Adaptive Recruitment & Retention Strategies for Care Leaders

 

As the Social Care Pulse Check highlighted, the Social Care sector is facing challenges, particularly in the areas of recruitment and retention, but there are positive efforts and initiatives aimed at addressing recruitment and retention issues. Key strategies include focusing on the importance of a robust recruitment process that focuses not just on getting a person for a role, but getting the best person for that hire. This involves a multifaceted approach that doesn’t stop at just skills and experience, but in adaptive skills, compassion and motivations.

There are huge opportunities for investing in staff through training and career development opportunities, and implementing mental health support initiatives to ensure the wellbeing of staff. These approaches are intended to create a positive workplace culture that not only retains existing staff but also attracts new talent to the sector in a range of capacities.

For example, a care sector organisation has recently increased pay for some roles by 30% and offers a range of training programs through its Academy to support career development, including a program for aspiring leaders, set to progressively boost the quality of the leadership teams and massively increase tenure expectations. This has contributed to a significantly lower staff turnover rate already, compared to the industry standard​​.

Similarly, there are initiatives that look closer to the Employee Value Proposition model, where developing a strong workplace culture through investing in career opportunities, protecting mental health, and keeping staff connected with residents and their families promotes further commitment. This approach emphasises the importance of understanding the recruitment process and supporting staff to meet the demands of their roles effectively​​, then rewarding appropriately, and most importantly, keeping promises!

Care leaders will need to continue to work on adapting and honing these methods to keep up with competition. Senior leaders need to be strategic in their approach to workforce management. This includes fully understanding the role of recruitment processes, investing in initiatives, and developing strong workplace cultures that attract and retain talent.