Skills for Care launches spotlight on building and growing teams
Skills for Care has launched a spotlight focused on building and growing teams.
The #BuildingYourWorkforce campaign will run throughout July and August and will provide social care employers with recruitment and retention information, resources, and inspiration to support the sector with current and future capacity.
The campaign will focus on four key areas – supporting employers to plan who they need in their teams now and in the future; providing information and pointing to resources to help social care employers confidently use a range of different recruitment approaches to attract new recruits; looking at the importance of the induction period for new employees and how employers can use this time to support new recruits in building a long-term career in care and with your organisation, and helping employers to work on developing their current team so that they will stay and grow with your organisation.
The spotlight will run across Skills for Care’s website, social media, and other communications channels and will include top tips, case studies, and blogs from people across the sector sharing their recruitment experience and insights.
Recruitment and retention are some of the biggest challenges facing the social care sector currently. Our most recent data tells us that vacancies across the sector have risen to a high of 10.3%, which is greater than the pre-covid vacancy rate.
Our campaign aims to help social care employers to navigate these current challenges as well as to plan for the future, and to think about how to showcase the rewarding and fulfilling career opportunities that exist in adult social care.
Speaking of capacity in the sector right now, Skills for Care’s CEO Oonagh Smyth said:
Supporting capacity in social care is a key strategic priority for us at Skills for Care. Our vision is of a fair and just society, where people can access the advice, care, and support they need to live lives to the fullest. For this to be possible, we need the right number of people, with the right values and behaviours, working in social care now and in the future.
Highlighting the importance of attracting new and different people to the sector to increase capacity as well as focusing on developing and retaining current talent, she added:
Right now, two thirds of people getting jobs in social care already work in the sector which means that we’re not actually increasing capacity. To do that we really need to attract new and fresh talent - people who don’t currently work in care and don’t fit the typical demographic of the sector, but who do have the right values for a career in care.
Building capacity is also about looking after and keeping the people we already have in our teams which we can do through focusing on learning and development, positive workplace culture, and wellbeing support.
More information on the campaign and how to get involved can be found on our spotlight page. You can also follow and join in on the campaign on social media by following the hashtag #BuildingYourWorkforce.
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