Inspiring temporary care workers can be extremely challenging at times, especially when they know that their contract will eventually come to an end.
However, to ensure your patients and reputation stays intact, you need to get the most out of your employees.
What’s more, you may need to call upon these care workers again at some point, so it’s essential that you leave a positive lasting impression.
To help you achieve this kind of success, we’ve assembled some top tips on how to inspire your temp workers.
Celebrate achievements
It doesn’t matter how big or small an achievement is, you should take time to recognise it every week.
The care industry can be very relentless and tiring, so rewarding your employees with a simple mention or a bottle of fizz may just push them on to keep up the good work.
You should also set targets encouraging care workers to reach goals, as nobody will want to be singled out as the weak link.
Once again, incentivising this might add a welcome bit of friendly competition to the mix as well.
Unlike an office job, care work often throws up obscure shift patterns and long hours.
However, you should never turn down an opportunity to go out and let your hair down as a team.
Arranging a monthly meal, drinks or bowling night will make your employees feel valued and enable them to bond as well.
Give your team a purpose
According to ACAS,
“Employee engagement is about much more than this. It is about building trust, involvement, a sense of purpose and identity where employees’ contribution to business success is seen as essential.”
These words couldn’t ring any truer than in the care industry.
A lot of professionals working in this sector do the job for the love of helping other people, although you should always reiterate the key reasons why they are doing things for your organisation.
Giving your organisation an ethos and meaning will make your employees work harder, as they feel like they’re doing something positive.
Show empathy
Always take the time to listen to your temporary care workers.
Just because they aren’t employed on a permanent basis doesn’t mean that they aren’t valuable members of your team.
If they are finding any aspect of the job challenging or are experiencing some bad things outside of work, always keep your door open for a relaxed chat.
As Small Business Trends’ compelling article points out; a good leader knows their people.
If a worker feels a part of the team and appreciated, they’ll be more inclined to give 100% every shift.
Provide opportunities to develop
Attaining further qualifications and skills within the care industry is of paramount importance to most professionals, as it can lead to higher paid contracts and further opportunities.
If possible (and applicable), always give your temporary workers the chance to work with more experienced professionals or take different responsibilities.
A well-rounded temp care worker will be a lot more beneficial to your organisation in the present and the future.
If you have the capacity and time, run weekly meetings to catch up with them on a one-to-one basis.
During this time, you can highlight their achievements, set new goals and nurture them to become better at what they do.
Alternatively, just giving them a bit of feedback when you can is better than nothing.
Trust your temp workers
Micro-managing temporary care workers can really put them off your organisation and impact their productivity.
If they’re qualified at what they do, trust them to do the job effectively and professionally.
Trusting your employees is a matter of showing respect. If you do give them the freedom, there’s a high probability that they’ll flourish. However, if you don’t show them the respect and a certain level of trust, they might start losing the desire to help.
It’s a matter of getting the balance right between being a good attentive manager and an overbearing pain the backside!
Adding new responsibilities and mixing up their tasks can be a brilliant method to keep them feeling motivated and energised. If you constantly set them the same ones, they could get sloppy and make mistakes due to the monotonous nature of the job.
Dangle a carrot
Ok, don’t literally dangle a carrot!
But offering the possibility of extending a temp worker’s contract at the end can give them a much-needed bit of inspiration to strive for greatness.
If this isn’t possible, you could always just reassure them that they will receive a recommendation to take away to their next job, which can also help them boost their profile.
Final thoughts
The main take away points are to:
- Give them an extra reason to turn up to work every day by highlighting your organisation’s ethos.
- Challenge every temp worker to improve themselves by incentivising things.
- Show them respect, love and gratitude (it doesn’t take much to pick out a few achievements).
All-in-all, inspiring your temporary workers shouldn’t be too hard because of the nature of the professionals you’re dealing with.
You’ll find that most care workers already want to give something back and are motivated to do a wonderful job for their patients.
So all you need to do is give them a bit of recognition from time to time. If you do this, the chances are that you’ll position your organisation as a great place to work and as a place which patients can trust.
Do you need some help finding your next temporary care worker? Then register with us today.
