FEATURE
A World of Opportunity
Diversity is essential in today’s care business, explains Amrit Dhaliwal, Chief Executive of homecare franchise Walfinch.
Many years ago, as a homecare franchisee, I was approached by a family seeking care for a Chinese lady who spoke only a particular language. Meeting her needs meant finding carers who also spoke her language and we persevered until we did. We recruited the carer and her husband too, so not only were we able to serve a new client, but we got two new carers and broadened our care offering too.
This is a fine example of how the UK is a diverse culture – and illustrates how any care business that does not take this into account risks losing both customers and money.
Diversity is not just a nice thing to have for care sector providers and employers, but a business necessity. When people initially look at an organisation, they will oſten be inwardly asking themselves: “Does this organisation work with, or employ, people like me?”
If the answer is no, they may well go to a competitor that makes them feel more accepted. If care sector organisations don’t reflect our increasingly diverse society, how can we expect to work effectively?
NOT JUST A TICK-BOX EXERCISE
Achieving diversity in any company is more complicated than it may first appear. It is against UK law to discriminate against anyone because of age, sex, gender reassignment, being
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married or in a civil partnership, being pregnant or on maternity leave, disability, race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief.
There are also more diversity issues to be aware of, such as education, life experience, neurodiversity and class.
Don’t just leave this to the HR director, and don’t see diversity as a hurdle to be overcome, but as an opportunity. Everyone in the organisation needs to be involved, and the lead must come from the top.
As the son of Indian immigrants myself, diversity is something that I take personally. Growing up in a migrant family, surrounded by migrant families, I saw their vast ambition and social mobility. Recruiting ambitious, willing and sometimes overseas-educated franchisees and care staff brings that energy into the care industry, and ultimately wider society.
It’s always been obvious to me that increasing diversity brings many benefits.
BOOSTING YOUR CARE OFFERING
Homecare has long been dominated in the minds of the public by the image of the middle-aged female carer – and that’s largely right. Around 84% of the workforce is female and the average age of workers is 44, according to Skills for Care figures from 2022. There’s nothing wrong with this, but to deliver the
www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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