Boris Lantzman, President, Friendly Care
Boris Lantzman provides home care workers to individuals and families throughout central and southern Ohio. We interviewed Mr. Lantzman at his office in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. One of several that are located central to the geographies they serve.
NCBAC: Boris, you’re just in your mid-thirties, but you shared you’ve been in the business for twenty years. When did you start?
Boris: My family came to this country when I was in elementary school. We immigrated from Russia. My father had some friends on the East coast who told him that the market for eldercare was going to grow rapidly as Baby Boomers began to retire. So, he researched the work and started his business in a new field. It took him a few years to get a foothold. When I was 15, I joined the business and began writing policies and procedures manuals and helping with audits. I learned the business inside and out.
NCBAC: So, what happened after that?
Boris: Well, I learned very quickly that I liked working independently. I liked making decisions and living with the decisions. There’s more risk than working in a corporation. Corporate work is steadier, but there is often less upside as well. I went to Ohio State and graduated with a double major in Business and Finance. I felt It was important to get myself educated and equipped to compete.
NCBAC: Why do you think this business is successful?
Boris: Well, what separates us are our people. From the office personnel we hire to the individual caregivers that go to homes. We hope to take each person to their potential – whatever that is. Above all, we need people that care about patient care. Along the way you are bound to fail, failure is a fact – but how you rebound is critical. Success is often dependent on being in the right place at the right time. We have a scheduling system that ensures we cover “call-outs” – those times when a caregiver cannot keep a scheduled time with a client.
NCBAC: How do you recruit caregivers?
Boris: Every way we can. Word of mouth is the best. We also use social media, local ads, job fairs or recruitment days – what ever is available to us in each community where we have clients or are expanding. With each candidate we do interviews, background checks and of course, drug testing. We’re very careful – we’re sending caregivers into people’s homes.
NCBAC: How do your customers pay for their service?
Boris: Most are state and federal funding, including Medicare and Medicaid. The remainder are private pay.
NCBAC: Do your caregivers work any hours?
Boris: Yes, generally they do. We operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
NCBAC: What are your criteria for hiring a caregiver?
Boris: Well, that is difficult to answer. It’s a combination of things. I suppose first and foremost we look for someone that has a good work ethic. Not everyone does. They must want to do the work. If they have a good work ethic, we’ll work with them to reach their potential. Whatever that potential may be. We recognize that everyone’s potential is different.
NCBAC: Is retention an issue for your company?
Boris: Well, we do have attrition. All companies do. We try to keep it low by providing a better work environment for caregivers. We strive to make our own processes easier for them. And we like to focus on work migration – upward mobility.
NCBAC: How do you train a new hire?
Boris: Most of our training is hands-on, but we do several different things. We do in-home simulations and we train them on our internal processes. We have orientation videos. We simulate real care for real people. Overall new hires get about 75 hours of training.
NCBAC: What are your biggest challenges?
Boris: Without a doubt it is finding good people. We are growing. We’ll open our eighth office this year. We are expanding into new areas and each of those areas require qualified caregivers.
NCBAC: What are your goals for the future?
Boris: Well, we want to keep growing. But in doing so I try to live with three goals for my life:
don’t be afraid of failure
work hard
don’t listen to the nay-sayers
NCBAC: What advice do you have for caregivers?
Boris: Number one goal would be – BE PASSIONATE! To be in this business you must want to help people. Be sure you are a right fit for the work!
NCBAC: Thank you!