Explore practical recruitment and retention strategies for adult social care, including values-based recruitment, onboarding and workforce stability.
Recruiting the right people from the start can help reduce staff turnover and the need for repeated recruitment.
Keep applicants informed throughout the recruitment process with clear communication, regular updates and realistic timescales. This helps maintain their interest, creates a positive first impression and enables successful candidates to start their role as quickly 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 , 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.
To find out more about optimising your recruitment process and hiring people who stay book onto our Recruit to retain programme.
Top tips
- Clearly define the values and behaviours you want to see in your organisation and reflect these in your job adverts.
- Train managers to recruit people whose values align with your organisation and the people they support.
- Be clear with candidates about the interview process and the qualities you're looking for.
- Pair new starters with a buddy or mentor to help them settle in and feel supported.
- Regularly review your recruitment approach to make sure it attracts and retains the right people.
- Consider an employee referral scheme to encourage current staff to recommend people who share your organisation's values.
Case study
Getting it right from day one with inductions: Bowfell House
Bowfell House strengthened their recruitment, induction and onboarding processes to improve retention during the first 13 weeks of employment. They did this due to high staff turnover being costly and disruptive, they wanted to focus on recruiting the right people.
They introduced a more values-based recruitment approach, including face-to-face interviews and introducing candidates to staff and the people they support.
New starters were paired with a mentor, received regular supervision, and had a structured appraisal at the end of their probation period to help them settle into the role.
The results
Between September 2020 and September 2021, 14 employees left during their probation period. The following year, that number fell to zero.