[Life Chapter 3 Business] Caregiver Matching 'Unimeo'... "Differentiation through Premium Caregiving"

Unimeo Operates Caregiver Matching Platform 'JoeunCare'
'Premium Caregiver' Service Gains Popularity
Launched Non-Face-to-Face Psychological Counseling Service 'JoeunSangdam' Last Year

Jang Seung-ik, CEO of Unimeo, is being interviewed on the 21st at Unimeo in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Located in Seocho-gu, Seoul, 'Unimeo' is a company known for providing high-quality caregiving services. Unimeo offers premium caregiving services through the caregiver matching platform 'JoeunCare,' dispatching verified caregivers, which results in high satisfaction among patients and their guardians. Demonstrating its high customer satisfaction, various awards are displayed in one corner of the office. Among them, the 'Korea Customer Satisfaction No.1' plaque, received for two consecutive years including last year and this year, stands out.

CEO Jang Seung-ik (39) has had a strong interest in the senior generation for a long time, influenced by his family who operate nursing hospitals. Both his grandfather and father were doctors, so Jang had many opportunities to encounter elderly patients. His particular interest in caregiving services is also related to his family. Jang’s grandfather, as he aged, began using a caregiver to assist with daily life, but at that time, finding a proper caregiver was no easy task. He pointed out, "Most patients with severe illnesses need caregivers, but caregivers tend to prefer patients who are easier to care for," adding, "In this regard, it can be said that caregivers lacked education in medical ethics."

Jang also had concerns about the structure of caregiver services where caregivers are matched randomly. He said, "Seeing caregivers dispatched indiscriminately, I felt the need to institutionalize this aspect," and added, "When a caregiver with caregiving experience suitable for the patient’s illness takes care of the patient, more effective caregiving services can be provided." Jang founded Unimeo by identifying new business opportunities amid the inconveniences of existing caregiving services and the increasingly serious aging society.

Unimeo is characterized by sending verified caregivers to patients. The existing caregiving market has the inconvenience that caregiver information cannot be known in advance. However, 'JoeunCare' allows patients or guardians to view caregivers’ profiles and caregiving service histories through an application, and offers the advantage of directly selecting a caregiver suitable for the patient.

What differentiates 'JoeunCare' from other platforms is the 'Premium Caregiver' service. Premium caregivers are selected only from those who have worked as caregivers through 'JoeunCare' and have received excellent evaluations in terms of experience, job competency, and customer satisfaction. They are exclusive caregivers of Unimeo, providing not only basic caregiving tasks such as maintaining cleanliness in hospital rooms and assisting with medication but also customized services tailored to patients. They also serve as companions to help patients achieve psychological stability.

In addition, Unimeo offers various other services. Last year, it launched 'Joeun Counseling,' a non-face-to-face psychological counseling service for patients and guardians, and in August this year, it opened 'JoeunCare Mall,' which sells caregiving specialty products. The site sells various products for the senior generation, from diapers and other caregiving necessities to nutrition meals tailored for the elderly. CEO Jang said, "We want to help the senior generation enjoy a healthy life," and added, "We also hope to care not only for patients through caregivers but for their entire life cycle."

Jang Seung-ik, CEO of Unimeo, is being interviewed on the 21st at Unimeo in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

The following is a Q&A session.

- Recently, many caregiver intermediary platforms have emerged. What differentiates Unimeo?

▲ We provide premium caregiving services. This is a service not offered by other platforms. To provide such services, caregiver data is important, and we continuously worked on building a caregiver database from the early days of our establishment. This was because a period was needed to assess whether caregivers could properly perform the roles required by patients. Based on this experience, we classified caregivers into excellent and general categories. Using a 5-point satisfaction scale, caregivers scoring between 3 and less than 4 are general caregivers, those between 4 and less than 4.5 are excellent caregivers, and those 4.5 and above are top caregivers. Top caregivers receive higher wages than general caregivers. Currently, 30,000 caregivers have registered their data with our company, and about 5,000 are actively working in the field. Among them, approximately 200 are identified as top caregivers.

- Please explain the 'Joeun Counseling' service in detail.

▲ We started the psychological counseling service 'Joeun Counseling' in August last year. While dispatching caregivers to patients, we realized that the psychological state of guardians, i.e., patients’ families, was vulnerable. Initially, this service was planned to stabilize patients’ psychological states, but there were cases where it was difficult to proceed because many patients could not communicate well. We also recognized the high demand for counseling among guardians on-site, so although the service initially targeted patients, we have now expanded the scope to include psychological counseling for guardians.

- Is the satisfaction level with 'Joeun Counseling' high?

▲ Many people feel satisfied by sharing their problems or difficulties through counseling. Especially those who receive counseling regularly can have their psychological state checked by experts and feel cared for themselves during this process, resulting in high satisfaction.

- What do you think are the problems with existing caregiver intermediary companies?

▲ In the past, caregiver intermediary companies sent caregivers to patients without any verification process. They only focused on matching caregivers and patients without understanding the caregivers’ experience or patient satisfaction. However, this leads to dissatisfaction not only for guardians who pay but also for caregivers who do not properly understand the patient’s condition, resulting in dissatisfaction on both sides. Caregiver matching is an area that requires sophistication. Patients need to receive information about the caregivers who will take care of them in advance, and caregivers also achieve higher satisfaction when they receive accurate information about patients.

- What is the outlook for caregiver intermediary platforms?

▲ South Korea has already entered an aging society and is approaching a super-aged society by 2025. Therefore, demand for caregivers is expected to continue increasing. However, supply is unstable relative to demand. Supply is not a problem that companies alone can solve. Especially, as the aging of caregivers continues, the government needs to maintain interest in this issue. Various measures will likely be needed for the successful generational replacement of caregivers.

- Are there any services you want to showcase in the future?

▲ Ultimately, we plan to become a total healthcare company for seniors. Currently, we operate caregiving services, psychological counseling services, and a caregiving specialty product shopping mall. In addition, we want to link home visit medical services in the future. Home visit medical services are not yet widespread in Korea. However, many patients receive care at home and many have difficulty visiting hospitals due to mobility issues. There is a need for home visit medical services for these individuals.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.