The Broadway Secret Every Home Care Owner Needs to Know
- Aaron Marcum
- 20 minutes ago
- 4 min read
A few years ago, I took my daughter to see "Wicked" in London's West End.
From the moment the lights dimmed, we were transported. The performances were flawless, the choreography mesmerizing, and the vocals spine-tingling. For two and a half hours, we sat captivated by what appeared to be theatrical magic.
But here's what struck me as I watched: what we were experiencing wasn't magic at all. It was the result of an incredibly sophisticated operation happening behind that curtain—an operation most audience members never think about.
Dan Sullivan, founder of Strategic Coach, calls this the "Front Stage" and "Back Stage" of your business. And it's a framework that every home care owner needs to understand.
What Makes Broadway, Broadway?
When you pay for a West End ticket, you're not just paying for talented actors. You're paying for a lighting crew coordinating hundreds of cues per show, costume designers managing dozens of quick changes, sound engineers balancing multiple wireless microphones in real-time, stage managers calling hundreds of technical cues with split-second precision, and a production team that rehearsed for months before opening night.
The Front Stage—what the audience sees—only shines because of an exceptional Back Stage.
Your Home Care Business Has the Same Dynamic
In our industry, the Front Stage is your care professional arriving at Mrs. Johnson's home at 9 AM. It's the smile, the gentle assistance with morning medication, the conversation during breakfast, and the compassionate help with bathing and dressing.
That's what your clients see. That's what their families remember. That's how your business gets judged.
But we all know that caregiver showing up prepared, on time, and trained isn't an accident. Your Back Stage makes it possible:
Care Coordination ensures the right caregiver with the right skills is scheduled for the right client. When this system fails, clients feel it immediately.
Billing Systems that work seamlessly mean caregivers get paid accurately and on time—because nothing destroys Back Stage morale faster than payroll errors.
Compliance Infrastructure keeps you operating legally and safely, protecting both your clients and your business.
Recruitment and Hiring processes that attract quality candidates. With projections showing a national shortage of 151,000 caregivers by 2030 and 355,000 by 2040, your Back Stage recruiting determines whether you have anyone to put on the Front Stage. As a side note, I personally believe the shortages are greater than this.
Training Programs that don't just check boxes but actually prepare caregivers for real situations. The 2025 Activated Insights Benchmarking Report found that agencies offering 8+ hours of orientation training had median revenue of $2.4 million compared to $2.03 million for those with 3 or fewer hours.
Retention Strategies because the average caregiver costs $2,600 to replace Activated Insights. Your Back Stage culture determines whether caregivers stay or leave.
The Numbers Tell a Sobering Story
Here's the reality: the home care industry's turnover rate reached 79.2% in 2023 Home Health Care News—the highest it's been in five years. Think about that. In an agency with 100 caregivers, you're replacing nearly 80 of them every single year.
But it gets worse. Nearly four out of five caregivers leave their job within the first 100 days of employment. That means the caregivers you just spent weeks recruiting, screening, and training? Most of them won't even make it through their first three months.
When your Back Stage is weak, these statistics become your reality.
The "Community Theater" Problem
We've all attended shows where you could tell the Back Stage was struggling.
Maybe you've seen a local production where an actor missed their entrance, the lighting was off, a scene change took too long, or the sound cut out.
You couldn't see the Back Stage problems, but you absolutely felt them. The same thing happens in home care.
When your Back Stage is weak:
Caregivers show up late (or not at all) because scheduling is chaotic
Families receive incorrect bills because systems are disconnected
Care quality suffers because training is inconsistent
Your reputation erodes one Front Stage failure at a time
Your clients might not know your payroll system crashed or that your care coordinator called in sick for the 4th time this month, but they experience the consequences.
The Broadway Standard Question
So here's the question every home care owner must ask: Is your business operating at Broadway standards, or community theater? Be honest.
When you look at your Back Stage operations:
Can your care coordinators instantly access complete client information?
Do your caregivers have clear protocols for every situation they might encounter?
Is your billing accurate enough that families rarely question an invoice?
Do you have documented processes, or is everything "in someone's head"?
Could your business run smoothly if your top coordinator was suddenly unavailable?
The best home care agencies—the ones with waiting lists and stellar reputations—aren't just lucky. They've built Broadway-quality Back Stage operations.
They've invested in systems, training, and processes. They've documented their playbook. They've made the Back Stage so strong that the Front Stage can shine consistently, every single day.
Because here's what I learned watching "Wicked": excellence isn't about one amazing moment. It's about a thousand excellent decisions that happen when no one is watching.
The question is: what's happening in your Back Stage?
Want to build your Broadway-worthy Back Stage? Stay in the know with strategies, insights, and practical resources designed specifically for home care owners. Subscribe to receive updates, newsletters like this, and tools that will help you elevate both your Front Stage performance and Back Stage excellence. Because your caregivers—and your clients—deserve a five-star experience every single time.
Sources:
2024 Activated Insights Benchmarking Report (formerly Home Care Pulse)
2025 Activated Insights Benchmarking Report
Global Coalition on Aging & Home Instead Senior Care Report: "Building The Caregiving Workforce Our Aging World Needs"
Home Care Association of America industry statistics
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