How to improve staff retention in social care

It’s clear that there’s a big problem with employee retention in the sector, so how can organisations ensure successful recruitment and retention in social care? Read on to find out how to improve staff retention in social care with employee engagement activities and best-in-class recruitment software.

What are the challenges facing staff retention in social care?

The factors impacting staff retention in social care and other healthcare positions are not necessarily exclusive to this sector, with low pay and limited career progression opportunities impacting staff turnover in all industries. But it’s still important to understand the challenges facing the health and social care sector, which include:

• Low pay: Skills for Care found that care workers on higher salaries were less likely to leave their positions, demonstrating the influence that pay can have on employee retention rates
• Lack of career progression opportunities: the report data showed that the turnover rate for senior care workers was 17.5%, but this rose to 36.1% for care workers. This suggests that those in more senior positions, who may have been supported to progress in their careers, are more likely to stay with an organisation for longer, so it’s important to offer development opportunities to staff
• Challenging working conditions: health and social care work can involve physically demanding manual work, and care workers can encounter some distressing situations, including high loss of life. This can take its toll, leaving workers to look for new roles elsewhere, particularly if they don’t feel supported by their employer
• Work-life balance: care work can require long hours, including early mornings and late nights, impacting employees’ ability to create a healthy work-life balance. This can put staff at risk of burnout, and leave them with limited time to prioritise their own wellbeing or to see family and friends, which can result in low morale
• Onboarding shortfall: figures from Skills for Care show a turnover rate of 43.7% among people who have worked in the sector for less than 12 months, compared to a 20.4% turnover rate for those with 20+ years of experience. This indicates that something may be lacking in many care organisations’ onboarding processes, which would need to be addressed in order to boost long-term staff retention in social care

Why is staff retention in social care so important?

Retaining staff is important in every sector, but it can be particularly vital in health and social care, where employee retention can have an impact on patient care. Some of the reasons why staff retention in social care is so critical include:

• Continuity of care: building relationships with care workers can play a key role in care home residents’ or patients’ stability. High staff turnover can feel disruptive for those receiving care, potentially impacting their wellbeing
• Team stability: it’s important to have a stable workforce who are experienced at working together as a team, and know each other’s strengths – particularly in the healthcare sector where the environment can often be challenging
• Employee morale: staff retention in social care is crucial for supporting team morale and motivation, which lead to increased productivity 
• Company reputation: the level of care home staff retention may be a factor that relatives look at when choosing a care home or other residential facility, so taking steps to improve high turnover rates is imperative
• Save money: when you’re successfully retaining staff year after year, the recruitment costs associated with replacing them will be eliminated, helping your organisation to reduce its outgoings. The UK’s average cost per hire is typically 15-20% of each successfully placed candidate’s first annual salary, according to figures from Agency Central

How to recruit for long-term staff retention 

Retention begins with recruitment; it’s not just about keeping hold of hires, but attracting the best talent in the right way in the first place. Try these top tips for recruiting with long-term retention in mind:

1. Values-based recruitment

While it’s important to ensure candidates possess the job-based skills and qualifications you’re looking for, it’s just as essential to recruit based on individuals’ values and soft skills too. Ensure candidates are a good cultural fit at the hiring stage to support future retention.

2. Clear job ads

Clearly outline responsibilities, expectations, and your company culture within job ads and descriptions. AI recruitment tools can help you to present key points in an engaging way, including our very own job advert writing tool, available within Talos ATS.

3. Showcase your employer brand

Developing a strong employer brand can help to support recruitment and retention in social care, making your culture and values clear to candidates from the first moment they interact with a vacancy. Building a branded careers site is one way to demonstrate your employee value proposition (EVP).

4. Demonstrate your USPs

Show what makes your organisation a unique place to work. Showcase your USPs, company values, and any perks or employee benefits you offer. If you don’t feel that you have much to shout about here, this is a sign that you need to revisit your EVP, and it may be one of the factors behind low levels of staff retention.

5. Invest in diversity and inclusion

Ensure all staff are trained in your diversity and inclusion strategy to make sure you’re hiring talent from as wide a pool as possible. This is crucial for creating an inclusive workplace with equal opportunities, where all employees feel welcome and able to achieve their full potential.

6. Interview face-to-face

Video interviewing platforms have transformed recruitment, but interviewing face-to-face can provide you with extra nuance into a candidate’s personality and values. Perhaps screen candidates remotely, then invite them for a final chat in-person to get a thorough feel for their commitment to the role. Craft your interview questions carefully too, with a balance between skills and values-based questions.

7. Recruit in-house

Manage your own hiring rather than using an external recruitment agency that may not fully understand your needs. This will provide you with full control over the hiring process, so you can find candidates who are truly a good fit, and more likely to stay with you for longer.

10 ways to support staff retention in social care

Whether you’re trying to reduce employee turnover within your healthcare business or improve care home staff retention, try these employee retention strategies:

1. Offer competitive pay

Pay needs to be competitive and provide enough for people to live on. Health and social care roles can be both physically and mentally demanding, and if staff are not adequately remunerated for their work, you’ll risk losing them, possibly to one of your competitors.

2. Invest in staff training

Prioritise training and development for all employees to create a culture that promotes learning. When employees feel supported to expand their skills and progress professionally, they’re more likely to stay with your organisation for longer.

3. Build an attractive culture

Workplace culture is one of the key factors influencing staff retention levels in every sector. Focus on building a magnetic culture that employees truly want to work within, with good communication at its heart.

4. Prioritise employee wellbeing 

It’s imperative to place staff wellbeing at the forefront of any benefits your business offers. If team members are burnt out, they won’t be in a position to deliver the best care to patients, so prioritising this is key for staff retention in social care.

5. Provide job stability

Employees need job security, so move away from zero hours contracts to give staff the stability they deserve. Without this, people may seek a more stable position elsewhere. In fact, the Skills for Care report found that staff on zero hours contracts were 5.8 percentage points more likely to leave a social care role than those on a permanent contract with regular hours.

6. Offer career progression

Ensure there’s a clear progression pathway attached to every role within your company, regardless of seniority. When people feel supported to progress in their career, they’re more likely to stay loyal to their employer.

7. Recognise good performance 

Make a point of acknowledging and praising good performance, rewarding this with tangible benefits, such as a pay rise or promotion, to keep staff feeling valued and to support morale.

8. Offer competitive benefits

Hold on to the staff you value by offering attractive benefits. Research what your competitors provide to create a strong employee benefits package, offering discount schemes, gym membership or childcare support, for example.

9. Value employee engagement

From feedback surveys to team building away days, make time for activities that promote employee engagement. This is essential for fostering strong relationships and for responding to staff suggestions, helping you to create a collaborative culture where everyone feels valued and respected.

10. Keep staff informed

Consult with staff on any company updates or organisational changes so everybody feels involved. This can help to prevent unhelpful rumours from spreading, which can impact team morale.

The best tools for recruitment and retention in social care

An applicant tracking system is one of the best tools to support both recruitment and retention in social care. Talos ATS is an award-winning, all-in-one system for hiring and onboarding talent, helping HR teams to manage the end-to-end healthcare recruitment process. Top features of our health and social care ATS include:

• Automated recruitment tools: manage job advertising, reduce hiring paperwork, and automate reference checks, including DBS checks and NHS employment checks, in one, easy-to-use system. A streamlined process can help you to identify engaged candidates more easily, helping to improve quality of hire
• Branded careers site builder: design and build a dedicated careers site with Talos ATS, where you can showcase your employer brand and EVP. These are important metrics that will attract candidates who are truly passionate about working for your organisation
• NHS Jobs board integration: our applicant tracking platform is integrated with NHS Jobs and other health and social care jobs boards, where you’ll find active candidates who want to work for a company like yours, meaning they’re more likely to stay with you long term
• Onboarding support: improve employee onboarding to support staff retention in social care. Our ATS features a new starter checklist to guide you through the process. The way a new hire is onboarded can play a huge part in how valued they feel working for your business, and how likely they are to remain with you

Find out how Hope House Children’s Hospice and nursing home provider Meallmore have used Talos ATS to streamline their hiring and attract more engaged candidates. 

Employee engagement tools for staff retention in social care 

Tools designed to support employee engagement can also play a key role in staff retention in social care and other healthcare settings. Talos Engage is our gamified, employee engagement platform, which can help organisations to reduce staff turnover, supporting long-term retention. Use Talos Engage to:

• Build your own employee engagement surveys
• Get feedback on your workplace’s culture
• Monitor employee satisfaction levels
• Find out how staff view the employee benefits you offer
• Identify your employee value proposition to see why healthcare staff stay with your company long term

The data gathered via employee engagement surveys can be hugely beneficial in helping health and social care organisations to see where they need to make changes to their culture, benefits or EVP to support staff retention. Use Talos Engage to gather regular feedback and create a highly engaged team – something that can help to improve employee retention by up to 43%. 

Start improving staff retention in social care today. Get a free demo to see how Talos360 can support your retention strategy.