The Hire & Retain Playbook

In the Social Care sector, people are everything.

Attracting and keeping people who share your values and are committed to the sector is essential to offering the best experience possible to those you’re caring for. 

However, almost 1 in 10 Social Care jobs are sitting vacant this year. This means you will have to get creative with your recruitment & retention tactics. To help you go beyond the job board, we've put together a set of actionable tips you can implement right now to get more applicants and increase employee satisfaction.

First, let's identify what your priorities are:

In a recent CQC study of over 2400 Care organisations, 58% said they struggled to recruit.

Care home managers are in the best position to tackle this recruitment challenge, but more often than not, they receive recommendations that require buy-ins or permissions that take a lot of time. Realistically, immediate solutions they can enact on the spot are needed.

Before we offer you a set of quick and practical strategies, we just need to know how big your recruitment challenge is.

Skills for Care approximates the number of Care vacancies in 2022/23 to be around 152,000 (or 10%) versus the national average of 3%.

The Big Reshuffle report filled in the picture, revealing people’s motivations for leaving their Care job. Beyond pay, they care about flexibility and feeling valued - which means there’s an opportunity for your recruitment strategy.

The Health Foundation reports a turnover rate of 31% in the Care sector, versus national average of 15%.

The Big Reshuffle report filled in the picture, revealing people’s motivations for leaving their Care job. Beyond pay, they care about flexibility and feeling valued - which means there’s an opportunity for your retention strategy.

Before we offer you a set of quick and practical strategies, we just need to know how big your retention challenge is.

You don’t have any fires to put out, so you can focus on the big picture.

Your KPI is:

Resident satisfaction score. 

This is what you can do right now:

Focus on identifying your values and use them to hire experienced staff.

• Focus on maintaining good employee satisfaction levels
• Keep your recruitment avenues open at all times
• Improve your careers website page
• Post on Facebook to attract people with similar values
• Develop an employee referral scheme

Your vacancies and costs fall within the industry average, but recruitment could soon turn into a big issue, so thinking outside the box is essential to prevent that. 

Your KPI is:

Current retention rate.

This is what you can do right now:

• Monitor employee satisfaction and spot the early warning signs of churn
• Organise a recruitment tour
• Offer rewards for employee referrals

Recruitment needs to be a top priority, with all resources directed towards it.

Your KPI is:

Maintaining safe staffing levels and agency costs.

This is what you can do right now:

• International recruitment
• Identify your key values and hire for these, not for experience
• Recruitment tour if you’ve tapped out your area
• Target unlikely staff like retired people looking to top off their pension, those in education, or caring for families
  Offer at least one benefit that stands out (subsidised travel, free car servicing, paid lunches, free childcare, loan forgiveness, etc.)

Whilst you wait for new employees to start, you can reduce the costs and improve the care experience with an Assign to Agency feature.

You have an employee onboarding problem.

When people leave before their probation period ends, it’s often because they weren’t clear on what the job entailed and the day-to-day activities surprised them, or they didn’t find a supportive environment where they felt welcomed.

Your KPI is:

Percentage of new hires passing the 90-day mark.

This is what you can do right now:

• Re-assess your job posting to ensure it accurately describes the role
• Create a 2-week onboarding schedule for new hires, where they get to experience a variety of activities
• Assign a set of experienced staff members as mentors new hires can shadow
• Create a buddy system, where new hires have a person they can reach out with any questions
• Assess onboarding experience satisfaction at the end of each week

You have an employee motivation problem.

When employees leave within less than 12 months, it’s often because they didn’t feel motivated to stay longer, or they were dissatisfied with the current situation and didn’t feel like they could express it. 

Your KPI is:

Employee satisfaction level.

This is what you can do right now:

• Gather satisfaction feedback to spot employees at risk of leaving
• Run quick exit surveys to understand why staff is leaving; you can include staff that’s already left (short-term employees will be less likely to want to do an in-depth interview)
• Organise informal check-ins to ensure employees feel seen
• Ensure career progression is clear to keep employees motivated
• Reach out to staff 3 months after they leave to see if they might be willing to return

You have a long-term retention problem.

When long-term employees leave, it’s often because of circumstances outside their control (retirement, relocation etc), or because they’ve reached their burnout point.

Your KPI is:

Number of exit interviews conducted.

This is what you can do right now:

• Gather satisfaction feedback to spot employees at risk of leaving
• Run in-depth exit interviews to understand why staff is leaving (long-term employees will be more likely to want to sit down and chat)
• Flexibility needs change with time, so ensure you consult long-term staff on whether their current schedule is still the best for them
• Focus on preventing burnout by improving daily morale with small gestures such as free snacks and drinks in the breakout room
• Celebrate their professional milestones, such as work anniversaries or new certifications
• Organise informal check-ins to ensure employees feel seen
• Reach out to staff 3 months after they leave to see if they might be willing to return