Hometeam, a New York startup that specializes in home-health care for seniors, is beefing up its employee benefits to include maternity leave.
Beginning this month, the company’s at-home caregivers will be eligible for 12 weeks of paid maternity leave as long as they have completed at least 1,250 hours of service at the company.
That’s an hourly total that most of Hometeam’s 1,000 or so caregivers manage to log within six months, says Andrew Chomer, the company’s chief marketing officer.
Male employees will be eligible for two weeks of paternity leave, meeting the standard set by the Family Medical Leave Act. Already, Hometeam offers health benefits to all new employees, and 401(k) retirement plans to workers after three months.
“A lot of this is about giving our caregivers a career path,” Chomer told The Post. “We give them the opportunity to work full-time, and even join corporate staff.”
The latter includes a new initiative to recruit caregivers for a new “transition team” that oversee the assignment of caregivers to patients and families based on their specific needs.
With its relatively high wages and benefits, Hometeam says it has had its pick of the metro area’s best caregivers, and has drastically slashed turnover of employees and patients alike by making careful matches.
The startup meanwhile has armed caregivers with iPads and proprietary monitoring software that has slashed overhead costs while dramatically improving overall patient care.