Posted:11-December-2023
Walfinch Home Care Franchisee Shilpi Explains How to Combine Care and Business Success
Care franchisors are always looking for franchisees who have a caring attitude and an aptitude for business. It sounds like a rare combination, but Shilpi Verma knows how to make it work.
Shilpi, whose career includes 17 years in banking, is now the Managing Director of the Walfinch home care franchise in Harrow & Brent. Here she explains how she successfully combines care and business skills.
“Banking and care look superficially very different, but they are both about understanding and meeting the needs of customers,” says Shilpi. “The commercial and team management skills I learnt in banking now help me bring genuinely personalised care to clients, while developing my carers' careers and building an award-winning business.”
Shilpi launched her home care business in 2021, and now has a team of 55 people delivering care to 28 clients. She is the third most successful franchisee in Walfinch's countrywide network of 30. Recently she and three of her carers were chosen as finalists in the London Region of the Great British Care awards, and Vaibhavi Patel won the Palliative/End of Life Care Award.
How does she do this?
Listening
“We listen carefully to what clients want, draw up detailed, personalised care plans, carefully match carers to clients to ensure that they will get on well, and make sure care is always delivered to the highest standards,” she says.
Shilpi is careful to listen to clients' families too. “We develop a close relationship with the family, so we can have two-way conversations with them, which means we can better respond to their loved ones' needs,” she says.
Developing the care team
“Supporting your team is crucial to providing the best quality care, and I am sure that this is one of the reasons why we have a low carer turnover ratio,” says Shilpi.
She takes practical action to develop the careers of her care team with training and support, and offers carers wellbeing reviews, an employee assistance programme, and access to mental health support. She believes strongly in internal promotions, and provides suitable people with the extra training required to climb the career ladder. Her care manager started as a carer and two others have been promoted to field supervisors.
To ensure staff are engaged she commissions regular staff engagement surveys. “Staff often mention the supportive and friendly work environment, and the positive attitude of colleagues and management,” she says.
Regular meetings and measurements
Shilpi backs up her philosophy with concrete actions such as regular meetings with the care team and individual carers, quarterly supervisions and monthly spot checks. “It's more than the CQC demands, but it maintains high standards and carers have told me they appreciate the support,” she says.
Combining caring and commercial attitudes
“You cannot provide top quality service without a sound, sustainable business model. I learnt that in banking and it's one of the reasons I chose to start my care business as a Walfinch home care franchisee. They understand what the combination of a caring attitude and business skills can achieve, and their support has been a vital part of our growth,” says Shilpi.
Walfinch is an award-winning UK home care franchise with 30 (and growing) local offices run by franchisee Managing Directors. Its executive team has extensive experience in home care franchising and will be delighted to talk to you about it with no obligations.
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