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Our workforce needs ongoing development to undertake their current role more effectively and to prepare them to take on new tasks or move into their next role.

Skills for Care’s Secrets to Success report found that staff learning was one of the most important aspects for staff retention. Therefore, consider career pathways that align with your business plan and suit the various aspirations of your workforce. Flexible learning opportunities should be central to support varied career pathways.

Top tips:

  • Continue to use various communication methods to engage and encourage staff to consider what they are looking for in their career. In particular, encourage managers to use induction sessions, appraisals, one-on-one meetings and reflections on past work to understand this better.
  • Build relationships with training providers and health and social care career academies to build a learning and development programme aligned to your staff’s feedback and aspirations. Clearly communicate this with aligned career pathways so staff see your organisation as a long-term career opportunity. Ensure you take advantage of all external opportunities to help fund staff development. 
  • Motivate and encourage people inside and outside of social care to consider it as a career opportunity with good career development by celebrating and sharing your staff’s outstanding work and development externally. Involve staff in engaging with the local community through local recruitment fairs, recruitment drives, social media and videos to demonstrate their professional learning and development as well as recognise staff achievements.

Case studies

What we did:

Develop a Virtual College of Social Work, a virtual learning environment within the County Council.

Why we did it:

To support the workforce development offer, which lays out clear training and career pathways and supports a ‘lifelong learning culture’.

How we did it:

The college provides staff with learning and career pathways relevant to their roles and links them in with the appropriate training found on ‘Learn Together Cambridgeshire’. It includes comprehensive details regarding traditional classroom-based opportunities where they are offered by the Council or its partners. Individuals will be able to identify their role and responsibility within the organisation and the associated learning opportunities related to their current role.

The results:

Staff have access to a flexible training offer that includes mandatory, essential and specialist training as well as personal development offers.

Find out more

 

Useful links

Skills for Care’s Developing your Workforce

Free health and wellbeing courses from e-learning for Health and online recovery college