RECRUITMENT
A Combined Approach
Charles Armitage, CEO of online care staffing marketplace Florence, discusses embedding workforce optimisation in the care home psyche.
The social care staffing shambles is a sad state of affairs. Almost two years since it was due to be published, care minister Caroline Dinenage has admitted that some Green Paper reform measures may take until the “middle of the next decade” to happen. Care and nursing homes are increasingly crippled by staffing challenges, with a 2018 Skills for Care report revealing that there is over 30% workforce churn in the adult social care sector.
It’s a worrying time for passionate nursing and care home managers as our social care system hangs in the balance. So how can they take matters into their own hands when it comes to overcoming these recruitment and retention issues?
Workforce optimisation is an approach which has the potential to overcome some of the hurdles nursing and care home managers face. The shortage of nurses and carers is a major issue and this shouldn’t be underestimated with the ongoing Brexit uncertainty.
Many nursing and care home managers point to issues with allocating shiſts amongst nurses on staff within their own homes. Many UK care homes are using temporary staff as they scramble to backfill vacant shiſts. A lack of planning, coupled with a reliance on traditional recruiters, leaves managers suffering the consequences. Agency fees are seriously impacting their already stretched budgets and the quality and continuity of care is compromised.
It’s clear to see that the effective use of tools to optimise the resources available is more important than ever. By looking at the bigger picture where a nursing or care home is one of multiple under the same group, managers can rota staff far more effectively. As a result, staff feel more valued and
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engaged, and are compelled to stay – removing the need to use recruitment agencies.
While care will always be people-driven at the heart, the adoption of new technologies can play a big role in solving staffing problems. We designed Florence to help do that - connecting care homes with nurses while driving down the high agency fees that have become all too commonplace. It is now being used by nursing and care home managers as an additional tool and getting great results when it comes to securing cost-savings and more stable staff.
Since 2017, 20,000 nurses have signed up to Florence. Our data shows that, in the half a million shiſts worked between April 2017 and March 2019, shiſts posted at least a week in advance of their start date have an 94% fill rate. 43% were filled by nursing and care home managers making use of the Direct Invite function – a feature that empowers managers to offer their shiſts to nurses they have worked with before and know to be a good fit in their organisation.
In conclusion, there can be no one-size-fits-all approach. In order for the care sector to make its staffing model fit- for-purpose and more sustainable, nursing and care home managers need to embrace workforce optimisation and embed it in the care home psyche. This will involve harnessing new technology which can help put them back in control of their staff. The benefits of having these staffing solutions helps managers to take back control of recruiting and retaining highly skilled staff, as well as freeing up millions to reinvest in improving the quality and continuity of care.
www.florence.co.uk www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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