Recruitment

Good recruitment strategies lead to higher rates of retention. If you take the time to attract the right people to work with you and carry out a thorough recruitment process, you are more likely to retain better quality staff for longer.

Similarly, good retention strategies lead to better recruitment. If you offer good training packages, supervise and develop your staff, and offer good terms and conditions, more people are likely to want to work for your organisation, and they are likely to want to stay too.

Attracting and retaining the right staff leads to better outcomes for the people who use your service, which leads in turn to a better reputation for high quality service.

There is therefore a strong business case for taking more time to consider your recruitment and retention strategies.

Skills for Care have developed a series of resources to support employers with their recruitment and retention initiatives:

• Ageless @ Work
  The Ageless @ Work project focuses on meeting new challenges arising from demographic changes, in particular helping transform workplace cultures so that organisations can better develop skilled and adaptable older workers.
• Care Ambassadors
  Care Ambassador schemes aim to increase understanding of adult social care by giving presentations, and running workshops and other events.
• Career pathways e-tool
  The career pathways e-tool is for people considering starting in social care and for those already working in the sector who are keen to see what career development opportunities there are.
• Changes to the retirement age
  The removal of the default retirement age (DRA) is an opportunity for employers to review their practices, policies and processes for managing employees and their performance.
• Finders, Keepers: the adult social care sector recruitment and retention toolkit
  Finders, Keepers is a practical resource for care providers to improve their recruitment and retention strategies.
• Latest government employment initiatives 
  The government has introduced a number of measures to tackle unemployment that fall under the 'Get Britain Working' banner
• I Care...
  A series of resources that promote the image of the social care sector, featuring people working in different job roles in different settings.
• Large scale redundancies
  Information on the Skills for Care and Rochdale council - "Boots distribution centre" redundancy project.
• Recruitment & retention toolkit for small and medium sized employers
  Skills for Care has developed a toolkit to support small and medium sized employers with their recruitment.
• Resources to support the recruitment and retention of disabled people
  Skills for Care is currently undertaking a project to establish how we can support employers to utilise the skills of disabled people within their workforce.
• Sector Route-way for Social Care
  A way of helping unemployed people gain the skills and confidence to find employment in the adult social care sector.
• Toolkit to help people employ their own personal assistants
  Skills for Care, together with Association for Real Change (ARC), has developed a toolkit to support people to employ their own personal assistants.
• Work Placement Guides
  Three guides that offer easy to use support to make sure teachers, students and employers get the most out of a placement.