Recruit to retain

Being deliberate in how you recruit is crucial to reducing staff turnover and future recruitment demands.

You should communicate clearly with applicants about progress on their application, to not only keep them on board during the recruitment process but to help build positive relationships from the start. Share information and timeframes early on to ensure eager applicants can start as soon as possible. 

Values-based recruitment is a way of getting to know people, their motivations, passions, interests and whether they will be a good fit for your organisation and the roles you are recruiting to. This enables you to make the best possible recruitment choices for those who you provide care and support to. Values-based recruitment gives organisations the ability to look wider than the usual pool of recruits to find people who may not have any previous experience in care but who have exactly the sorts of values and behaviours that would make them an asset to any care organisation. 

Employee referral schemes – which encourage staff to source candidates in exchange for rewards or compensation – are a proven way to recruit staff with the right values who are more likely to stay for longer. Employees referral schemes can be managed in various ways, including through the Care Friends app, which is used by over 700 care providers with over 40,000 app users. 

Research has found that values-based recruitment has resulted in lower recruitment costs, positive return on investment, increased staff retention, and better staff performance.

Top tips: 

• Use your workplace culture development to decide what values and behaviours you want to embed in your organisation and map these to job adverts.
• Support managers to implement values-based recruitment through effective training and development.
• Support candidates throughout values-based recruitment by being upfront about the style of interview in the job advert, and what values and behaviours you are seeking.
• Buddy up and/or mentoring new employees with another staff member on arrival, so they have a clear advice and support route immediately.
• Continuously review your values and behaviours as your culture evolves and ensure that your interview methods reflect this. Review your interview methods to see if it is boosting retainment and bringing in the right skills, values and attributes.
• Use an employee referral scheme to enable your current workforce to help recruit people with the right values to work for you.

Useful links

Manchester Metropolitan University’s value-based recruitment resources

Skills for Care’s Workshop and Seminars on values-based recruitment

Skills for Care’s Attracting people

Care Friends

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