It might sound cliché, but it isn’t an exaggeration to say that employee engagement and wellbeing has rarely been more important than it is right now. Let’s start with the obvious - the pandemic continues to have a direct impact on the physical and mental wellbeing of care staff. That has to be the immediate focus.
Thinking longer term, a number of key trends suggest that care providers should be reviewing their employee engagement strategies sooner rather than later:
The ‘Great Resignation’ could become greater in 2022. According to some surveys, up to 75% of UK workers could be considering a job change this year.
There are fears that there will be further resignations in the sector when the government’s vaccination mandate widens in scope (expected on 1st April at the time of writing).
Our own industry data points to increases in both the number of care workers looking to change employers and the number and the number thinking about leaving the sector entirely (more on this below).
No surprise, then, that Care Home Management magazine chose employee engagement and wellbeing as the topic for its latest expert round table podcast. Luckily for us, it’s also a subject that has never strayed far from Richard’s mind during his decade-long career working in and with the care industry.
Richard joined host Steve Hemsley and a panel of industry peers to explore everything from working patterns and technology, to the financial regulatory and legal imperatives for proactive staff engagement.
You can listen to the full episode below or on Apple podcasts.
To kick off 2022 we’re taking a closer look at the staffing challenges facing the UK care sector with our Rethinking Retention series.
We recently surveyed 750 employees in the UK care industry to understand what matters to them in their job and the factors that would motivate them to stay or leave (either their employer or the sector).
Our in-depth Rethinking Retention report will highlight all the key findings and themes that should be front of mind for care providers in 2022 and beyond.
Click here to pre-register for exclusive early access.