Growing up with a father who owned a small business, Daniellah Salario says she inherited a bit of his entrepreneurial spirit. Although she was a teacher in her first career, Salario always wanted to be a business owner. Ironically, it was losing her father that shaped the course of her life’s work.
It began when Salario’s father was diagnosed with terminal cancer at age 82 and asked to be taken home to live out his final days. Suddenly, she and her sister found themselves responsible for his care. “We were like, ‘Now what?’” she says. “I was 26 years old. I didn’t know what hospice was. I didn’t even know anyone who had passed away before.” The hospice nurses recommended home care. “By having caregivers in the house, we were able to preserve his dignity,” Salario says. “The doctors and the nurses come through, but the caregivers are the people you always remember.” As her father’s health deteriorated, having home-care workers offering physical and emotional support would change her life.
Daniellah Salerio
The experience inspired her to launch her own home-care agency—Assisting Hands, located in Arlington Heights, IL—in 2016. “I always had the desire to have my own business—one that would serve seniors and give something back, not just grow and make money to support myself,” she says. “You’re more motivated when your business is ultimately contributing to the community, and in a much-needed area.”
Mostly Female Employees
Home care is a female-dominated field, and Salario is a female boss with a mainly female staff. This is no coincidence. “Women are often chosen as caregivers in their families,” says Salario. “And when they’ve had the personal experience of taking care of someone, they might think, ‘Hey, I could do this as a job.’”
Of course, many women who take care of family members aren’t doing it as a job, and there’s a huge opportunity cost—almost $325,000 in lost wages and Social Security benefits when a woman is caregiving during her prime working years, according to the Family Caregiver Alliance. The effect ripples through women’s finances, leading to lost retirement savings and lost investment dollars.
It’s something Salario has experienced first-hand, as well as the fact that women must juggle multiple roles—mother, daughter, breadwinner—all at once. “Women have so many demands placed on them outside of work,” she says. “A man’s first responsibility may be work, and he might be able to say no to other responsibilities. But women can’t always do that. Women have to pick up their kids and take their moms to doctors’ appointments.”
Flexible Work
Salario built a business that allows for flexibility in handling those responsibilities, making it a good fit for nursing students and moms. “We look for shifts for our employees based on their availability,” she says. “It’s a unique thing. You don’t often get a job where employers can make it work just right with what you have going on.”
She also recognizes that her employees are highly in demand, and in an ever-growing field. She’s mindful of helping them develop in their careers and paying them a competitive wage, which benefits both the employee and the company. “The agency that is most successful is the one with the best workers—and the one that can keep them on board,” she explains.
Salario offers quarterly workshops and presentations to keep her team up to date on developments in the field. She also runs her business without the formal hierarchy often found in the medical profession. “We treat our caregivers as equals,” she says. “They’re caring and compassionate people, and if you show that care back, that means a lot.”
The Right Motivation
After all, Salario says, her employees tend to be altruistically motivated. “These people are not trying to be millionaires,” she explains. “They want to feel like they’re helping people. We make sure to acknowledge that what they’re doing is meaningful.” If that altruistic ethos seems old-fashioned, it’s very much by design; after all, the work itself is also, in some ways, a throwback. “At the end of the day, home care is a very old-fashioned business,” says Salario. “We go to people’s houses. We get to know their kids, their grandkids and so much else about the family.”
It’s that connection to the family that’s at the very foundation of Salario’s business. “It gets into why a woman makes a great home-care agency owner,” she explains. “Maybe we’re raised this way, but I feel that women know how to build alliances with other women who are normally the main caregivers—and these are the people you’re setting up the relationship with.” The relationship that develops—and the trust that’s earned—are essential for success. “We give them a chance for self-care and to get away a little bit. We also give them peace of mind, letting them know their loved one is going to be OK,” says Salario. “They trust us to do the very best we can.”
Julie Anne Russell is a Brooklyn-based freelance journalist. She writes on personal finance, small business, travel and more.
Inset photo courtesy of Daniellah Salario.
Read next: The Smart Way for Siblings to Care for Mom and Dad.