Top tips for recruiting and maintaining staff in care
Go local
Advertise in diverse locations in local communities remembering that not everyone accesses internet job sites. If you need staff in a particular part of the city advertise in that locality and use local social media Facebook locality community forum sites for example, candidates may be more likely to apply (and stay) if you can reduce their travel to work time/expense. Or go international - Skills for Care do a useful guide for international recruitment.
Talk to interested candidates
Recruitment is a time-consuming and costly process for employers particularly small organisations and one of the key frustrations is candidates not attending interviews. Working closely with organisations like the Job Shop in Coventry can help line up interested candidates who are actively considering a career in care.
Recruit based on values and behaviours
This should be an obvious one but too often recruitment processes fail to look for values and behaviours such as kindness, compassion, enthusiasm, and life experience. There is evidence to show that people exhibiting these qualities are more likely to seek and stay in a care role.
Help people understand the role
Successful care organisations need staff from diverse backgrounds to meet the needs of their clients but as previously mentioned you may need to do things differently to attract them. Offer taster sessions, work experience or “meet the employer” sessions in venues local to where you need staff. Talk to students in colleges and universities who are studying health and social care related courses they often want part-time work or placements to gain valuable experience for their qualification. Take a stand at a job fair and again talk to the Job Shop in Coventry who run specific events to support social care recruitment. There is also a host of evidence to show that staff who are referred to jobs by existing employees stay longer. Care Friends is an employee referral app that allows staff to do that and earn rewards for themselves at the same time.
Have a clear package of benefits for employees
It's often not all about the money for some staff and whilst you may have success in recruiting them, staff may be tempted to work for another employer for better conditions. Be clear about what you can offer, flexible hours, training, and development opportunities, supported travel. Some employers particularly in residential care are offering meals for staff on site, a benefit that has little cost to the organisation but can be a significant saving to the individual staff member. Other approaches include loyalty bonuses, increased overtime payments, one-off “thank you” payments, and wellbeing support (including Coventry and Warwickshire “With Staff in Mind” support).
Communication is key
If you have been successful in recruiting in local communities you may have recruited people who are new to the labour market, previously worked in another country or in a totally different field. The period between offering the job and starting work can be crucial in ensuring that the person completes the recruitment process. Keep in touch to inform them of progress, start to build the future relationship are their opportunities to start induction training and essential skills training early during that wait period. Are there opportunities to streamline the process to ensure that eager applicants can start as soon as possible?
Will your clients and their families help?
The recruitment and retention of good social care staff will be high on the list of priorities for the people who receive care from your organisation and their family members. Could those clients or families be involved in your recruitment process either through supporting at events/job fairs or by sharing their experiences in the form of case studies online or in publicity. Involving people who use the service will help candidates understand the needs and wishes of the people they will be supporting building confidence and enthusiasm for the role.
Adopt a positive leadership style
Staff in any sector will be reluctant to stay in a role where they do not feel valued or do not feel like their voice is heard. Think about your own leadership style and by making some changes could that help you to recruit staff that stay for the long term. Promoting staff interest or support groups, showing flexibility around working patterns, encouraging learning and development opportunities along with regular supervision, appraisal and team meetings can all help. Have you benefited from leadership training? Research shows that 58% of leaders/managers have never received any formal qualification or training.
Recognise and reward good work
Workplaces that have a good reputation for supporting and recognising staff find it easier to recruit. Staff appreciation schemes, verbal and written praise build up a sense of goodwill, loyalty and belonging in employees. Pay increments and bonuses can help but often that is a short-term motivator for staff, how they feel in the workplace adds more to staffing staying employed for the long term.
Understand why people leave and why they stay
Explore why staff leave the organisation. Is it pay, is it cost of living, travel, terms, and conditions? Whatever the reason it pays to find out. Exit interviews are useful but the reasons people leave will be very different depending on how long they have been in the organisation, the solution for retaining new employees in the first month or two may be very different to retaining long-standing employees or senior staff. A retention strategy is a valuable piece of work and requires managers and owners viewing their organisation with a critical eye. You may have valued staff who have left and returned … ask them whether the grass was greener. Social care workers under 20 had the highest turnover rates in the sector (52.6%) (Skills for Care 2022). Young workers are the future experienced workers and should feature in any recruitment and retention strategy.
Understand the link between your turnover and your CQC rating
Your CQC rating and your level of staff turnover can be useful indicator of how your organisation is performing, not just for your clients and service users but as a healthy workplace for your employees.
Recent research by Skills for Care shows that:
- Turnover rates were lower in establishments receiving high CQC scores
- Organisations with lower vacancy rates on average received better scores
- Organisations with higher levels of staff undertaking learning and development were more likely to receive higher CQC scores
- Establishments with a stable registered manager were likely to receive higher CQC ratings.
- Organisations with a historically high turnover rate were likely to continue to have increased rates.
Qualifications and training
Qualifications and the opportunity to take part in learning and development opportunities underpin many of the points on this document. Well-trained staff particularly those workers with a social care qualification were less likely to leave their posts (Skills for Care, 2022). Likelihood of leaving decreased if workers had more training (Skills for Care, 2022). Procuring private training can be expensive but costs can be cut if organisations jointly procure however it pays to explore key learning and development bodies such as Skills for Care, Adult Education and Scils in the first instance.
