In an individual’s endeavors to lead a successful life, it is important to note that, it is not only the ship that is helping to sail but also the other factors at play supporting this journey. This is true not just for personal growth but also in the world based on its social relationships. In this setup, if one is the consumer, the other is the benefactor.
While the facilitator is often supported in various forms, the other party’s needs are frequently neglected. To live in harmony and continue to run the wheels of progression, the issues of the provider have to be addressed diligently, especially in the healthcare industry where contemporary times are requiring the market to provide quality medical staff.
To ensure this quality in the trending world of home-based solutions and care, various leaders have come up with avenues for professionals to enable the benefactor’s welfare as well as to enhance the efficient supply in a residential setup.
One such leader is Founder and Director – Michael Harty, who is collaborating with unique technology solutions and delivering them through his company – Home Care direct, empowering the industry with happy, well-rewarded, and proactive carers while establishing continuity of care.
This is helping both sides of the economic chain, where the worker gets the opportunity to experience more than what the traditional setup offered and also the beneficiaries, who have access to quality medical facilities while enjoying their comfort at home without the want of having a middleman for this purpose.
Let us read more about his inspiriting journey in the interview highlights below!
Michael, kindly brief us about yourself and your journey so far.
I have been involved in the home care sector since 2009, when I set up my traditional agency. I was the Chairperson of Home and Community care Ireland (www.hcci.ie) – a trade organization for private providers in Ireland for four years.
In 2019, I sold my traditional agency because of the changes I saw coming down the tracks in the sector, specifically around the recruitment and retention of carers.
I subsequently set up an online platform to enable and empower carers and families to work directly in a safe and tax-compliant manner, without the need for an agency in between.
Could you please tell us about the inception of Home Care Direct?
I set up Home Care Direct not only because of the huge issues involved with the recruitment and retention of carers but also because we saw that, in our traditional agency that many people and families were well able to self-manage their care.
We developed our IP from the in-depth knowledge we had of the market and its needs, thereby building the platform from scratch.
Please elaborate on the core values, mission, and vision of the company.
I set up Home Care Direct with three aims.
Firstly, to make caring a more attractive career. Secondly, to provide better value for money for people needing care, and thirdly, to improve the quality of home care provision.
We achieve these aims by removing, wherever appropriate, the costs of a middleman and redistributing those costs into carer’s pockets and savings for families.
Why, in your opinion, is a skilled carer important for the service of the senile population? How is your company engaging with carers to provide quality elder care?
For us, in Home Care Direct, the two principal pillars of quality home care are having happy, well-rewarded, and proactive carers and having continuity of care.
Our platform delivers on both of these aspects by turning carers into mini entrepreneurs who take real ownership of their work. Carers get significantly better rewards compared to working with a traditional agency and they have much more control over their career.
We feel this makes for a motivated and quality conscientious workforce.
Becoming Ireland’s premier Home Care Agency wouldn’t have been easy. How did you, as a leader, turn these challenges into opportunities to reach this position in the industry?
Home care is a sector that has seen little change over the past 30 years, but with technology and demographics now bringing significant change, we have tried to use technology as a means to address the sector’s issues and help home care play a more important role in our health sector.
We took the view that was possible to come at the sector’s problems from a different angle, specifically that of the carer and that the key was to make caring an attractive career able to compete with other sectors.
Why do you believe that risk aversion is a huge barrier to progress? Which is the biggest risk you have taken in the professional career that has helped you grow personally and professionally?
I have never been afraid of taking a risk, but I firmly believe that risk can be mitigated by surrounding yourself with great people and never thinking you have all the answers.
As an experienced leader, what advice would you like to give to aspiring entrepreneurs and enthusiasts who wish to venture into the competitive industry that you are serving?
It’s a people-driven sector, and the key is having greatly motivated carers. That can only be achieved by treating carers correctly and empowering them to turn caring into a great career option.
What are the future goals of the company? How does it envision scaling up its operations and reach in 2022 and beyond?
Our immediate aim is to further increase our presence in the Irish market where we see huge opportunities, and then possibly to look at the UK, where the 2014 Care Act has fostered the growth of personal budgets and self-managing care.
Give us a few testimonials from your clients or customers, and awards or recognition that accurately highlight your company’s position in the market. (If available/permissible)
Roxana (carer) – “Home Care Direct has made caring an attractive career for me and enabled me to build my own small business.”
Mary (Client) – “I can see the different attitude carers from Home Care Direct have as opposed to agency carers. They are so much more motivated and never let me down.”
