5 HR challenges for the Social Care sector in 2023
HR teams in UK Social Care will face many challenges in this post-pandemic and inflation-ridden year. Here are the 5 biggest HR challenges of 2023.
Create and fill rotas in seconds.
Engage, recognise and retain staff.
Pay your staff in just a few clicks.
Stay in sync with your staff.
Building a staff schedule couldn’t be easier.
Reduce payroll errors with real-time T&A.
Fill 50% more shifts with your own employees.
Full visibility into your agency spending.
This feature is coming soon. Talk to us today about promo pricing.
Seamlessly manage HR processes.
Request post-shift feedback from staff and send them praise.
Find out what care employees say matters to them most at work.
Take ownership of your core HR processes.
This feature is coming soon. Talk to us today about promo pricing.
Why are health and social care workers leaving... and where are they going?
How care organisations can embrace flexible working and thrive.
Maintain quality of care and reduce costs.
Bring out the best in your teams.
Streamline operations across sites.
Keep your staff and volunteers connected.
Richard, our Head of Product, worked in social care for 10 years before bringing his experience to Sona.
Over 500k shifts are created by our customers each year.
Integrate with Nourish.
This feature is coming soon. Talk to us today about promo pricing.
Sona is the 2022 Leaders in Care Awards winner for Innovative Solution of the Year for Care Homes.
Give staff greater visibility of shifts available to work, with a simple "shift claim" process to increase their income.
Improve employee engagement and retention with a seamless employee communication platform.
Happier staff provide greater customer experiences, which in turn drives return rates, revenues and recommendations.
Stay up to date with the latest Sona news and research.
Download Sona's latest reports and guides.
Our monthly webinar series tackles some of the biggest people challenges.
Calculate how much you can save by using Sona
Get the latest news and views delivered straight to your inbox.
| 10 min read
HR teams in UK Social Care will face many challenges in this post-pandemic and inflation-ridden year. Here are the 5 biggest HR challenges of 2023.
| 1 min read
Frontline communications platform Yapster has been acquired by Sona to accelerate the expansion of our revolutionary Frontline Operating System.
| 3 min read
The care sector is facing a serious workforce crisis. Employee recognition programmes offer a simple solution to the challenge of high staff turnover.
PUBLISHED: November 2022
Employee recognition programs are no longer a 'nice-to-have' - they are a must.
Our survey of 500 UK Health & Social Care employees highlights both the pivotal role of recognition in improving retention rates and the urgent need to address a perceived lack of appreciation in the sector.
PUBLISHED: October 2022
58% of care sector employees don't believe work-life balance exists in the care sector.
We surveyed 750 UK care sector employees to understand their attitudes towards flexible working and what these mean for providers looking to increase their ‘flex appeal’.
DownloadPUBLISHED: August 2022
Why are health and social care workers leaving... and where are they going?
1 in every 10 health and social care workers could leave the sector this year. This represents an opportunity for care organisations to rethink how they support, engage and motivate their staff.
Download200
It's cold outside, you're full of food and you've made your way through all the good Christmas films. Ideal conditions for curling up with a good book. Here are five of our favourites on the theme of leadership.
4 minute read
Author: Simon Sinek
Length: 368 pages
Best known for Start With Why, Sinek's follow-up goes a level deeper to address some of the key 'whys' of leadership. Why do we trust the people we trust? And why should they trust us?
Based on a quote from a Marine Corps general: "Officers Eat Last", Sinek provides his own take on the concept of servant leadership, starting with the hidden dynamics that inspire leadership and trust.
In short - it's about emotional safety. Using practical, real-life examples, this book will help you understand how to create a "circle of safety" within your teams that gets the best out of them and out of you as a leader.
Author: Kim Scott
Length: 269 pages
"Care personally while challenging directly". That's Scott's definition of Radical Candor. Her book addresses one of the biggest workplace problems - creating a culture which embraces honest feedback.
Scott's argument is that we often end up either:
This doesn't just apply to constructive criticism, it's about praise too - something that came up in our most recent research for our Appreciation Matters report. The most common reason preventing care employees from recognising their colleagues more often was that it makes them feel awkward.
Radical Candor is her answer. This book doesn't just provide a framework for delivering feedback, it's full of ideas and practices to get, give and encourage guidance, praise and criticism at work.
PS Just want the highlights? Scott dissects Radical Candor in 6 minutes here.
Author: Thomas Erikson
Length: 304 pages
Ignore the attention-grabbing title, this is a book about a fundamental leadership quality - effective communication.
Erikson, an expert in behavioural psychology, believes that better workplace communication requires a better understanding of our differing personalities. He sets out four distinct behavioural styles - Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness (DISC), of which one or two tend to be dominant.
Injected with a fun sense of humour that makes it an enjoyable read, Surrounded By Idiots sets out how to assess our colleagues' personalities so that we can adapt our communication style to get the best results out of ourselves and others.
Curious about your own personality traits? Take the DISC questionnaire!
Author: Daniel Pink
Length: 256 pages
Is there more to motivation than the carrot and the stick? According to Daniel Pink, the answer is yes - a lot. He argues that there are more powerful drivers of high performance:
Drive explores the science behind human motivation and its practical application in producing happier, more productive workforces. What makes this book stand out is its modern perspective - it was first published in 2018.
This is recommended reading for those looking for new ways to inspire their teams and do better work.
Author: Neil Eastwood
Length: 232 pages
This list wouldn't be complete without Neil's must-read assessment of the future needs of the UK's Social Care system.
Finding and keeping great people is at the heart of it. Saving Social Care has been written to be your desk-side 'companion', a point of reference you go back to again and again.
Neil provides practical advice to care employers on who to look for when hiring and where to find and screen them. He also lists 20 great retention strategies to ensure they stay with you for the long term.
We're constantly adding to our library of resources written specifically for Social Care professionals. Browse through all of our publications here.
If you liked this article, why not subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest news and views delivered straight to your inbox?
1 min read
Sona has been shortlisted for the Innovative Solutions, Care Homes, award in the Leaders in Care Awards 2022. The awards ceremony recognises the best providers, leaders and suppliers in care homes and home care at an annual ceremony in October.
3 min read
Sona has been announced as the latest supplier partner for the Leaders In Care Awards 2022. Sona will present the Leader of the Future award at the ceremony in Birmingham on 11th October 2022.
6 min read
Rishi Sunak is now Prime Minister. What does his leadership mean for the Department of Health & Social Care and for the care sector? We look at his plans.