Care Friends – Employee referral app

Leading home care provider Bluebird Care has announced it has hired over 1,000 team members with the use of employee referral app Care Friends.

Over 75% of the Bluebird Care network, which spans over 200 franchises, has signed up to the care expert referral app since starting the partnership in 2020, with over 5000 Care Experts across the business registering.

Additionally, any money saved on recruitment is being reinvested back into the team with over £500,000 in points awarded across the network in the UK and Ireland, for both referrals and bonus points.

Siriporn Sirikhochonsombat, who joined Bluebird Care Aylesbury in May this year, represents the 1000th hire through Care Friends. She was referred by Daniel Gee, highlighting the success of referrals within the network. People often prefer working with others they know, with Siri and Daniel being the perfect example of how personal connections contribute to the app’s effectiveness, they previously worked together and are still in touch today. Incentives such as earning points on the app further motivate it’s ongoing use.

Bluebird Care, with over 10,000 dedicated colleagues across the UK and Ireland, specialises in personalised home care solutions ranging from check-in visits to full live-in support.

Founder and CEO of Care Friends, Neil Eastwood, presented team members at Bluebird Care Aylesbury with a certificate to recognise the significant achievement and commemorate a milestone in their partnership, gifting the franchise and wider organisation extra points to spend in the app.

Michael and Tania Hackett and George Morris, Owners of Bluebird Care Aylesbury, took over the business just under a year ago, and also operate multiple other successful franchises in the network, including Bluebird Care Islington & Hackney, Bluebird Care Camden & Hampstead, and Bluebird Care Highgate & Haringey.

George Morris, Owner of Bluebird Care Aylesbury, said on the achievement: 

“We are excited to represent such a meaningful milestone and to be able to acknowledge the impact Care Friends has had on helping us employ wonderful and passionate individuals across the business. We took over the franchise just under a year ago, and we have been so excited about the work we have been doing and will continue to do in future.”

“We find the app a positive addition to our recruitment toolkit. It makes monitoring costs and rewarding team members easy. We also love the app notifications, which are a great way of keeping in touch with team members that are out working in the community and we don’t get to see all the time.”   

Neil Eastwood, CEO and Founder of Care Friends, commented:

“We are so glad to have such a close partnership with Bluebird Care, which has only been getting better over the past four years. Without a doubt, Bluebird Care is one of our largest and most valuable partners, and I’m looking forward to continuing to build on our partnership in the coming years. We are working hard to modernise and streamline the concept of staff referrals, and it’s partners like this that help visualise the significant impact we are having on the sector.” 

Bluebird Care aims to have 100% of the network using the platform for recruitment.