How to Become a Caregiver in AZ — Go Independent? Or Work With a Company?
By Gloria Rogers, HR Manager for All Valley Premier Private Care & Home Health Care
Maybe being a caregiver for others in AZ has been a passion your whole life. Or maybe you’ve found you have a knack as a caregiver after taking care of a loved one in AZ. Either way, you may be wondering how to become a caregiver in AZ in a way that helps you pursue your passion and get the bills paid on time.
There are a lot of options to investigate. The biggest choice is between choosing to become an independent caregiver in AZ or choosing to become a hired caregiver within a care company in AZ. Do you want to be the boss or have a boss? There are pros and cons to each, and we want to provide some direction when it comes to the topic of how to become a caregiver in AZ.
Being Your Own Boss
One of the biggest benefits when you’re independent (in any career) is that you have all the control. You determine how you do business and how to provide your services. If you talk with a family in AZ, they get to ask about your rate, your services, and your availability.
All that comes with some caveats, though, especially as a caregiver in AZ.
How to Become A Caregiver in AZ: The Independent Way
When you choose to become an independent caregiver in AZ, you have a lot of responsibilities to figure out.
Taking care of your finances, taxes in AZ, and business-related expenses as an independent is just the tip of the iceberg. There are also insurance and health benefits and all sorts of other details to consider when finding out how to become a caregiver in AZ.
One of the big hurdles to being a caregiver in AZ is the potential required training. While AZ law does not regulate all independent caregivers, if you want to be a Direct Care Worker supporting a person who receives AHCCCS/Long term care you must undergo a certain level of certification and training.
Some of the training required to become a caregiver in AZ who provides medical care includes:
Education in elder and age care
Infection prevention
Activities of daily living
Safety and body mechanics
And more!
That’s a lot to learn, and when you need to learn it on your own to become a caregiver in AZ, it can cost you time and money. Luckily, there are programs in AZ that can help you work through it all, but these can run you hundreds of dollars.
Another big consideration when deciding whether to become a caregiver in AZ as an independent or as an AZ employee is your own protection. As an independent contractor in AZ, there are no paid sick days nor is there any form of AZ workers compensation if you injure yourself on the job. In the ultimate irony, there’s no care for you as an unprotected, unsupported independent caregiver in AZ when you need it most!
Next Question: Are You Actually an Independent Caregiver?
When you learn how to become a caregiver in AZ, you might think the independent route is the way to go. This path gives you the freedom to pursue this passion of yours in whatever way you want.
But the IRS might consider your status as a caregiver in AZ differently. According to PayingforSeniorCare.com, if a family pays an AZ caregiver more than $2,100 per year they actually count as a “household employee” as opposed to an “independent contractor.”
This requires them to draft a caregiver job description to determine the level of care they need you to provide as well as how many hours and days per week they’ll need you as a caregiver. And suddenly this is sounding less and less like you being an independent caregiver in AZ and more like you working as a hired caregiver for a family who already has a lot on their plate.
If the family who hires you to become a caregiver in AZ fails to take this new responsibility into consideration, it could mean complicated legal or financial hurdles for you to work through.
One way around this hurdle is to manage yourself, your time, and your finances to ensure that you only work for each family for less than that $2,100 threshold. That way you remain an independent caregiver AND an independent contractor in AZ.
Let’s do some math:
Assuming you get paid exactly $2,000 per family, that means you’ll need to find 7 families to be a caregiver for in order to break the federal poverty guidelines for a single-person household in AZ.
At the AZ minimum wage of $12.80/hour, that’s just over 150 hours of being a caregiver, which amounts to less than 4 full 40-hour weeks per family.
If you find 20 families in AZ needing your help as caregiver over a single year, you can make $40,000 before taxes.
That means 20 families need 80 full-time weeks from you as their caregiver (remember a year only has 52 weeks!).
You could change things up and adjust your rate. It could save you the hours you need to make it worth it. But are families in AZ going to need you as a caregiver for only 2-4 weeks? That sort of arrangement doesn’t sound very much like long-term care!
Work With an AZ Company That Worries About All This for You
Rather than you having to do all the research on the requirements and organization of being a caregiver (or worse, run headlong into them without knowing), an in-home care company can offer the tools and knowledge to help you.
They can raise your awareness and expectations of what becoming a caregiver in AZ entails. Some job requirements of being a caregiver include helping clients with daily living activities, other activities, and companionship. Clients may require transfer assistance such as from a wheelchair or out of bed. Other clients, like those with dementia or other mental disabilities, may require more in-depth caregiver training. As an independent caregiver in AZ, it’s up to you to research and fund all this important training, while with an in-home care company, they make it easy by providing it all for you as part of your employment.
In-home care companies are in the business of, well, handling the business of long-term care! They handle the payroll, they take care of any liability, and they keep all the records. And when you hire on with them as a caregiver, they not only have access to all the training you need—they cover it! You don’t have to worry about pricey certifications. Just put in the time, learn new skills, and provide real care when you become a caregiver in AZ with an in-home care company.
How to Become a CAREgiver in AZ: The All Valley Way
At All Valley Premier Private Care & Home Health Care, we’re always on the lookout for ambitious CAREgivers who want to know how to become a caregiver in AZ. Our mission is to “Raise the Level of Care” for our clients, and we couldn’t do it without passionate people like you.
When you join our team, you’ll first enroll in our interactive CAREgiver training that includes everything you need to become a caregiver in AZ such as:
CPR & First Aid training
Direct Care Worker training
Ongoing CEU training
Advanced Emotional Intelligence training
CNA certification scholarships
Employee self-care wellness training
All that aims to give you the tools and training you need to be the best CAREgiver you can be, and working with All Valley comes with a number of benefits as well:
Employee of the Quarter awards
Referral bonuses
Team-building events
Paid employee sick time
Memberships and discounts (Costco, Verizon, etc)
And more!
And this doesn’t even include our onboarding caregiver bonus where you can earn $300 extra dollars on your first 90 hours of work with us.
All Valley also provides standard employment benefits and protections. Being a caregiver can be hard work that requires lifting, operating basic household tools, and working in situations that may be stressful at times. We believe that caring for our CAREgivers is the best way to care for our clients, and so you can rely on us to have your back when you need it most.
How to Become a Caregiver in AZ: What’s the Best Route?
When deciding how to become a caregiver in AZ, it’s important to have as much information as you can to inform your decision. Independent work requires a lot of organization but provides you flexibility to do business your way. Working with an in-home care company comes with a lot of support and can help cover the cost of your caregiver training.
No matter what, if you have questions about how to become a caregiver in AZ, we want to help. Feel free to contact us. We can describe the skills you need as well as where to train and earn certifications. And if you’d like the support of an in-home care company, we’d love to have you join our team of CAREgivers. Visit our website and apply today if you’re interested in how to become a caregiver in AZ.