Half of care workers say friends don’t understand their job

More than half the population don’t understand the caring professions like nursing and social work according to recruiter Randstad Care.  

They polled 173 people who work in the care sector to ask them if their friends really understood the industry that they worked in.  Randstad Care’s analysis showed that less than half (45 per cent) of nurses and social workers said their friends really knew what their job entailed – with just a third (31 per cent) saying their friends had a sophisticated grasp of the ins and outs of the job.

Victoria Short, MD of Randstad Care said: “Both nursing and social work suffer from unhelpful and inaccurate stereotypes.  The problem is that people think they know what these jobs entail – although very few have an accurate idea.  Perhaps it’s no surprise people don’t understand, given their portrayal in the media?  Nursing professionals are often belittled as battle weary matrons – neither an accurate or helpful comparison.  And few professionals can expect to receive as much hostility or negative stereotyping as social workers.  The weak representations of social workers occasionally found on TV reinforce the popular stereotypes of social workers as politically-correct bureaucrats. The image of social workers as trying to part children from their carers is particularly damaging.  No wonder we struggle to attract and retain quality candidates into the profession.”

The nursing and social care professions were less well understood than average.  While just 45 per cent of care sector workers said their friends understood their jobs, across the UK, 51 per cent of workers said the same.

Social workers and nurses are, at least, better understood than the automotive industry, where just one in every five workers say their friends understand their job (21 per cent) – the least well understood profession in the country.

Victoria Short said: “Not enough people appreciate the complexities or the benefits of the caring professions.  Nursing and social work are not simple jobs; they’re complex roles with a huge amount of responsibility.  Both need to attract more high-achievers who will make a success of the job as a long term career – but also people who see it as a vocation and a career where they can make a difference. We know we need to attract more graduates into the care sector but if they have an erroneous idea of what the job is all about, they aren’t going to be motivated to succeed in the job in the long run.  Let’s not forget there’s a huge shortage of social workers – we will find that very hard to fix if people don’t understand all facets of the job.”

Recently, Randstad Care has calculated the UK needs to recruit another 209,000 nurses and an additional 70,000 social workers by 2050 to meet the demands of the growing population.  With a projected population of 74.5m in 2050[i], the UK will require a workforce of over 938,000 qualified nurses and 162,000 social workers to support the demands of the country[ii].

Victoria Short continued: “The sector needs to work with TV and other media when they’re running relevant story lines to ensure scripts are as accurate as possible.  We also need to back the sectors’ leaders when they put their heads above the parapet – it was great to see the head of the College of Social Work step into the line of fire and attack media organisations for preying on social workers for instance.  Annie Hudson was absolutely right when she called for fairer, more balanced reporting of child protection cases.  But ideally, the care sector will also take a proactive approach and get on the front foot.  The Frontline programme, which has been designed to appeal to graduates who have the qualities to make good social workers, but who may currently be unfamiliar with opportunities in the sector, is an excellent example.  But that will all take time – it’s a long term project.  We also need to look at supply in the short-medium term.  One opportunity to promote this could be the upcoming legislation around flexible working requests for all, not just for those with families.”

A separate survey of over 9,215 British workers, carried out in conjunction with the annual Randstad Award on attractive employers, found that top three things that would persuade people to keep working were fewer hours, a more relaxed work schedule, and the possibility to adapt their working hours. The report also found that whilst men were more attracted to organisations that they felt could promote their career and were financial healthy; women look for work atmosphere, balance & flexible working, suggesting that the social care and nursing profession should do more to promote these aspects to potential applicants.