The importance of innovative thinking and harnessing technological solutions were themes raised at the recent Care Homes Conference.
The Webonboarding sponsored event featured a vibrant mix of industry experts, academics and some of the UK’s leading health and social care providers.
One of the keynote speakers was Martin Green, Chief Executive of Care England, who focussed on the need for new ways of thinking to handle the challenges posed by a current crisis in social care.
It was a message echoed by Annette Baines, Program Head for Skill for Care, who looked at the specific problems organisations face with recruitment and retention of staff in an increasingly competitive social care environment.
This was highlighted by some stark facts:
- 1.47m people are doing 1.6m jobs
- 30.7 percent is typical staff turnover rate
- 38 percent of hires leave within their first year
The difficulties of finding and keeping good workers is a consequence of record low unemployment levels and a sector with a poor public image; resulting in a lack of awareness of the rewards and opportunities on offer.
But there were also success stories and examples of organisations able to meet the challenges, achieving turnover rates below 10 percent. A key element of this was having a successful onboarding strategy in place.
Onboarding refers to all of the HR tasks required to bring successful job candidates into an organisation. This covers everything from contracts and offer letters to welcome packages and first day admin preparations. Plus it covers tasks management and ensures key items such as uniform is ordered ready for day one.
A move from traditional paper-based approaches to cloud-based management systems, changes the way that service providers can handle new hires – reducing onboarding times and improving the experience for new starters.
By removing the need for contracts and paperwork to be sent out, a task that can take weeks to complete is now able to be handled in a matter of days.
Digital tools also provide the tools needed to create a more positive and engaging experience for new starters, helping to minimise the risks of new hires dropping out of the onboarding process.
The Care Homes Conference was held at the University of Salford and jointly sponsored by Webononbarding and CPD Certified.
If you work in the health and social care sector and would like to find out how Webonboarding can support your processing of new starters, feel free to get in touch here.
