Developing and nurturing full-time permanent staff is one thing, but what about temporary care workers?
There’s a big debate about whether an organisation really needs to use resource and funds on developing staff if they’re only there for a shorter period.
However, here at Temps4Care, we believe it can benefit your organisation and patients in a number of ways – here’s how.
Deter returning care workers
While a contract might come to an end, there’s always a high probability that you’ll need to fill those positions again in the near future or even extend their assignment.
So what happens if you don’t offer training for your temporary care workers?
Well, according to research, two out of three UK workers have admitted that they’ve changed job because of a lack of training and development opportunities.
Another study also found similar results, revealing that 46% of professionals said that their next move will probably be to another company.
This is a worrying statistic when you know how in-demand healthcare professionals are today.
Think of it this way, why would a temporary worker want to work for you again when they can easily find another employer who is more attentive and proactive in developing their careers?
Claire McCartney, the resourcing and talent planning advisor at the CIPD said:
“We’ve seen from our research that training spends are down”.
“It’s really important that employers identify the development needs of their employees. This will also help employers avoid being constantly hit by high recruitment costs as staff seek development elsewhere.”
Better patient care
The main reason a lot of good care workers choose a career in this sector is to help make a difference in patients’ lives.
However, the care industry is also extremely vast, with every job requiring different skills in some shape or form.
As a result, this makes it very hard for care workers to fulfil all of the tasks required without needing some sort of guidance or training.
Implementing practical training in your organisation can give carers the opportunity to personally develop and improve their skill set.
And who does this benefit? The patient.
With extended knowledge, every professional will be able to use these skills in creating a more valuable service to their patients.
Thus, leading to a greater quality of life for patients and an improvement to your reputation as an organisation.
Upskilling is a common term used in businesses and organisations today.
In layman’s terms, this simply means to teach an employee new things in order to fulfil another job.
If you allow temporary care workers to learn from permanent staff or more senior management, you’ll be giving your organisation an insurance policy.
So in the result of a manager leaving your organisation, you can then offer the role to someone who is capable of stepping up.
Just think about how much money you’d save on recruitment and all the time spent on conducting interviews.
You can even use the extra money to invest in more temporary workers to help manage patient expectations or buy more technology to assist the job requirement.
How to identify whether a temp wants more training
Not sure whether a temporary worker wants more responsibility or not?
To establish this answer, you need to work on your organisation’s work culture.
For example, you need to get to know your temporary care workers’ individual needs and requirements to ensure they’re happy.
In doing this, they’ll start to form an open and honest relationship with you – which can help you get the necessary information you need.
Try running weekly meetings with every staff member – whether that’s via the phone or in-person.
This open door policy should encourage temporary workers to raise any concerns and share their personal goals with you.
It’s important to remember that not every care worker will be interested in taking on more hours and responsibility.
In fact, some might favour the more flexible shift patterns to fit into their lifestyle.
That’s why, with weekly meetings, you’ll be able to identify who is interested in upskilling and the possibility of further opportunities within your organisation.
Alternatively, you could create a questionnaire for new starters to fill out.
This can consist of relevant skill-related questions which will enable you to get to know what areas a temporary worker specialises in and the ones which they need some help with.
It’s then your responsibility as an employer to act on it.
Ways to provide further training
In the care industry, there are often a lot of budget restrictions.
Therefore, it’s not feasible to send every care worker on day trips and enrolling them in extra qualifications – especially if they’re only with you for a couple of months.
However, giving them resources like books and online training programmes to complete is achievable.
Assigning just an hour a week will give them the extra time to learn new things and improve their service to patients.
If it’s humanly possible, it might also be beneficial to pair a temporary worker up with a more experienced employee.
This way, they can learn from them and pick up new valuable skills without the need to spend loads of money.
All-in-all, if you invest in staff training for your temporary care workers, they will put more effort into their jobs and show loyalty to your organisation further down the line.
If you need help in finding your next temporary care worker, register with us today.
