Like other professions, in social care the recruitment process is not just about getting a person for a vacancy – the person has to have the right values to work in social care and to match with the organisation they are going to work for.
So, what is value-based recruitment in social care and why is it important? And what does good retention look like in practice?
If you are an employer that has staff from the social care workforce these questions are very relevant to you. The answers are in this week’s episode of ‘Care to chat?’, where you can find out actions you can do to ensure the staff you recruit will want to stay, thrive and build lasting careers in social care.
This episode our host Dr Wendy Austin MBE talks about this important issue for employers with special guests: Dr Shirley Boyle, Lecturer, Open University, Paul Rooney, Professional Advisor, Social Care Council and Caitilin Robinson, Homecare Area Manager, South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust.
During the episode you will find out why this approach to recruitment and retention has proven to be particularly effective in the social care sector and tips you can put in practice so you can keep those who are there for the right reasons – to improve the lives of the people they support.
There is no single action that will improve retention. Retaining staff is a result of the combined actions that are taken by an employer.
Dr Shirley Boyle says it is important to think about job satisfaction, working culture, people feeling valued with development opportunities, terms and conditions, a good work-life balance, staff wellbeing and the environment among other things.
“Different things work for different people… We have a very diverse workforce, so we need to have a very diverse set of responses around how to retain staff and that points to the need for a different range of strategies… one of the most important things is talking to your staff and finding out what works for them.”
Do you manage staff and social care and could do with some help? You can access the new Values-based retention toolkit on the Social Care Council’s Learning Zone.
The Social Care Council releases a new episode every fortnight, discussing current topics about social care and social work regulation in Northern Ireland. Download, subscribe and listen to the latest Social Care Council ‘Care to chat?’ podcast episode today here, or by searching ‘Care to chat’ in your podcast player.
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If you have questions or feedback about the podcast, email comms@niscc.hscni.net.