Gen Z: The answer to care industry staff shortages?
A study conducted last year revealed that the level of vacant roles and turnover rates within the care industry are the highest they’ve ever been. One of the main factors for this is the ageing population – more people are reaching ages 85+ and are suffering from more complex health issues. The higher levels of dependability means the need for social care services is intensifying and there isn’t a large enough workforce to meet this demand. View the study here. The population of people aged over 65 is forecast to increase by 40% by 2035 and as a result, an additional 650,000 jobs will be required to meet this demand. Almost a quarter (24%) of the current workforce are aged over 55 – meaning that they are likely to retire within the next 10 years – a harsh reality that is putting more pressure on staff shortages. So why not target and utilise a younger generation? Enter Generation Z – a generation renowned for their dedication to hard work, loyalty and desire for independency and job stability. As it stands, there are currently over 110,000 vacant roles within the care industry, alongside an estimated turnover rate of 30.7%. The high level of staff shortage is putting the sector in crisis and adding increased pressure on an already overstretched industry. People are entering care at a younger age more recently – whether this be to retirement villages, assisted living or aged care facilities – and employment levels are failing to meet the necessary requirements. So, what can employers be doing to attract and retain staff within the care industry? Gen Zs’ unique traits should encourage employers within the care industry to adapt and explore new avenues to fill worker shortages. In this article, Blueleaf discusses the challenges and potential solutions faced by the industry, what can be done to meet the demands of the staff shortage crisis and how to attract Gen Z to a career within care. Understand recognition is the key to retention It is clear that employers are struggling to find, recruit and retain suitable people to the sector and within specific roles. Recognition is the key to retaining staff – by recognising and rewarding hard work, your workers will feel valued. Feeling valued, recognised and respected is within some of the top reasons for employers staying at their current place of work, so is definitely an aspect to take advantage of. Unlike millennials, who enjoy working collaboratively as a team and sharing successes, Gen Zs prefer to be judged on their own achievements and have their individual talents recognised and showcased. Ditch zero-hour contracts and agencies A quarter of the workforce (25%) were on a zero-hours contract (335,000 jobs), and as Gen Zs crave job security, this is not an appealing aspect to them. Not only do zero-hour contracts encourage a low sense of commitment and collaboration amongst workers, they also offer a huge income risk and uncertainty of what a worker will earn month to month. Due to such a high level of staff shortages, many care establishments are turning to agencies for temporary staff. This is an expensive and tedious process and one that can be avoided with sensible hiring decisions. According to Thomas International, the average cost of recruiting a new employee is circa £30,000, so is a large cost in an industry with such high turnover rates. Recruiting and retaining competent staff will not only reduce costs, but will boost productivity. If people within the care industry work hard at repositioning it as a rewarding and viable career options amongst Gen Z, the need for zero-hour contracts and agency staff will slowly deteriorate; which will reduce costs and boost productivity. Provide relevant training for the care industry In addition to offering permanent and stable working hours, Gen Zs are also looking for an employer who can provide structured career progression. This generation has grown up in a world where everything is customisable; through the click of a button, they can identify their personal preferences and mould their experiences to suit these and this is an attribute they are looking to adopt within their career. As well as feeling recognised and valued, career growth, learning and development is an important factor amongst talented employees – so promoting this within a care career amongst Gen Zs is advantageous. Gen Zs are less money-driven than millenials and are looking for more than just a salary, making them the ideal candidates for a role within care. They are seeking meaningful jobs which will offer opportunities for advancement alongside the opportunity to learn new skills. Consider the benefits of utilising software solutions This generation is more tech-savvy than their millennial predecessors, so take advantage of this to enhance productivity. Older generations are reluctant to change and don’t want to switch to electronic systems; administrative work hinders employees’ ability to focus their attention on residents, but certain software solution systems have the ability to strip out old paper-based processes. Adopting and implementing cloud-based solutions and other forms of technology to enhance productivity, encourage employee well-being and increase productivity is definitely something to consider. Care management software solutions can help to reduce the pressure on employees by assisting with budgeting, day-to-day care planning, new client assessments, electronic care planning and record keeping. Additionally, adopting an online HR management system will provide your employees with access to essential information they need, as well as the ability to request and amend records – a valuable perk that makes a huge difference to productivity. Whether it’s requesting annual leave, swapping shifts with colleagues or recording absences, online systems will allow for enhanced efficiency. Gen Zs desire the flexibility to structure work around their lives and have the ability to take time off for a family emergency without having to go through a tedious process. The staff shortages aren’t just related to direct care roles, which make up 76% of jobs within adult social care, there are many vacancies within
Care home nurses are REAL nurses
Recruiting and retaining the right care home nurses in order to tackle the social care crisis: by Lindsay Dingwall, Clinical/Academic Nurse Consultant for Older People at the University of Dundee and Lead Educator of the Care Home Nursing: Changing Perceptions course. We already know that there is a crisis in nurse recruitment in the NHS, but care homes especially, are losing out in the race to recruit registered nurses with the best knowledge, skills and talent. Ironically, if care homes close, aside from some of the most vulnerable people in our society being denied the care they need, the NHS also suffers. So why are care home nurses not more valued? Care home work can still be viewed as undesirable and unskilled; notably not by care home nurses who elect to practice in care homes. They recognise that they are skilled nurses who work autonomously to deliver complex, and at times highly specialist, care. These are the nurses who must take up the gauntlet of “selling” care home careers to nursing students. The use of technology in acute hospitals is commonly viewed as skilled care: but the skill comes from the practitioner’s knowledge and experience of when and how to use technology to save lives. Nursing students learn to value this “scientific” care over the “art” of nursing from different sources – the public fascination with emergency drama, driven by the media, other nursing professionals in their pre-registration programmes, and admittedly, from some care home placements. Nursing students still report after specialist older people placements that they did not use their technical skills and so they did not learn. Preparing care home nurses for the job Nurse education must shift from focusing on medical models of acute in-patient care, to preparing nurses for the evolving health and social care landscape. Care home nurses and nurse educators must work together to develop placement experiences for nursing students that build on their theoretical and practical knowledge. Placements should demonstrate the complexity, not just of health and social care delivery, but the physical, psychological, social and spiritual complexity of each resident. To attract future nurses, care home nurses and educators need to invest time and expertise in teaching nursing students that the art of nursing, those hidden and often undervalued skills, is integral to the best healthcare experiences and quality of life, not just of residents but of nurses themselves. Nurses in care homes require a breadth of nursing knowledge and skills that reflect current developments in health and social care. They require skills from a diverse range of specialities: medical skills to manage cardiac and respiratory conditions; community skills to help people live with long term conditions like diabetes and Parkinson’s Disease, palliative and end of life care skills and mental health skills. They are required to demonstrate leadership and critical thinking, often without the same access to immediate support that hospital nurses may have. In fact, often during the immediate onset of a resident’s health deteriorating, or a crisis in staffing or in the care home environment, the care home nurse is the sole decision maker with the accountability and responsibility for these initial decisions. Small positive changes made within care home environments can impact on every person’s lives and nurses have the flexibility to make these changes. Care home nurses, far from losing their skills have the opportunity to develop rewarding careers. The relationships developed within the “family” of the care home may be reward enough for some. Other care homes nurses may progress towards more senior posts or into clinical leadership and education. Care home nurses must be vocal about the rewarding nature of the job, the high level of responsibility and the opportunities for career progression. Care home work involves looking after those with some of the most complex care needs and care home nurses are real nurses who are educated, artful, innovative, resourceful and passionate. For more information on training for care home nurses, see dundee.ac.uk
Future-proofing the workforce: flexible training for nurses
Sally Boyle, Head of School in the Faculty of Health, Wellbeing and Social Care at The Open University, discusses recruiting and retaining more nurses through flexible training… The UK needs more nurses; this is a simple fact. Despite the number of nurses on the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register increasing by 20,000 over the past five years, there are still 11,000 advertised vacancies for full-time nurses in the NHS in England – and while healthcare providers are understaffed, patient care is at risk. Uncertainty around nurses’ right to remain post-Brexit has seen new registrations from the EU fall from more than 10,000 in 2015/16 to just 800 in in the year 2017/18*, so it is essential we look to cultivate a more sustainable pipeline of nursing talent both within the UK itself as well as from wider sources of international recruitment. Breaking Barriers Important steps have been taken to increase the number of places available to study nursing in the UK over the past five years, but now, research in The Open University’s latest report, Breaking Barriers into Nursing, reveals that six per cent of those places went unfilled in the last current academic year. This equates to 1,450 nurses each year who could have been fully trained and ready to support the NHS within three or four years. Three in 10 young people considered studying to become a registered nurse – so it is clear that there must be significant barriers acting to deter many from doing so. Removing these barriers, or helping people to overcome them, could encourage more people to enter the profession and have a significant positive impact on the NHS. With the introduction of student loans to replace bursaries for nursing study in England, cost is undoubtedly a major disincentive to many, particularly mature students – but the associated costs (course materials, commuting, living) also pose a problem for prospective students across the UK. Along with cost, there are a number of other important issues to consider: travel, entry requirements, workload, and even the advice made available at school or college. Thankfully, however, there are a number of potential solutions to these that higher education providers and NHS employers could consider in order to improve both recruitment and retention in the sector. As a result of these barriers, many people who may be passionate about entering the profession are unable to study to become nurses, which is adding to the current crisis in nursing. It is time to reconsider the traditional idea of a ‘one size fits all’ approach to nurse education, which lacks the requisite flexibility that many of those interested in pursuing a career in the profession need. Resultantly, access to learning is limited and participation decreases. What can be done to help student nurses? It is important that we give people more options as to how, when and where they study – so that everyone who has the aptitude and values to become a registered nurse has the opportunity to do so. Currently, most higher education Institutions in the UK have entry requirements above the minimum criteria set out by the NMC. These requirements restrict access for many who want to join the profession but who may not have received good educational opportunities in the past. At The Open University, we use a robust open selection process, adhering to requirements specified by the NMC only, which means we’re able to offer places to a much more diverse range of students. With apprenticeships in England, we are starting to open up new routes into the profession, which can help to widen participation and offer continuous professional development opportunities to support staff members that aspire to become registered nurses. Enabling students to earn while they learn, apprenticeships also remove financial barriers, appealing to those concerned by the cost of study or those who would prefer to go straight into the workforce without a three or four-year period needed for study. Similarly, by embracing new technology we can deliver more flexible learning methods. Technology-enabled learning, such as that already offered by The Open University, can remove barriers for many people who would prefer to remain in their home locality to study or who are juggling other commitments. If more providers offered this, it would not only encourage more people to study nursing, it would also reduce the number of nurses who relocate back home following qualification, depriving the town or city which hosted their education of their skills and expertise. The fact that numbers of EU nurses coming to the UK to work has dramatically dropped gives us no option but to act now – we need to remove the barriers reducing our access to homegrown talent. At a time when the NHS is facing a nursing supply and demand problem, it is devastating that places remain unfilled or so many of those studying feel unable to continue, when relatively straightforward solutions could help. *The Nursing and Midwifery Council (2018) The Big Picture
Reducing staff turnover in the care industry
Colin Stevenson, the founder of Notable Change International recruitment and consultancy services, tells editor Victoria Galligan the need for selecting the right candidate through an effective screening process to make the much-needed changes in the care industry. Currently the care industry as a whole has an extremely high turnover of staff, especially true for the businesses employing care workers. The usual recruitment process at the moment is: advertise for the role, sift through CVs, carry out credentials and qualifications checks or a reference check, interview, possibly offer a second interview, then a job offer. If using a recruitment consultancy, employers are passed on applicants based on their CV and interview bias (if the consultancy likes someone and think they will suit the role, they will be passed to the employer). If recruiting in-house, it is the same process. If the CV, face and interview fits, a position will be offered. This is how it is in most industries – but this inefficient method is costing the care industry a fortune in both time and money. Personality traits, both internal and external, mean a picture presented in the interview process may not be a candidate’s true self. Internal traits make up who we are, while external traits are who we would like people to think we are in order to get somewhere or acquire something. As a result, many staff leave or are asked to leave their roles within a short period of time. From this we have a clear picture that something has to be done to ensure maximum time and money can be spent on service users rather than a failing recruitment process. How does this happen in the care industry? The interview process is the same, an applicant who does well in an interview shows their external traits, maybe exaggerates or even makes up traits to suit the position. What is hidden is their internal traits which will determine how they work, interact and most importantly care for the service users. The applicant sails the CV sift, sails the qualifications, sails the interview and becomes employed by the company. However, soon the employer finds the applicant is over-dominant, which can mean they are hard to manage, or has a low-patience threshold with service users – and traits such as these usually cause work-based conflict. A CV, two interviews and a qualification paper would not have recognised this. Hiring this person would have caused upset to the workplace dynamics, staff and service users, and inevitably the staff member would leave or be asked to leave as they were unsuitable for the position and the process will begin again – trying to look for a suitable staff member. Notable Change uses a profiling system for applicants, finding out their internal and external traits after the interview process to ensure the applicant will suit the role and the care home dynamics through answering a series of questions that produces a report. To make this even better, an employer can design their ideal candidate, using the model of their best member of staff or creating a profile with traits they wish their ideal candidate to have. This ‘ideal candidate profile’ will be used as a template for future candidates, to ensure complete peace of mind, close the profitability gap and most importantly allow employers to spend the time and money saved on recruitment on the service users, without hiring the ‘wrong applicant’ for the job. See notablechangeintl.com for more details.
Improved access to shift schedules can reduce turnover among home care workers
Cristian Grossmann, CEO and Co-Founder of Beekeeper – a digital workforce management platform – on retaining home care workers through better access to shift schedules… It’s no secret that the UK care and nursing home industry typically has a higher rate of staff vacancies compared to others. A recent report showed that the vacancy rate in the adult social care sector was 6.6%, higher than the national average of 2.6%. Just as worrying, staff turnover in the adult care sector has climbed to 27.8% and has been steadily increasing since 2012. Stem the flow of high turnover among your care workers The industry must stem the flow of high turnover by investing in improving morale amongst employees and increasing retention rates of adult social care workers. One way to do this is to provide workers with earlier access to shift schedules to help them improve their work/life balance. Early access to work schedules changes lives This recent study highlighted how a fluctuating work schedule combined with last-minute shift changes can negatively impact workers. Unpredictable shift patterns create an inability to plan for needed childcare, medical appointments or socialising, as workers simply don’t have enough time to anticipate these needs. This causes employees to feel dissatisfied and stressed and less likely to stay with their job. The study also found that offering employees access to shift schedules just two weeks in advance made a huge difference in the quality of life for workers. There’s an app for that Technology can address the problem of high turnover with an internal communications platform that employees can access via an app or desktop, in which shift schedules are migrated from paper or email into an easy-to-access digital hub. The result of digitising schedules is that workers have improved access to their shifts, which prevents communication delays typical with the traditional approach to scheduling. Additionally, internal communication platforms offer home care shift workers the ability to instantly request schedule changes to management, enabling faster response times to requests and improving management’s ability to quickly find cover. This allows employees to have more control over their work schedules, which can dramatically improve overall job satisfaction. In addition to operational tools such as shift schedules, an internal communications platform like Beekeeper also offers instant access to one-on-one and group messaging, information sharing, surveys, training guides and health and safety information — all of which employees find extremely beneficial. In our experience, staff retention improves very quickly when employees have a platform that offers easy shift scheduling, access to information, and an immediate way to connect with management. It’s important to remember that your staff are your best asset and by investing in technology that makes their working life more harmonious, you will retain more talent, and build a happier, more productive workforce. For more information on improving shift pattern access for care workers, see Beekeeper
Society’s social care training benefits residents and staff alike
Anne Kasey, Home Manager and Clinical Lead for maritime charity, the Royal Alfred Seafarers’ Society, discusses the importance of investing in training in the social care sector and how it benefits residents… It doesn’t matter which sector one operates in – having the right staff for the job is paramount to the success of any business. In the social care industry, this is more important than anywhere as staff are fundamental to the health and wellbeing of residents and have a duty of care to fulfil. The social care sector is currently facing difficulties recruiting and retaining qualified staff – in fact 15% of vacancies across the entire UK economy are in the health and social work sectors according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). To combat this, up-skilling employees is part of a solution that contributes to the smooth running of a care home. Here at the Royal Alfred we have an in -house trainer, allowing our staff to have consistent one-on-one training on site. This helps to ensure all staff are working to the same standard and addresses any gaps in knowledge, it also demonstrates to employees that they are part of a supportive workplace. Having staff that are equipped with the necessary qualifications, skills and training not only increases job efficiency, but can drastically improve morale and enables staff members to feel empowered and valued in their roles. All of this helps to achieve a better experience for residents as well as complying with Care Quality Commission standards. As a charity serving former seafarers, we understand our residents’ individual needs and recognise the people who call Royal Alfred home are deserving of the best standard of care. Earlier this year we commenced specialist training with our pioneering Maritime Acquaint Training programme to provide staff with a knowledge of the maritime industry. Funded by a close supporter of the Society, our staff took part in a training day hosted on a P&O cross channel ferry from Dover to Calais. This now annual programme was created by our CEO, Commander Brian Boxall-Hunt, to help staff better understand residents’ physical and psychological needs and the care required for each individual. This training session allowed our staff to fully immerse themselves in how life would have been like at sea, and the understanding of how large vessels operate at sea, often in treacherous weather conditions and across long journeys. This is key for us to help employees understand our residents’ past experiences and is what makes our residents’ stay truly unique. Benefits of such in-depth training within the care sector are not just experienced by residents. At Royal Alfred, we provide not just a job, but a career. We think training improves staff morale, which is key to the smooth running of any care home and boosts staff retention. Recently we commended five members of staff with long service awards for dedicating ten years of their working life to the home to make them feel valued and supported in their roles – just one example of a success story at Royal Alfred. We have many long-serving staff and I myself having been with Royal Alfred for over 30 years and Margaret Brazier (Executive Assistant to CEO Brian for over 50 years). It shows that people really do invest their careers with us due to good training, career progression and opportunity. For the Royal Alfred, training creates better experiences for our residents that depend on the expertise of staff for their day-to-day care, while staff develop their careers at the same time. At a time when social care recruitment is proving difficult, the time has come to consider training to help plug the gap and we urge any care home to consider investment now for sustained success. For more information on the social care which Royal Alfred offers, see royalalfredseafarers.co.uk
It’s Time To Be Bold When It Comes To Attracting Younger Talent
It is no secret that there is a recruitment crisis within the social care sector and recent statistics suggest that one million new care workers are needed by 2025 to cope with the ageing population. Statistics show that currently, 800,000 young people are not employed or in education2, and evidence suggests that by attracting these young people to apply for a role within your care setting, it can bring new, fresh ideas and different perspectives on caring for others as well as helping to plug this gap. However, there seems to be a stigma around working in care which is preventing younger people from applying for roles, this could be due to the lack of awareness and education around the career path available within care homes. This stigma really needs to go! So, what can you do to attract younger people into roles within your care home? Will Shepherd, CEO at Cohesion, provides his top recruitment tips: Create a specific recruitment strategy solely focusing on young people – different aspects of the job attract different groups of people; therefore, recruitment plans should be tailored to various target audiences. Consider careers fairs, social media advertising and customise the recruitment process itself – tailoring your application process to be short and including language that appeals to younger people. Try removing barriers such as ‘minimum requirements’ and instead use ‘values-based techniques’ which better allows the candidates strengths to be recognised. Work closely with schools and colleges – consider approaching local schools and colleges, especially those that teach a health and social care course by offering to share presentations to the students. This can include, talking about the benefits of working in the care sector and the career pathways available in your organisation. Consider offering work experience, this provides a chance for you to welcome young people into your homes for several hours a week, allowing them to gain a positive experience and a taste for working in the care sector. If they impress, you could offer them a guaranteed interview upon completing their studies. Of course, interaction with youngsters can start much earlier, with some organisations engaging with those as young as 5-years old! A visit to one of your homes, which allows for interaction with residents is a great opportunity that it often over-looked. Occasions such as Harvest Festival, Christmas and Easter are a perfect opportunity. Engage parents and guardians – our experience of delivering early talent recruitment including sizable graduate and apprenticeship programmes has taught us how important it is to engage with parents and guardians. It is clear that parents have one of the greatest influences on their children’s careers – but do they know enough about the sector in order to encourage care as a rewarding career route? When recruiting younger people, it is a good idea to create a section on your careers website for parents answering any typical questions they may have. Use case studies on your website and social media – unsurprisingly the internet is an amazing platform to use when trying to gain the interest of young people. Social media sites can be used to advertise and emphasise the benefits of working in care – demonstrating that this career isn’t only for older generations but that there are huge opportunities for young people too. Under 25-year olds who are already working in care can be showcased on your website, through videos, and social media to act as ambassadors and give positive examples of how successful and rewarding working in care can be. Having young employees featured on your website can be a real selling point for future talent. Make the job attractive to young people – highlighting the benefits of working in care is a great way to attract young people. Flexible hours, and the opportunity to earn a good wage are both great starting points. But from our findings, the most important element can be the opportunity of coming away at the end of a shift feeling that you have made a difference to someone’s day. Showcase your employees’ achievements –award schemes targeting your ‘star’ employees can really have an impact. Not only will you identify current young key players in your business now, but you’ll demonstrate that you mean business when it comes to recognising your team’s achievements and saying ‘thank you’ – no matter what their age. For more information about strategies to engage young talent contact us at: cohesionrecruitment.com.
