At the heart of a great care provider is a great care team who are well-trained, knowledgeable and skilled, and most importantly of all, who are happy and fulfilled in their role. Valuing and retaining staff is vital in providing consistent, high quality care to people who receive services.
Often, people who work in care have altruistic values and are highly motivated by a desire to help others. It is those values of caring, compassion and kindness that care providers seek in their values based recruitment practices, and for good reason, they are the bedrock of excellent service provision.
Whilst these attributes and values can be key motivators, people working in care can also find that they become demotivated over time, this is not because they have lost their capacity for caring, kindness and compassion, but because the work is challenging on a physical, mental and emotional level, and this can take its toll in the longer term.
This is where a great retention strategy can help staff feel valued and why good retention initiatives can positively impact the experience of staff, clients and care organisation’s capacity to deliver the best possible service.
Taking care of staff wellbeing is about supporting them through the challenges that come with their role and helping them to make sure that their needs are met too, so that they stay well.
Developing a good staff retention strategy.
Below are some of the factors that can positively influence staff retention and some ideas and resources, that may help in developing a good retention strategy.
Pay
In the past, care work has traditionally been associated with the national living wage. Offering the real living wage can give incentive for staff to remain within the sector and given the cost of living crisis, can make a significant difference to employees quality of life.
The real living wage is a voluntary initiative, which provides a rate that is based on the cost of living. It is slightly higher than the statutory national living wage. You can learn more about the real living wage, including how it has been calculated here.
Committing to a slightly higher wage may not be possible for all organisations, but alternatives such as a bonus scheme could also help to boost employee earnings on a discretionary basis. This could be a fixed amount based on performance levels or could be a reward scheme, such as employee of the month.
Cash alternatives, such as gift cards can also be a good way to provide financial gifts to staff, for example at Christmas or on their birthday.
It is worth noting that some rewards and gifts will be subject to income tax, so it is worth letting staff know if incentives are taxable.
Contract Terms
Offering staff a permanent contract with fixed hours can be an incentive to those working in care. Having an agreed number of hours of guaranteed work each week either full-time or part-time offers people financial security, and has an impact on their credit, for example when applying for a loan or mortgage. Having a range of options including flexible working hours can also help attract and retain potential candidates seeking a work-life balance that meets their individual circumstances.
Flexibility
With recent changes to legislation, employees can now make a request for flexible working from the very first day they begin work. By recognising how flexible working patterns can attract people to the sector and looking at how this can be implemented within care organisations, flexible working has the potential to help boost recruitment and retention within the care sector, for example, there are many parents seeking work around school hours or people with caring responsibilities that have valuable attributes to bring to the role.
Healthcare
Often considered an expensive incentive, there are now more financially viable options to offer staff in terms of access to private healthcare such as Beneden Health https://www.benenden.co.uk/ who offer access to a range of services, or health cash plan providers who offer cash back on a range of routine healthcare needs such as the dentist, optician or physical therapy.
Beneden affiliate scheme: https://hub.awin.com/benenden-health-ms-vouchers/
Wellbeing
Care work is challenging and can involve exposure to difficult circumstances. Care workers care, and they build trusting relationships with those that they care for, therefore, it is more likely that they will experience situations that can affect their emotional and mental wellbeing through the course of their duties.
Supporting staff with their mental, physical and emotional wellbeing is becoming more important to staff in care. Taking the time to explore and implement initiatives in the workplace is a great way to ensure staff are supported in their role.
There are plenty of free resources that can be accessed by staff, for example in many areas, there are Live Well directories that contain a vast library of support services within the local area that care businesses can promote to staff.
Employee assistance programmes are another option for care providers to offer support to their staff, such as confidential 24/7 helplines offering mental health support, counselling and financial and legal advice.
Annual leave
An annual leave scheme that offers more than the statutory annual leave allowance, or builds up, for example offering an additional day of leave per year, up to a maximum limit can be a great incentive for staff. Another valued incentive for staff is having an annual leave day on their birthday.
Additional Pension Contributions
A pension scheme that offers to match employee contributions or that contributes a higher percentage than the statutory requirement can be a great incentive for staff who are focused on building their retirement funds.
Social Value
We often come across social value in tender writing. Social Value is the way in which your organisation can add value to the local community. You can learn more about Social Value in our article here. Social value often overlaps with recruitment and retention initiatives, for example, recruiting locally and operating a cycle to work scheme.
It is worth looking at how social value can be used as part of a staff retention scheme. Offering best value to the local community can be a driver for staff too, remember, they were recruited based on their values, so reflecting these as part of a wider local commitment may be very important to the team.
For example:
- Providing a paid day where staff are encouraged to volunteer for a cause close to their heart.
- Arranging an afternoon of planting trees, or cleaning up a local area.
- Getting everyone involved in creating an event to raise money for a charity.
Costs
Incentive schemes may seem expensive, however, it is a worthwhile exercise to look at the cost savings that can be realised with a good retention initiative.
Lower staff turnover
A good retention rate means a lower staff turnover rate. When you consider the costs involved in recruitment and the subsequent investment costs made to the staff team, there may be considerable losses when an employee chooses to leave:
Recruitment: The cost of administration in advertising and preparing the recruitment paperwork, time taken on shortlisting and interviewing; time and fees associated with undertaking background checks and referencing.
Training: Paid time and training fees to induct new staff, train them in the care certificate (including observed practice), mandatory training and any fees for onward progression to RQF training.
Retention of Knowledge: Alongside the cost of training, there are also costs associated with losing staff that are trained in how a care business operates, and this is valuable. Staff who know the business and it’s clients bring efficiencies. They have honed their skills and experience and are able to work with autonomy. They are also candidates for progression to senior positions in the future, growing and developing with the business to future leadership roles where their experience in working for the care business is invaluable in developing and leading staff teams.
Fewer sick days and higher levels of motivation
Covering staff absence due to sickness can be costly, not only in the direct costs associated with paying sickness pay, but in the number of hours spent reallocating rotas and finding cover. If cover is not available, sickness cover may also mean additional costs in agency cover.
Ensuring staff are supported with health and wellbeing initiatives can help reduce sickness absence and can lead to higher levels of motivation, which improves service quality.
Added value in winning new business
Being able to evidence a good recruitment and retention strategy that meets best practice and invests in the staff team will bring confidence in how a care organisation provides consistent, safe and high-quality services and improves the experience of both clients and staff. Furthermore, evidence of how a good retention strategy provides a more cost-effective service, through a great staff retention rate can add value to a proposal for new business.
Insequa are experts in writing social care tenders and are here to support you in translating your best practice into your next compelling proposal – Let us help you achieve your goals and take your business to the next level.
