As a home care agency manager, you know from experience that not everyone is cut out for a career in social care. It takes a certain kind of person to put clients at ease and deliver personal care with respect and kindness 100% of the time.
Finding candidates who possess these qualities is one of the challenges of social care recruitment.
In this article, we’ll talk about a strategy that helps solve this problem: values-based recruitment.
What is values-based recruitment?
Values-based recruitment is the process of finding and hiring employees whose values align with those of your home care agency. oi
In contrast to traditional recruitment methods, values-based recruitment recognises that a person’s values and behaviours are equally important as knowledge and experience. A new employee can pick up practical skills on the job, but their core values and personality traits are fundamental aspects of who they are, and can’t be changed easily.
When the values of a company and its employees are aligned, everyone benefits. The workforce pulls in the same direction, the team is motivated, quality is maintained, and clients receive a better service.
Is it necessary?
The short answer to this question is no; a values-based recruitment strategy isn’t strictly necessary. However, many health and social care employers are adopting this approach with great results. In fact, the NHS now recommends values-based recruitment for all health and social care employers, and we’re seeing it used to good effect in the home care sector.
The benefits of values-based recruitment
- A workforce of carers who are well-suited to their roles, resulting in improved quality of care for clients
- Better staff retention as individuals are better suited to the company and stay for longer
- A cohesive team of employees who share a common outlook and approach to work
- Reduced conflicts within the team
- A coming together of like-minded people
- Lower rates of sickness and absence as staff feel happier and more aligned with their work
- A lower overall cost of recruitment
Build your own values-based recruitment framework
To build your own values-based recruitment framework, you must apply the concept to every stage of the recruitment process.
- Identify your home care agency’s core values.
You need to be clear on your values before you start the recruitment process. If you don’t already have a set of core values for your home care agency, think about someone on your team who is excellent at their job. What qualities do they demonstrate? Which personality traits make them likeable? How do your clients describe that person?
You can also ask your clients what qualities they value in a carer. Some examples of core values could be empathy, kindness, honesty and team spirit.
- Write the job ad with your core values in mind.
Make sure your company values are clearly outlined in the job ad and across all other content, including on your website and printed materials. You only want people who resonate with your approach to apply.
- Assess values during the hiring process.
Online screening tools are a good way to filter candidates according to their values before they reach the interview stages. One such tool is a situational judgement test, which presents a series of workplace situations to the candidates, asking them to choose the appropriate response from the options given.
The A Question Of Care test is a good example of a situational judgement test tailored for the care sector.
4. Hone in on values during Interviews
During a face-to-face interview, you can ask questions about various workplace scenarios to see whether the candidate’s responses match your agency’s core values.
You could even hold group interviews, asking candidates to discuss common challenging workplace scenarios. As well as hearing about how they’d react to different situations, you also get to see how they behave and interact with others in a group setting. Are they respectful to their peers? Do they give others a chance to speak? Are they easy to get along with?
Embed the company values in everything that you do.
Your company values should be at the core of everything you do; they should drive every process and action in your home care agency. Use them to boost the morale of the existing team while motivating and inspiring new starters.
Do you want more help to build a successful recruitment strategy? Download our eBook: Fast track recruitment. A practical guide to recruiting care staff in a crisis.
At Birdie, we want to help care agencies succeed in all areas of their business. In a recent survey we undertook, over 80% of those who responded told us that their greatest challenge as a home care agency was recruiting staff. We know that recruitment can be difficult so we've done the legwork for you. We've spoken with experts, compiled research and created useful articles, eBooks and webinars to help you. Explore this page to find the right resources to help you - from writing your job advert to implementing an onboarding process, we've got it covered. Explore our other content below:
How to advertise your care vacancy to attract the best carers
How to hire exceptional carers
Do you need a care recruitment agency?
10 care industry recruitment challenges and how to solve them
Carer Interview Questions: What Should You Ask?
Values-Based Recruitment Framework
Your Homecare Staff Retention Plan
Social Care Recruitment - 5 Tips For Success
Hired: Your complete guide to recruiting care staff
Practical advice for recruiting carers during the crisis
Even on a good day, being a carer has its challenges. To make life easier for your team, make sure you use the right digital tools to streamline their day and ease their workload. Adopting digital processes, including record-keeping and eMAR, can eliminate the need for paper trails and help free up the carer’s time so they can deliver the outstanding care your clients deserve. Using digital systems in this way shows candidates that you value their time and do all you can to reduce workload where possible. Find out more about the digital tools that can help your business here.
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