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Exclusive Interview

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thought process. It was “How can we get quickly in and out of someone’s house?’’ Home Instead Senior Care does the precise opposite of that – clients have to come first. A minimum one-hour call, plus matching CAREGivers [Home Instead Senior Care’s care providers] with clients – the way we do it – may sound obvious but that’s not how care has been delivered – not as standard, anyway – in the UK.

Franchising is a great way to achieve this in the sense that all our owners have that passion to make a difference. They’re not doing it just to make money. Yes, profits are a reward, but they’re buying a business to make a difference. That commitment puts you in a completely different place, and I firmly believe that’s why we have 40 ‘outstandings’ from the Care Quality Commission – head and shoulders above any of our competitors, public, private or third sector.

What are the benefits of running this kind of

business as part of a franchise network?

Martin: When they join, that person has

bought into our mission, our culture, and they become part of our family. Every year, we have a national conference – it’s a great opportunity to bring all our franchisees and their key players together to collaborate on how we can share best practice and move the business on. We also have business update meetings halfway through the year, local owner group meetings, and training sessions; we have people who are always available, whether virtually or face-to-face, in order for us to get better and better. One of the beauties of franchising is sharing best practice. Great ideas come from the network. The aim is to find that great idea and share it with everyone else. Paul: One of the unique things about franchising is that when you’re the business owner, you’re at the top and it’s lonely. In franchising, you get an opportunity to develop a peer group of other franchisees going through the same thing and that lends a lot of support and encouragement. You can be in business for yourself, but you’re not by yourself. So there’s

a lot of comfort and that’s what lends a high degree of success to the franchising model.

What are you looking for in a franchisee?

Martin: They’ve got to have heart – because what we do is so important in terms of looking after seniors. They need to have entrepreneurial spirit and be someone who’s really got that passion and drive to succeed. They don’t work for us, they’re buying their own operation, so they’ve got to get up each day, drive their business and be a great leader. Most of all, they’ve got to believe in Home Instead as a brand, and what we’re trying to achieve in the UK and the world.

You don’t have to come from a health and social care background. We have a comprehensive training package, right from day one, so they come here for a residential course that teaches them how to run a Home Instead Senior Care business. They are supported by both a business performance manager and a quality support manager, and they have a suite of people here [at national

“It was always about ‘How can we get quickly in and out of someone’s house?’ The reason we started Home Instead Senior Care in the UK was the precise opposite of that – clients have got to come first”

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64 | The Franchise Magazine 2019

Exclusive Interview

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The business of care Home Instead Senior Care UK was established in 2005 and the strength of its growth so impressive that the original US founders, Paul and Lori Hogan, bought the UK network when it came up for sale. The Franchise Magazine caught up with Paul, and UK managing director Martin Jones, to find out more about what’s at the beating heart of Home Instead

Words: Annie Blinkhorn

What are Home Instead Senior Care’s origins?

Paul Hogan: We started in 1994 in Omaha, Nebraska. My grandmother was 89, lived in a one-bed apartment and got to the point where she was too weak to get out of her own chair. We had a big family meeting and agreed that, one, she wouldn’t go into a nursing home and, two, we’d chip in to keep her comfortable for what looked like her last little bit of time. That ‘bit of time’ turned into 11 years – she regained her strength, her will to live – and we saw first-hand you don’t have to be a doctor or nurse to have a huge impact on a senior’s life. We set out to do the same for others and began Home Instead Senior Care. Today, it’s made up of over 1,200 franchise locations in 12 countries, delivering about 80 million hours of care a year.

You then grew through franchising, including

in the UK. Tell us about that...

Paul: Franchising is a wonderful way to get the best of both worlds. You get local ownership –

that’s where the passion is – plus the value of an extended network of people doing the same thing, so through collective operation and sharing of experiences, you learn how to do things better and create best practice. It’s an environment where there’s continual improvement.

We’ve a long history here in the UK. In 2005, we awarded the master franchise rights to Sam and Trevor Brocklebank and they did an outstanding job – attracting great franchisees and building an immensely talented team we’re so proud of. So when the opportunity came up to purchase Home Instead in the UK it was an easy decision because our cultures align perfectly, and rather than see it diminished by, say private equity, or another organisation buying the franchise, we wanted to preserve that culture and jumped on the opportunity.

The success here has gone way beyond my expectations. I’d never dreamed we could win something such as a Queen’s Award for Enterprise and the Princess Royal

Training Award for our dementia training. This exemplifies what a great job the team here, and the franchise owners throughout the country, are doing.

The UK is imperative to the success of our global brand because there’s a tradition here for quality; a high standard of doing things right. It’s so important that we learn from each other; that’s the beauty of our organisations becoming even closer. The awards, the recognition for things that are done extremely well – we learn and benefit from all the countries we operate in. The UK business is vital to helping us understand how we do things better. It’s a great opportunity to share at an even deeper level.

Home Instead is regarded as a disruptor –

has this been instrumental in your growth? Martin Jones: The way homecare was traditionally delivered – typically 30 minutes, or quarter of an hour, short, sharp calls and very task driven – the client wasn’t part of the

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