Caroline Southgate, Managing Director and Registered Manager, Doris Jones Ltd.
What we did:
Focused on pastoral support strategies to help employees settle into their new roles and reduce the likelihood of them leaving.
Why we did it:
Most of the recent recruits have come to the provider with very little or no prior experience of care work. For these staff, the first few weeks and months in the job can be daunting and it’s important for the provider, the new starters and the clients that they get the right support.
How we did it:
New starters complete shadow shifts with the clients for whom they’ll provide care once they have their own rounds. In addition to enabling observations and on-the-job training, this allows the new starters to establish relationships with the clients before they become responsible for their care.
For the first six months of their tenure, whenever a new starter calls the office, their name appears on the telephone system in capital letters. This notifies or reminds the office staff that they are new to the role and may require prompt support with aspects of care that a more experienced worker would find relatively straightforward. The provider also avoids allocating additional clients to new starters at short notice.
Small loans are available to new starters if they are moving from weekly pay in their previous role to monthly in this one.
The results:
The average length of service for care workers at the provider is increasing year-on-year. In 2020 it was 29 months, rising to 33 months in 2021 and 39 months in 2022.