Attendance Verification & Alerts for Staff and Individuals
Our story
We were approached by a nonprofit agency who shared our belief that people with disabilities living in group homes deserve the best care possible. That belief includes that a certain level of care and protection should be provided from those who are given the responsibility. Residents depend on this level of care and entrust providers with their welfare. This same nonprofit agency asked if we could find a solution that would help them confirm and validate that the overnight staff in their group homes were onsite and awake during their shifts and delivering that level of care and protection. We were happy to start development.
The research behind SteadyCare
While researching, we uncovered documented stories throughout the country of staff members falling asleep, being absent from or abandoning their shifts, and some stories with very serious outcomes. In fact, we were given a few case studies to review showing that sleeping or missing employees created what is known in the industry as “incidents,” which could be traumatizing, neglectful, and in some cases, fatal to residents. Our client considered this to be unacceptable and wanted to affect change independently and throughout the industry by being accountable. In short, they wanted to be proactive. This could be achieved with reliable data from an independent third party showing that their staff is awake and onsite.
Faced with the task of developing an efficient, cost-effective solution that would actively monitor unsupervised awake-overnight staff, ensuring that they were onsite and awake, we began by gathering information. We looked online and spoke with other human services agencies to find out how they were handling similar problems, and the responses were all the same. Everyone wished there was a cost-effective solution, but nothing feasible had been developed. Some used expensive and invasive techniques like video surveillance, some required their staff to call into cumbersome voicemail systems that proved to be very inefficient and unreliable, and some did the ole 2:00 a.m. spot check. But none of these methods worked very well, especially if an agency managed multiple group homes that were spread over great distances making it next to impossible to supervise and track all locations simultaneously.
We worked with C-level executives, Human Resource departments, IT personnel, residential supervisors and directors, and the very users from the agencies needing our service. We looked at many existing solutions to identify what was out there and what was missing, and we knew our solution would have to be easy to use, cost effective, and reliable. We took on the challenge and solved it with technology. Many scenarios were tested over a two-year period until we settled on a working solution. The end result was an attendance verification system that showed the name of the employee, the time they checked in, and the location where the check-in was made. It provided reliable data and reported it in a timely fashion.
SteadyCare is born
SteadyCare was officially founded in 2006 to offer additional group home providers the benefit of our solution. We are proud that our very first client still uses our system today! We have added many more clients from all over the United States and the demand for our services continues to grow. We feel that our services allows agencies to stay proactive and informed, thereby freeing them to continue their mission of caring for and putting their people first. Our clients are leaders in their industry, delivering safety and accountability by using a service that helps people stay safe. Safety is the model that we built this company on. Safety is our passion.
Our Mission:
Safety and accountability for staff and the individuals you support.
Our Slogan:
Safety and Accountability. Anytime, Anywhere.
Our Mascot:
Meet Ollie!
Be wise, not surprised!
Like the wise owl, we stay up all night so you don’t have to!
SteadyCare today
We have continued to build and evolve our attendance verification system based on the needs of our clients and strive to make the process easy for users and managers alike. We do not believe in a “one size fits all” methodology, so we customize our service to the needs of each client. Our service has expanded from check-ins made by landline phones in residential group homes to include check-ins via the Web and smartphones. We have added real-time reporting and management through our Web portal and APIs to share your data with other software. And our unique alert feature is able to notify you of check-ins made or missed on many different levels. We also offer 24/7 support.
Today we are used for much more than just awake-overnight staff check-ins. Agencies with remote workers can better manage billing, as well as provide an extra level of personal safety for their staff. Providers of health care and support services have found more uses in situations such as Individual Support Services, Work Enclaves, Day Support, Acquired Brain Injury, Home Care Services, Nursing Services, Senior Services, and more. Residential schools and programs who have daytime people that check in can rest assured that the people in their care are where they should be at designated times. Families who need to check on individuals receiving limited support in home health situations can sleep better at night or begin each day less stressed knowing their loved ones have or will complete a check-in. People have found more uses for our verification service, and that list is constantly growing. Industries such as maintenance, transportation, security, work enclaves, day support facilities, and so on.
We offer an attendance verification system that helps agencies be proactive with reliable data and the added benefit of fitting into best practice models and staying compliant with current industry requirements. Our system also helps keep people safe and accountable, reduces incidents and risks, and in some cases, has even saved lives.
Future outlook
Not only are the potential uses for our check-in products growing, but so are the features. We have added many features based on requests from our customers and people we meet in the industry; and we are constantly looking to the future for new developments. We are committed to consistently developing our service to enhance your experience.