Advice and placement service

There are various private service providers who offer advice on all aspects of care, financing and support options and can, for example, arrange home and rehabilitation places, care staff or meals on wheels. As an employer, you can purchase such a service and make it available to your employees free of charge. In this way, employees with private care responsibilities can be relieved of worries relating to the care situation so that they have their "backs free", are more productive at work again and are less likely to be absent due to care.

Overview

For family caregivers or people in need of help, it is essential to find out about financial, medical care or home help. It is often difficult and time-consuming to find your way through the wealth of offers and the extensive regulations of health insurance or long-term care insurance. Professional guidance through the "care jungle" helps laypeople to understand the legal regulations, to find the right individual support measures or to identify suitable care options.

A service that provides advice on all relevant topics as well as arranging services reduces the burden on family carers and enables them to organize care tasks quickly.

Services of consulting and placement providers:

• Advice and written information on care insurance, care classification, objection procedures, dealing with the medical service, alternative financing options for care, home adaptation and support options from outpatient or inpatient services.

The situation is discussed with an expert and the next steps are determined. In addition to guidance, psychological support is also an important relief for family caregivers.

• Arranging private care for the elderly, outpatient services (e.g. meals on wheels) and places in care homes, assisted or sheltered living, short-term care homes, rehabilitation facilities or day care.

• Arrangement of domestic services such as cleaning, laundry and shopping services as well as assistance with gardening or errands, for example

The costs for such an advice and placement service are usually borne by the company, while the care and nursing services used, for example for a place in a care home, are paid for by the person concerned or their relatives. If the service is available to all employees and is paid for by the employer on a flat-rate basis, it is not treated as a non-cash benefit for tax purposes. As an employer, you provide targeted support for your employees in caring for relatives.

Costs

As a rule, the services of such a service are used by approx. 1-4 percent of the workforce per year.

The utilization rate of advisory and placement services is dependent:

• The average age of the workforce: Older employees are more likely to have parents or relatives in need of care than younger employees. The topic of care becomes relevant for employees aged 50 and over.
• The communication of the service within the company: The more the service offering is advertised and publicized within the company, the higher the demand.

In most cases, the company pays for the general use of consulting and brokerage services. Common billing models are a predetermined flat-rate fee (fixed price, flat rate) or payment according to the services used or the number of inquiries.

The specific prices for a consulting and brokerage service vary depending on the provider, the range and depth of the service.

Introduction of an advisory and mediation service 

1. decision for a provider

There are now numerous private providers of advice and placement services in Germany on the subject of assistance and care needs. The decision for a provider checklist will help you to compare the service features of providers and thus select the best provider for you.

2. announcement within the company

Once you have decided on a provider and signed a contract with them, it is important to publicize the service within the company. Your employees should receive regular information about the service so that they are aware of it when they need it. Experience has shown that employees who are not currently caring for a relative do not take advantage of the preventive offer of an advice and placement service. If the acute need arises, i.e. if a relative requires care, the service is no longer available to them. For this reason, the service should be publicized throughout the company via various communication channels. Information events organized by the service provider in the company are conceivable, e.g. at health days or staff meetings. Information on the support services can be placed on the company intranet. Or employees can be regularly informed by means of a flyer sent out with their payslip.

3. evaluation of the service

It makes sense to review the actual use of the service by employees after a certain period of time and also to evaluate their satisfaction. Usage is usually documented by the provider at agreed, regular intervals.

In addition, employee satisfaction with the service can be surveyed using a separate questionnaire.