Are you losing your experienced workforce?

There has been plenty of talk about the Great Resignation - the widespread trend of a significant number of workers leaving their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The care industry is already in desperate need of more workers and this is only going to increase in the years to come. So have you stopped to think about what you can do to keep your experienced workforce onboard, particularly those who are close to retirement?

We meet many wonderful support workers in our training sessions who are nearing the end of their career, mainly because the work is so physical that they don't feel they can continue into their older age. These workers (predominately women) have so much experience that to lose them is a huge loss to the organisation and the people they support.

So what can be done to encourage your workforce to stay?

• Look at career progression opportunities that allow them to continue to work in the types of areas that they find meaningful and not too taxing on them physically.

• Have your older workforce engaged in buddy/training shifts for newer staff. Experienced workers can be a wonderful source of training and encouragement for newer carers and can have your newer staff feeling inspired to make a difference and stay with a career in the care industry, if they have had an experienced role model involved in their training.

• Look at developing them as manual handling mentors or coaches. This can help to recognise the skills that your experienced staff have developed, while supporting their colleagues to report and act on hazards effectively and apply their training to their job.

• Keep the lines of communication open. Provide your staff with annual 1:1 reviews that allow them to have dedicated time with a supervisor where they can express their concerns, challenges and joys in their work so that they can be supported to thrive in their work, rather than getting a surprise resignation letter once they are burnt out.

A lot of time, money and effort goes into recruitment and getting new support workers settled into new client services. It is worth doing what we can to keep experienced support workers happy and supported in their job as they have so many skills and our industry, and the people we support, greatly need them!

Look out for the launch of our Movementum Mentor Program in 2022. We are excited to be able to help care providers support the safety and skill development of their workforce!