Richard Burgess

As a former senior director in the corporate world, Richard Burgess has taken on huge responsibilities in his time, but he’d never owned and run his own business. So, when he was handed the keys to his Right at Home office in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, in 2022, he was understandably nervous about representing the RaH brand in his community.

“Right at Home made it very clear that as a start-up, the key to building our brand was lots of engagement with grassroots community services.

“I was used to professional networking, but I’d never had to go out and engage with the local community and speak on behalf of my own business before,” he says.

But Richard’s fears were swiftly put to rest during his first visit to a dementia café, when he realised that the days of competing for a share in the market were behind him.

“I discovered that everybody providing care and support services is in it for the right reasons. It didn’t feel like a competitive environment, but a collaborative one,” Richard explains.

Professional background

Rochdale-born Richard started his career in hospitality in the late eighties, working his way up to become Group Manager for four hotels in Eastbourne.

“I went there on a bit of a whim and ended up staying for 13 years,” he recalls.

At the peak of his hotel career, Richard was working split shifts over a minimum of six days per week and was constantly on call. So, when his first daughter was born, he realised it was finally time for a change.

“Hospitality and family life didn’t mix. We needed to move back up North for family support.”

Richard relocated to Leeds in 2002, where he became Head of Customer Service for a commercial property business. Once again, he climbed the ladder and landed the role of Chief Operating Officer 13 years later.

“I was responsible for a team of about 600 people. We managed, oversaw, and leased commercial office buildings to a number of sectors,” he says.

The property business later built a sister company, for which Richard became Chief Executive Officer, but by this time he had grown tired of the corporate world, and a disagreement with a majority shareholder led him to finally step down from his role in September 2021.

“The shareholder wanted to take the business in another direction, and I didn’t agree with his plans,” Richard explains.

“Plus, I’d spent too many years in the corporate world, writing reports and sitting in meetings.”

Discovering Right at Home – the stars align

When Richard left the property business, he found himself at a crossroads for the first time in his working life. “I didn’t know where to go from there,” he says. “I didn’t want to work for anyone else and I’m not a specialist in any particular area, so I didn’t have the skills to be a consultant.”

Richard started looking into franchising and explored several potential routes, but the memory of a brief encounter with Right at Home two years prior kept coming back, and it became clear to him the path he should follow.

“I used Right at Home for my dad, who lived in Nantwich, a few years ago. He’s got Alzheimer’s and is in a care home now, but we used them for about six months before he transitioned and was really impressed by them,” he explains.

“I’d never needed to find care for someone before, but from the initial Google search to picking up the phone with Ben [Selby, Franchise Owner] and his team, the whole process was really easy. The CareGivers were fantastic with my dad, and it was a really nice experience,” Richard continues.

“So, when I saw the opportunity to franchise with Right at Home it was kind of a no brainer. I looked at a consultancy franchise, but it wasn’t for me – I wanted to make a bigger difference than saving companies money. I looked at McDonalds for a while too, but Right at Home kept coming back to me – it really resonated.”

Community Outreach

After completing his research, Richard met with Right at Home Chairman, Ken Deary, and CEO, Lucy Campbell, in early 2022, to present his business plan.

“I remember doing a presentation for Ken and Lucy and I split it into three parts – Community, Clients, and CareGivers – and I said that the area that filled me with the most trepidation was engaging with the community.”

Richard wasn’t nervous about meeting new people – an experienced company director, he was used to networking and building professional relationships. But representing his own business for the first time felt daunting.

Richard opened his Calderdale franchise in August 2022 and immediately threw himself into volunteering work; surprising himself with how quickly his fears about community marketing diminished.

“I started volunteering for Memory Lane, which runs a dementia café every couple of weeks in Halifax, and it blew me away,” he recalls.

“I realised that everybody working in social care is in it for the right reasons – to make people’s lives better. It’s not like networking in the corporate world, where all community work is PR-driven. I’m yet to meet a bad person in this sector.”

Nearly two years on, Richard is an active and respected member of his community, and Right at Home Calderdale sits at the heart of it.

“I absolutely love working in the community now. I still volunteer for Memory Lane’s dementia café. About 80 or 90 people attend and I serve tea and coffee, sit and have a chat, and do the bingo. I used to volunteer as a bingo caller in my hospitality days, so I don’t mind doing that – it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure for me,” he says.

He also supports Making Space, a charity that provides services for people with mental health conditions and their carers.

“They run a group for male unpaid carers, and I play snooker and pool with them once a month. Until you’re in this industry, you don’t realise the scale of the issues facing unpaid carers,” he explains.

“Making Space also runs drop-in sessions for unpaid carers, so we go down and support them and we also provide respite care for those who need it.”

National Office support

Knowing that he wanted to make a positive difference to the lives of others, Richard was naturally drawn towards the care sector. Looking back, he’s delighted he chose Right at Home to support him on his journey to building a successful homecare business.

“It never crossed my mind to set up independently, and knowing what I know now, I still wouldn’t do it,” he says. “I didn’t know anything about the care sector, so the support provided by the compliance, marketing and training and development teams at National Office has been essential.”

Richard adds: “The support from Sharon [Scully, Head of Business Support] and Right at Home’s Quality and Compliance Manager in particular have been critical. I think if I started the business on my own, we’d be two years behind where we are now.

“We are currently ahead of plan in terms of care hours delivered, community engagement activity, and general brand awareness.”

Richard has grown his business to employ 22 CareGivers, who deliver around 400 hours of care per week to 28 Clients.

Reflecting on the last 20 months since opening his franchise office, Richard says his greatest achievements have been delivering quality care to vulnerable people at a time when they’ve really needed it.

“When we first started providing care, we had three end-of-life Clients whose family asked us to react quickly to get them out of hospital and put the right support in place,” Richard recalls.

“Seeing the feedback from those families about how we’ve helped their loved ones feel comfortable and treated them with dignity and respect has made me feel very proud of our team.”

Future ambitions

Right at Home Calderdale’s efforts in providing quality care services people can trust has recently resulted in a 10/10 rating on independent reviews site, homecare.co.uk.

“Whatever I have done in life, whether in hospitality or property, it’s always been about employing the right people to do the right thing in the right place, and that’s what care is all about. So, I had the transferable skills to come into the sector, although I’ve learned a hell of a lot since,” Richard says.

Going forward, Richard hopes to retain his business’ reviews score and achieve an ‘Outstanding’ rating from the Care Quality Commission.

“Just as I said we would in my presentation to Ken and Lucy two years ago, we are focussed on three core areas – Community, Clients, and CareGivers – and I split my time equally between those, ensuring we are constantly looking at ways to improve,” explains Richard.

“Each one of these areas is equally important to the success of the business and, more critically, delivering the best quality care in Calderdale. If we get the quality measures right, the rest will take care of itself.”

To find out more about how Right at Home could be the right fit for you, call Kate for a friendly chat on 0151 305 0755 or contact [email protected].

Richard Burgess

Owner, Right at Home Calderdale

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