If you work in care...

[Goostacean]

... AIBU to ask what makes your workplace or job a great place to be? (Or alternatively, what makes it terrible and could easily be solved if management listened to you!)

I’ve just started running a small Supported Living provision and am trying to both be a good boss and guide my relatively inexperienced manager with how to run a team effectively. I don’t have experience working in care myself. We have a small number of clients so only ever 1 or 2 staff on shift simultaneously.

I would love input on how to make them feel part of a team, supported, and valued, based on the experience of wise MNers please!

Going back to the second page (there were too many posts for me to keep up!):

It’s clearly not appropriate to go into too much detail, but suffice to say we have a few low-needs clients who require only support and no personal care. We have all the appropriate registration and legal framework sorted, and full buy-in from the local authority, so there are no concerns on that front. I don’t think it’s at all unusual for a small business to be run by a pairing of someone with general business know-how and someone else with sector-specific knowledge. The manager has experience in care and some experience as a manager, but jumped ship to join us and take on more responsibility - so I want to support her to keep her and also as her knowledge supports me in my goal, which is to provide care for a relative and an acquaintance.

Who is liaising with social care, writing care plans, deciding who the facility can take on, funding for placements, resident finances? Who is doing the risk assessments does the manager have experience of all these things? This is a combination of me and the manager, and she does have experience of these things, for example the Support Plans and the RAs.

Clearly I need to give some thought to my level of involvement, and for more direct communication with the team, which I have so far left to the manager once the recruitment process has been completed in each case. This is proving to be a really helpful thread (aside from the implications that were running some kind of rogue operation...!), many thanks for the replies!

Try to avoid cliques. Staff naturally radiate to like minded people but in the interests of harmony mix up the staff and always try to have a really good skill mix.
Say thank you to your staff. Recognise good work and let the staff know you saw it. Send an email and discuss it in person.
Be fair with shifts. Be flexible. Be compassionate to personal lives with out becoming over burdened by their problems.
Have a support network for any problems that may arise.
Avoid having your favourites. Nothing worse than seeing the same old staff laughing with the boss and doing little.
Have the right equipment.

I love my job, I love looking after people and making things better for them and more comfortable. Very much respect their wishes and and take time to make sure have all they need and a good chat too.

Goostacean if you want to show you appreciate staff tell them individually and specifically (not "I appreciate your work Team" but "Sarah I really appreciate how you take the time to remember all about J's family and ask after them, it means a lot to her", "Olive thanks so much for taking charge of the incontinence supplies, everything has run smoothly since you took over", "Jane it's so helpful that you are so knowledgeable about adaptive technology, could you do a mini training/ briefing session at the next team meeting?" Etc.

Just as importantly pay them well and yes a Christmas bonus isn't a bad idea. We get 13 months salary (13th month paid when you take your main block of annual leave), a Christmas bonus, an extra employer pension scheme once we've been employed 5 years, meals with the residents when on shift, a staff Christmas meal paid for, two staff trips paid as working hours, training paid as working hours, a basic salary paid no matter what hours we work (36k full time for fully qualified staff) plus significant shift and antisocial hours and challenging clientele payments which vary according to hours worked that month but amount to about 1/3 of the basic again - but I'm not in the UK, I doubt that's usual there!

In return we're loyal, pull long shifts, stay with our employer 20+ years in many cases, take responsibility and initiative and don't need much managing (some of us have more extensive qualifications than others though several have learning disabilities nursing qualifications, but we have a flat structure and only see management twice per month - we all have our specific responsibilities to keep everything running).

*We get 13 months salary... a Christmas bonus, an extra employer pension scheme once we've been employed 5 years, meals with the residents when on shift, a staff Christmas meal paid for, two staff trips paid as working hours, training paid as working hours, a basic salary paid no matter what hours we work (36k full time for fully qualified staff) plus significant shift and antisocial hours and challenging clientele payments” Wow!! Not sure I can compete with that...

I love the service users. Am fine with the work. The office that never listens and demonstrates no respect to staff can get to fuck.

Goostacean to be fair you won't have to, care staff in much of the UK are usually under paid...

The office that never listens and demonstrates no respect to staff can get to fuck. Are there any particular actions you’d like to see from your leadership, @D4rwin?

Ahh Goostacean so many people replying who don't appear to understand the the nature of the service you are supplying.

So, reading between the lines, you/family have set a service up around a family member who requires supported living. To make this financially viable you/ the local authority have found other people to live with your relative to share the care and daily living costs. Bit like students living together but students who need a bit of extra support to navigate 'adulting'.

In a sort of advanced direct payments situation you have become a small private care company organising and managing the support workers for the house, because of the low level of need of the people living in the house only one person is required to be on duty at any given time.

My advice would be have regular team meetings and regular house meetings where all staff and tenants are invited. Have very open communication and if appropriate use something like WhatsApp etc to do a staff handover around any issues.

Be very aware that if you are a relative of one of the tenants then this causes a power imbalance for that tenant and do what you can to mitigate that. Be very very clear on house rules, be clear, consistent and transparent with staff and tenants and don't take sides.

Don't be afraid to get the appropriate community teams involved if needed but also let your team be creative in their approaches. Don't micromanage/ interfere with the day to day running of the house but be decisive and fair if problems are escalated to you.

@hatgirl Got it in one Thank you! All good advice, I do get a bit stuck between a rock and a hard place sometimes due to the family relationship but am doing my utmost to be very fair.

It's so good that you are looking at it from this angle.
I would say appoint the very best staff you can find, with excellent references and kindness written all over their faces. Last thing you need is someone who is hard/jaded, their negativity will spread through the team.
Treat them well and pay them fairly.
No need for gimmicks like cake on fridays.
Create a relaxed, pleasant environment, then let them get on with it, dont be watching over them all the time with a critical eye.
Good luck.

Christmas bonuses are lovely, but if any of your staff are claiming benefits then a bonus can mess them up for a month. Personally I'd rather earn more all year round than get a bonus that I then lose most of via tax/ reduction in benefits.

That’s a very good point, I hadn’t thought of that...

It's fine if you don't want to say but I have slightly differing advice depending on if we are talking about a ASD no LD service, ASD with Mild/moderate LD service or a LD service. I'm afraid I don't have experience of MH services.

All need slightly different approaches though.

I think “ASD with Mild/moderate LD service” would be the most appropriate category, of those three. Thank you!

I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but an agency backup is a good idea, but maybe the option for your known staff to work for extra money before putting the shift out to agency. I work for the NHS if shifts aren’t covered agency staff earn crazy money, when the ‘regular’ staff would most likely pick up the shift for extra pay but still be cheaper than the agency.

That’s a great idea, thank you. I need to look into both options- the benefit of an agency may be how quickly they can send someone in an emergency, but let’s see.