November 25, 2019
Radfield Home Care has launched its brand-new Caring for Carers PledgeTM, the organisation’s refreshed employee retention and wellbeing policy.
For many providers in the social care sector, average staff turnover rates are over 30%, stunting business growth for and diminishing the quality of care provided to vulnerable clients. Radfield’s Caring for Carers PledgeTM is designed to overcome this, using strategies the organisation has embedded over many years that have driven annual turnover rates as low as 11% – some of the lowest in the home care sector.
Reflecting on over 35 years of recruiting and retaining high quality healthcare staff, Radfield’s Caring for Carers PledgeTM has been redeveloped around an exclusive CARETM acronym; Culture, Appreciation, Reward and Empower. The new CARETM-based approach has been designed to reflect the cyclical journey all of Radfield’s employees will experience – from a welcoming and supportive culture, to the ongoing appreciation and reward for their efforts and achievements, to the continued empowerment Radfield provides its employees to progress in both their career and personal goals.
“The care sector has a terrible history of under-paying, under-appreciating and under-supporting its workforce. Not only does this generate high staff turnover rates and deter new employees entering the sector, it also has a knock-on effect on the quality of care provided to clients. As a result, focusing on looking after our employees, as well as clients, is critical,” explains franchisor, Dr Hannah MacKechnie.
“The Caring for Carers PledgeTM has been a staple part of Radfield’s recruitment and retention for a number of years, but we have given it a complete overhaul, with the introduction of our new CARETM approach at the centre of this. To roll this out nationally, we are working with our franchise partners individually to develop localised strategies to develop their culture, appreciation, reward and empowerment pledge.”
Acknowledging, supporting and recognising employees is the foundation to the Caring for Carers PledgeTM, and this is often facilitated by a simple thank you, understanding of personal situations or even recognising birthdays. However, paying well (the majority of Radfield Home Care franchise partners are Living Wage Accredited); rewards and gifts with a monetary value; and offering training and CPD opportunities are another key factor to driving retention rates.
