How flexible is care work?

[Tangerinie]

I am looking for a new job having left my job in a school.

I have seen a lot of care roles advertised near me and I think I would be good at it. I am just wondering how flexible these sorts of jobs are (generally - I know it would depend on the specific job) and was wondering if anyone with any experience in this are may be able to tell me.

I have young children and DH works long hours so flexibility would be really helpful. The jobs I have seen indicate they are very flexible but wonder what the reality is.

Thanks 💐

Most care settings have quite defined needs in terms of shifts that need to be covered. If they are really desperate they might well offer some flexibility but then put a lot of pressure on you when they are (very often) struggling to cover the clients’ needs.

Working on the bank obviously gives you the ability to choose your shifts but they will still contact you for more. Also you’ll get no holiday or sick pay.

If you are hoping to work antisocial hours you might be more pleasantly surprised.

Thanks @MatildaTheCat. That's helpful and sort of what I thought. How flexible can they realistically be when they need shifts covered?

I would be looking for part time hours, so just a few shifts a week. Don't especially mind if some of that is antisocial hours, but I'd likely need set days. I will try and talk to them before I apply I think to guage what the reality is in terms of flexibility.

Your phone will be ringing constantly and pressure put on you to help cover shifts. You would need to make it absolutely clear that you can't do everything they ask due to childcare. They can be ruthless with the range of emotional blackmail they'll be prepared to use as well, so don't be shocked. They'll promise you the earth just to get you on board, then come back for your soul after about a week. You have to be thick skinned.

Hi, like you I had a small child and wanted flexibility. I work for a company that only offer clients one hour calls as minimum in their own home. I worked evenings 6-10 to begin with, did some day calls when it suited me. I now only work night shifts which suits my life perfectly at the moment. When I began and my child was small I worked part time hours, I now work full time, 40 - 50 hours, 4 or 5 days a week. It is a zero hours contract but I am employed and I get holiday pay. I agree you can feel pressured to take shifts. I don't succumb to that pressure. Good carers are in demand and although the pay isn't the best, I love my work and the flexibility is a big bonus. My advice is to pick carefully the company you work for. Maybe look for being employed directly by a client.

Thanks for all of these replies. There's a lot to think about, but I will keep looking into it.

Any other tips people have for job hunting for care roles and places to avoid etc would be great

Just want to say good carers are worth their weight in gold. It’s a shame the pay doesn’t reflect this. But thank you for considering it.. the whole sector is desperate for workers

I agree @BHRK and I really admire the people already working in these roles.

I was an LSA in my last job, so I'm used to being underpaid and undervalued unfortunately! That's a tough job and so badly paid. Care work would be a bit of a pay rise (as I would work all year instead of having the holidays off)

Just to add, if a care home doesn’t have someone to relieve you after your shift - you could well find yourself doing unexpected overtime until someone arrives, and this could easily be another 8 hours.

Care work isn’t all visiting elderly for a 15 minute check. Have you thought about supporting younger adults who have ASN? Or be employed directly as a driver/cleaner/companion (eg for elderly couple where one acts as carer to the other). That might tie in with your LSA experience if the focus is more on developing skills (home visits generally not long enough for that).

Ok, thank you @Alphabet1spaghetti2. That doesn't sound great if I needed to pick the kids up from school etc. Or even if it was after a night shift I may need to get home if DH needed to go to work before school drop off

Have you considered care work in the NHS for example as a HCA in an out of hours team or on a ward?

when my dds were small I worked had fixed days off and got my roster in advance. I often worked late shift on a Friday as my dh finished work Friday midday. I was available for my fair share of weekends.

you could apply for a ‘bank’ position or even a part time permanent contract with flexi hours.
when I was an NHS manager loads of staff had fixed patterns (obviously all different patterns otherwise the work wasn’t covered). it worked because I was flexible with the roster and the organisation was pro-flexi working even for people without children (as it should be, we all need a work/life balance)

Thanks @onepieceoflollipop. I hadn't thought of that actually. The care roles I have been looking at are local to me. I am in a town with a very small hospital, but I will see if they have any HCA type roles.

As someone above said, PA/carer type work for disabled children/adults is also usually desperately staffed. I employ carers for my children, funded by social care. There's little to no "personal care" involved... it's all about engaging them, accessing the community, doing activities together. I know lots of families like us, with a range of funding for carers from 2-20+ hours per week.

You’re welcome. If they do have bank shifts sometimes you find if you like a
particular dept (and they like you) they will offer shifts to suit you.
I had some great bank nurses and they all worked round each other covering nights and other shifts.

I work in a care home and the hours can be very flexible and our manager has several carers that work school hours. Carers work short or long shifts and varying times. Some choose zero hours which makes it even more flexible and some choose contracted hours.

That's great @TryingTooHardToPlease. Reassuring as I was mainly looking at care home jobs as I like the idea of mainly being in the same place

With community care they promise you they’ll work around you. Within a couple of weeks they’ll be piling on the pressure to work more and more. It’s not good at all.

Care home is better as it’s set shifts, you don’t wreck your car and there’s other staff always around.

I wouldn’t recommend it based my friends experience, she was messaged constantly, even on her day off, badgered to do shifts when she told them she couldn’t, shifts changed, clients changed. She left in under a month. Got a job a supermarket, more pay, less responsibility.

www.professionalcarersnetwork.co.uk/ has lots of useful information

Look for a care home rather than community care. My home is very flexible with hours, you could for example do 8am -2pm 2pm-8pm or 8am - 8pm for days. 16, 24, 36 and 40+ contracts available. We are never made to stay if other staff don't turn up. It's not our problem, that's whoever is in charge of the buildings problem but we ate offered overtime if we wish to stay on on the rare occasions it happens.

Care work is hard, underpaid but I love my job. Care in the community? I would never go back.

Interesting, thank you @albapunk. I had sort of heard something like that re care homes being a bit better than community care. I also just don't think I'd feel great leaving them at the set time if they were lonely and vulnerable. But maybe that's something you just have to adjust to for the greater good.

@Tangerinie you are right, whilst it is important to care for your residents or clients, you do need to protect yourself mentally as well.
Apply for and try out a role in care, you may get lucky and find the right fit for you first time, but if not and you’ve found it is an industry you enjoy, but the setting isn’t right for you, then apply elsewhere. As shown on this thread there are lots of different opportunities!