Loyal but Looking: Why Even Satisfied Home Healthcare Workers May Still Walk

You’ve built a team that loves what they do-but they’re still ready to leave if…

BlogPublished on June 24, 2025

You’ve built a team that loves what they do—but they’re still ready to leave if benefits fall short. Here’s what your company can do now to retain them.

The 2025 MagnaCare Home Healthcare Workers Survey offers a rare look inside the hearts and minds of 600 professionals working on the frontlines of home care. As demand for in-home services surges alongside an aging population, these caregivers are more essential than ever—and harder to keep.

The survey reveals a workforce full of purpose and pride, but also one that’s quietly struggling with inadequate benefits. This report gives home healthcare employers the clarity they need to address the disconnect—and the opportunity to act before valued team members leave for better offers.

Key findings:

Nearly 70% of home healthcare workers say they’re very satisfied with their jobs.
83% would recommend their employer to a friend or colleague.
Just one-third feel the same satisfaction with their current benefits.
68% say they’d likely leave for a job that offers better benefits.

Your Team Loves the Work—But That Doesn’t Mean They’ll Stay

Home healthcare workers aren’t clocking in just to collect a paycheck—they’re showing up because they care. The data confirms this: 70% say they are very or extremely satisfied with their work. Even more telling is the number one reason cited for choosing and staying in the profession—making a difference in people’s lives. This ranked far above financial compensation, career advancement, or even work-life balance.

That sense of mission creates a workforce that is unusually loyal, passionate, and emotionally invested. Nearly 85% of respondents said they would recommend their current employer to a friend or colleague. That’s not something you see in most industries—and it’s a major credit to the kind of cultures many home healthcare companies have built. Employees also pointed to the flexibility of their roles and the meaningful one-on-one relationships they form with patients as reasons they feel fulfilled.

But purpose alone doesn’t guarantee permanence. The industry’s most valuable employees—the ones who stick with it because they care—are also the ones most likely to burn out if their practical needs aren’t met. Job satisfaction doesn’t insulate them from market forces. In fact, it might obscure real risks. Employers may assume that satisfied workers are stable ones. But satisfaction with the work isn’t always matched by satisfaction with the compensation or support. If you’re not actively addressing both sides of that equation, you’re leaving yourself vulnerable.

The Hidden Risk: Workers Like the Job, But Not the Benefits

The emotional rewards of caregiving don’t cancel out the everyday realities of the job: long hours, physical strain, unpredictable schedules, and personal sacrifice. That’s why benefits matter. But for many home healthcare workers, what’s being offered doesn’t match what they need.

Only one in three workers report being very satisfied with their benefits package. That’s a steep drop compared to their satisfaction with the job itself. And when asked what their employers could do better, healthcare coverage was the top response—by a wide margin. More than a third chose better medical benefits as their number one ask, with another 16% saying dental and vision coverage was lacking. Together, these health-related benefits represent over half of all top improvement requests from the workforce.

This isn’t just anecdotal. Nearly half of respondents said they pay at least some portion of their healthcare costs out-of-pocket. A surprising 5% said they receive no health benefits at all. In an industry where workers are exposed to physical risks and emotional stress, that’s a red flag.

This dissatisfaction may not be showing up in performance reviews or exit interviews—yet. But just because workers may not voice complaints, it doesn’t mean they’re content. Quiet discontent is harder to spot and easier to ignore. But left unaddressed, it will cost you—not only in turnover, but in engagement, morale, and reputation. Workers might stay a little longer out of loyalty, but when a better package comes along, they’ll go.

The Loyalty Gap: Purpose-Driven Employees Still Ready to Leave

On paper, this workforce looks solid. High satisfaction scores. Strong loyalty indicators. Positive feedback on work culture. But dig into the data a bit more, and a contradiction appears: the same people who say they love their work are ready to leave it behind for better benefits.

Nearly 70% of respondents said they would be at least somewhat likely to leave their current job if a different employer offered better benefits. Another 23% said they were unsure. Only one in ten workers felt confident they would stay put. That’s not a hypothetical problem—that’s a majority of your workforce that may have one foot out the door.

The message is clear: appreciation and mission-alignment are no longer enough. Workers still want to feel seen, heard, and supported in tangible ways—especially when it comes to their physical, mental, and financial well-being. For home healthcare companies, this represents a shift in employee expectations. Benefits used to be seen as a bonus. Today, they’re non-negotiable.

And it’s not poor culture driving this potential turnover. Quite the opposite. In fact, 70% of survey respondents said they feel very or extremely valued by their current employer. That’s unusually high. Which means when they leave, it’s not because of bad bosses or a toxic environment. It’s because another company recognized their value—and proved it through better benefits.

This creates both a vulnerability and an opportunity. The vulnerability is obvious: your most engaged, experienced workers could be poached with a single offer. The opportunity is that they don’t want to leave. They just want to feel fully supported. You already have their trust. Now it’s time to back it up with the kind of benefits that earn long-term loyalty.

Turning Insight Into Action: Next Steps for Home Healthcare Employers

You’ve done the hard part: building a team that’s purpose-driven and proud to be part of your organization. But that loyalty has limits—and benefits are where those limits get tested. The following strategies will help you strengthen your value proposition, not just for attracting new talent, but for retaining the dedicated employees already in your corner.

1. Treat Benefits as a Retention Strategy, Not a Line Item

Benefits are often treated as a static cost—something negotiated once a year and largely forgotten after enrollment. But the survey makes it clear: benefits are now one of the strongest levers you have for reducing turnover and preserving your culture. That means they need to be treated with the same level of strategy you apply to hiring, scheduling, or training.

Run a retention audit of your benefits package. Ask yourself: are your offerings competitive with similar employers in your region? Are they designed to support the daily realities your team faces—both on and off the job? If not, the best way to cut future replacement and training costs is to reinvest in your current people.

2. Focus First on Healthcare Coverage

Healthcare coverage isn’t just a checkbox—it’s the number one reason employees would walk. That makes it your most urgent priority. If you can’t overhaul your entire benefits package this year, start by focusing on medical, dental, and vision improvements. Even incremental enhancements—like lower deductibles, expanded provider networks, or offering an HSA—can make a meaningful difference in how your employees perceive your support.

Workers in physically and emotionally demanding roles expect their employer to have their backs. Improving healthcare benefits isn’t just about preventing attrition—it’s about showing that you value their health as much as their work.

3. Build Tiered Benefits That Grow With Tenure

Caregiving isn’t a static career. A 22-year-old entering the field today will have very different needs than a caregiver with ten years of experience or a young family at home. Yet many home healthcare companies offer one-size-fits-all benefits that fail to reflect this reality.

Introduce layered plans that evolve over time—offering things like tuition reimbursement, fertility support, child care benefits, or expanded retirement options at different stages of employment. This approach not only allows you to better meet diverse needs, it also sends a message: We want you to grow with us.

4. Communicate Clearly and Often About What You Offer

Employees can’t value what they don’t understand. Benefits often get lost in onboarding packets or annual enrollment emails, leaving workers confused about what’s actually available to them. This gap in understanding means some employees may leave for benefits they already have, simply because no one explained how they work.

Host quarterly benefit Q&As. Create short videos or one-pagers that demystify plan options. Provide examples of how someone in a similar role used the coverage effectively. And make sure your managers and team leads are trained to answer basic benefits questions. Education is retention—and it’s often overlooked.

5. Re-engage the Undecided Majority Before They Drift

That 23% of survey respondents who were unsure if they’d leave for better benefits are the people who can be won over—right now. They haven’t made a move yet, and they’re likely open to staying if they feel heard and supported.

Target this group with internal communications campaigns, town halls, or feedback loops that invite their input. Pilot benefit enhancements and invite real-time responses. When employees feel that their feedback shapes real outcomes, their commitment deepens—and the risk of departure shrinks.

6. Partner With Experts Who Understand the Landscape

You don’t have to navigate these changes alone. Consider working with a healthcare broker or consultant who has experience supporting home healthcare companies. The data in this report provides a benchmark—but an experienced partner can help you translate that benchmark into action.

Ask your broker for competitive comparisons, regional data, and flexible plan structures tailored to companies of your size and scale. Choose a partner who sees benefits as a tool for retention, not just compliance.

7. Leverage This Report to Align Internal Stakeholders

This report isn’t just an HR tool—it’s a business case. Share it with your executive team, finance department, or board members to reinforce the urgency of investing in benefits. Highlight the risks of doing nothing and the clear ROI of even small adjustments.

You can also use the data in onboarding, recruitment materials, or employee newsletters. Showing that you understand your workforce at this level—because you’ve listened and studied the data—builds credibility and trust across the board.

Conclusion

Home healthcare employers are in a unique position. You’re not running call centers or warehouse floors, you’re managing a mission-driven workforce filled with compassion, resilience, and pride in their work. You’ve earned that workforce’s trust. You’ve built a culture they believe in. And yet, you still stand to lose them—not because they don’t love what they do, but because they can’t ignore the economic realities that shape their lives.

The message of this report is both sobering and hopeful. The sobering part: even your best employees will walk if they feel their benefits fall short. The hopeful part? They want to stay. They like working for you. That gives you a start most employers can only wish for.

But culture and calling aren’t retention plans. If you want to turn high job satisfaction into actual staying power, you need to meet your workforce at the intersection of purpose and practicality.

The choice is yours: wait for resignation letters—or use this moment to act. Rethink benefits not as a cost center, but as your frontline defense against turnover. Reimagine them as a sign of your commitment—not just to patient care, but to caregiver well-being.

Are you ready to find out more?

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