, as informally hired labour does not require the payment of several taxes and social security contributions, this hiring method has significant negative implications for the quality of services provided. In addition, it generates material labour liabilities to companies, families and HMOs.

Dal Ben has been one of the first companies in the country to successfully use formally hired labor in homecare, which, in turn, brought several important benefits to our operations: (i) allowed the Company to invest in training programs and capacitation of internal staff, (ii) decreased volatility of crews allocated to a client, (iii) mitigated labor liabilities, and (iv) improved assistance at home with a more committed and better trained staff.

As a result of formally hiring its employees, Dal Ben was able to invest in the development of a comprehensive training program for nurse technicians and assistants. Currently, there are two training programs implemented by the Company, the Integration Program and the Continuing Education Program.

The Integration Program aims to introduce new employees (nursing technicians and assistants) to Dal Ben’s universe, facilitating the beginning of their careers in the Company and their effectiveness is assisting patients.

This program has the duration of 90 hours and is divided into four main modules:

• Human Resources: provides an introduction to the Company, rights and duties of employees, and their legal rights relating Brazilian legislation;
• Culture and Behaviour: addresses the different aspects of care, taking into account the values and culture of the company. During this module, employees are trained to behave in the client’s home environment, addressing their specific needs and demands;
• Ethics and Legislation: focused on discussing the laws and regulations that support the professional practice of nursing assistants and technicians, as well as the legislation applied to Home Care;
• Technical Development: during this module, several important technical procedures are reviewed, aiming to improve and standardise technical knowledge among all nursing technicians and assistants. The module focuses on theoretical and practical knowledge where several real life situations are simulated and results/solutions are discussed in the classroom.

The Continuing Education Program is intended for Dal Ben technical staff, focusing on the technical and behavioural improvement of professionals according to their specific needs. In many circumstances, they are invited to participate in specific modules of the program intended for integrating new employees.

Regarding the Training Programs, the key performance indicator measured by our company are trained staff ratio, hours of education, turnover, customer complaints, absenteeism and technical deviations.

Prior to entering the training program, each employee is evaluated through a test of their technical and common knowledge. After each module, they are submitted to take a test of the content taught during that particular module, whose results are compared to the initial test. The goal is to conduct an ongoing selection process, allowing the Company to dismiss employees not capable of absorbing the knowledge throughout the course. This was an important element in reducing labour costs, as we were able to dismiss low potential employees during their experience period (according to Brazilian law, firing an employee during this period reduces several penalties and social contributions).

After the completion of the training program, we measured several other indicators associated with our overall quality and customer experience. We observed a significant drop in turnover and absenteeism, especially changes within the staff allocated to a single household. Average turnover in 2016 dropped by 50% compared to 2015, when we started the program. Customer complaints decrease materially, specifically the ones associated with staff or technical problems. For instance, average complains measured in 2015 was 0.31% of all visits in 2015, compared to 0.19% in 2016.