Why health and social care is leading the way in employee engagement

The Financial Times’ Best Employers list ranks organisations in terms of how effective their employee engagement is. Surveying employees on areas such as working conditions and salary, it gives an insight into how major employers support their staff.

It might have surprised many to see health and social care as the sector that featured the most. Home Instead is placed as number three in the overall list, ranking higher than many high street names in banking, retail and other sectors. So what is driving health and social care businesses to conduct such successful employee engagement strategies?

The need to attract more people into the sector means it’s more important than ever to offer a supportive working environment. Skills for Care reports that there are 131,000 unfilled vacancies and a 24.2% turnover rate across England's adult social care sector.

What innovative strategies can employers adopt to recruit and retain a substantial health and social care workforce that meets the needs of an increasingly ageing population?

• Consider employees in your mission

Everything you do as a business should not only consider those receiving care, but also those delivering it. Health and social care is a people-focused sector, so nurturing teams should come organically. At Home Instead UK, all of our policies, from minimum one hour care visits to care professionals wearing their own clothes, consider not only how it will help clients but employees too. It has kept them satisfied in their roles and is amongst the reasons why 95% of care professionals feel motivated to work for the company.

• Career-enhancing training

Gone are the days when social care is just a job; it’s now a career which offers opportunities to progress. By expanding on the services they offer, organisations aren’t just meeting client needs but also building employee skillsets.

Offering training, employees can equip themselves with skills that are sought-after in the sector, as well as specialise in certain areas, such as dementia and Parkinson’s. We want to build a strong workforce ready for what the future brings, and we do this by enabling care professionals to learn skills that they can transfer into other roles.

They should make the training easy to undertake by giving trainees the chance to learn online as well as in a classroom environment. Flexibility makes it a more attractive route to take.

It's not just about offering a plethora of training opportunities. It needs to be structured in a way that sets out a clear career pathway, with steps for employees take as they arm themselves with more skills.

• Regular feedback

From work-life balance to feeling valued, there are many things that people want from a role, which encourage them to stay. Only by asking for regular feedback can you understand how you’re performing as an employer.

An independent employee engagement specialist, such as WorkBuzz used by Home Instead, will highlight how employees feel about key areas of their role. It gives you a chance to improve on areas that you’re lacking in.

• Maintain close relationships

Don’t forget that employees are only human. Sometimes simply seeing them regularly and having one-to-ones will help keep them content in their roles, particularly since care work can be an isolating job. Keep the door open for them to share concerns and update you on how their role is going. Bring everyone together with regular team meetings and events to make sure they feel involved.

The need for a well-functioning and collaborative social care sector is growing. The government is looking at more innovative ways to keep people out of hospital to help free up capacity. Keeping people well in other environments, particularly at home, is one way they’re tackling this. This calls for the sector’s workforce to grow, which can only happen by prioritising employee engagement, giving people a reason to join and stay put.

Seeing health and social care outshine other sectors in the FT Best Employers list is reassuring. It’s the sector that will support us and our families in times of need, and we need its workforce to feel supported so that they can deliver quality care.

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