A care service is only as strong as its workforce. This makes it vital for care providers, care home owners and management teams to create an environment that puts people first, to build a stronger sense of loyalty with staff and ultimately improve retention and recruitment.  

Care for your workers

Emotional health and well-being may have been considered mere buzzwords a few years ago, but they are increasingly being recognised for their importance in employee satisfaction and retention.

Well-being is much more than looking after your employees when they are sick. It’s about showing – not just telling – that everyone’s needs are being taken seriously inside an organisation, no matter its size. Care work can be extremely stressful and pressured at times, so taking care of your employees’ individual and group needs will have a lasting benefit for all. It will also appeal to interested applicants who have had experience in the sector previously.

Work with your care team to create your well-being strategy

It can be overwhelming deciding where to begin with a well-being strategy, but offering a variety of signposting and resources — as well as promoting national well-being campaigns within the care home — is a good place to start.

However, the most effective way to start making a well-being strategy is always to go to your care workers directly and find out what is needed at the source. So find out whether their common stress factors are physical, mental, or financial.

Solutions for your care service well-being strategy could include:

• Counselling
• Mental health awareness training and/or mental health first aiders
• Health and nutrition training or access to wider support programmes through an employee assistance scheme

Implementing strategies such as these can help to promote a happier care force – and, ultimately, a better quality of care for residents through improved performance.

Celebrate your care workers’ achievements

A people-first approach also includes timely recognition, celebrating employees’ achievements as they happen. This could be for passing probationary periods, work anniversaries, or even a promotion.

Create a variety of ways to recognise your people, either through group announcements or small events for staff – and ensure local care management teams are aware of any upcoming milestones, so they can recognise people as these events happen (not weeks or months after!)

Best practice for communicating with care workers

There’s one sure way to demotivate a care force and that is by not keeping them informed of upcoming changes and developments. Try to find different ways to reach disparate audiences within a care organisation – whether it’s new starters, experienced carers or senior management teams – and create a visible communication calendar, so everyone knows where and when to expect updates and news.

If you want to boost staff recruitment and retention in your care home to ensure robust commercials, our team of independent care consultants can help. Please get in touch for a free initial consultation.