How to Improve Staff Retention in Care Homes

Could you improve staff retention in your care home? Care work is an extremely demanding job, and if your team members aren’t receiving the required level of support within their roles, this can contribute to high staff turnover. Increasing staff retention rates will allow your care home to consistently provide the highest possible quality of care to vulnerable people. In this blog, we’ll look at some staff retention strategies that will keep your staff, as well as your clients, happier in the long-run.

Why is Improving Staff Retention in Care Homes So Important?

Skills for Care estimated that the staff retention rate for permanent and temporary care workers in 2021-2022 was a measly 29%. Staff retention in care homes is of paramount importance due to the costs involved in staff turnover, ensuring continuity of care, and boosting overall team morale. If you take the time to invest in your staff members’ wellbeing, your team will continue to provide the best quality of care, ensuring the sustainability of your care home. Here’s how to make sure your staff feel valued in the workplace:

Top 10 Staff Retention Strategies for Your Care Home

1) Offer Competitive Salaries & Benefits Packages

Offering competitive rates of pay, generous bonuses, and company benefits packages will allow your care home to stand out amongst the competition. This will help you attract top candidates when hiring for new positions and keep your current employees.

2) Provide Opportunities for Career Development

The ultimate way to instil confidence within your existing team is to provide a top-class career development and training programme. This will allow your care workers to develop and maintain a strong level of expertise and knowledge, which in turn will allow for career progression.

3) Foster a Supportive Work Environment

Taking the time to build a positive work culture that promotes teamwork and encourages open communication is guaranteed to have a positive impact on your team’s morale. Focus on creating an open dialogue that allows team members to learn from their mistakes, rather than playing the blame game.

4) Prioritise Work/Life Balance

Providing care to the community can be an enormously stressful job; you can acknowledge this by providing your carers with access to paid time off and flexible working schedules. This will help your team members maintain a healthy balance between work life and personal life, which is vital to staff retention.

5) Offer Emotional Support

Showing your employees that you care will greatly boost your staff members’ physical and mental wellbeing. Providing your carers with access to mental health or counselling services will help them cope with any unforeseen emotional difficulties, improving overall job satisfaction and improving employee retention .

6) Ask for Feedback

Regularly asking your care workers for feedback is paramount for improving staff retention. Encourage your team members to raise concerns with you directly, as this will allow you to address any current issues appropriately, whilst identifying areas for future development.

7) Promote Diversity & Inclusion

All employees want to be treated equally with the respect and care that they deserve; without this, carers may look elsewhere for work. Fostering a diverse work environment that is inclusive of everybody regardless of backgrounds, ethnicity, religions, and perspectives will promote a sense of belonging and unity.

8) Reward Achievements

Recognising and rewarding staff members for their achievements is key to increasing retention. Implement structured initiatives in the workplace that will reward your care staff for going above and beyond in their roles. This will have a profound impact on overall job satisfaction and enhance team morale.

9) Invest in Leadership

A strong and reliable management team will enable your staff members to thrive. New starters may require extra support or guidance within their roles, and if this initial induction period is not up to scratch, the chance of retaining that skilled staff member could greatly decrease.

10) Understand Why Staff Leave

If a member of your care team does decide to leave, take the time to understand why. You could ask them to complete a short leavers survey or encourage other colleagues to share their experiences. Learn from any mistakes or shortcomings and aim to improve these for both future and existing employees.

Looking to Improve Staff Retention?

If you are struggling to retain staff members in your care home, Safehands can help. We have been working with quality caregivers for over 20 years, supplying a range of care staff solutions and managed recruitment services. Get in touch with us today to discuss your hiring needs.