Zero-hour contracts impacting on workforce ability to deliver high quality care

Zero-hour contracts are impacting the ability of care workers to provide an effective level of care to service users.

A new report from Manchester Metropolitan University suggests that these employment contracts increase anxiety around job security and hamper reliability in the independent care sector, creating strain and dissatisfaction with service provision.

Findings from researchers recommends increased adoption of secure contracts for the majority of domiciliary care workers and for zero-hour contracts to be used sparingly.

The report was commissioned by the Welsh Government to analyse the factors that affect the recruitment and retention of domiciliary care workers in the Welsh care industry as a whole but the main impact was felt in the independent sector.

Researchers highlight several factors influencing working conditions:

• long working hours for little financial gain;
• perception of the industry as low skilled;
• lack of continuous training;
• and short visits to service users affording a lack of time for care.

These factors combine to create a perfect storm that facilitates a high turnover of staff.

Lead researcher Carol Atkinson, Professor of Human Resource Management at Manchester Met, said: “It is clear that domiciliary care workers in Wales are doing a fantastic job, motivated by a sense of altruism to provide the best care possible. However, they face a mix of pressures that affect their ability and motivation to deliver domiciliary care to the standard they aspire to.

“Among the people we spoke to, zero-hour contracts were frequently cited as a major obstacle in providing service stability and job security. Workers and managers feel that their fluid nature is a disruption to schedules, and that affects reliability and continuity of care. This is compounded by several other elements that contribute to difficulties for staff in the sector.”

The report sets out a series of policy recommendations that the Welsh government could adopt to boost the recruitment and retention of domiciliary care workers in the independent sector.

Chief among these were:

• a well-trained, well-paid and secure workforce with appropriate working patterns;
• regulation or commission of secure contracts with minimal use of zero-hour contracts;
• enhanced training; sufficient time during care visits;
• boosting the image and perception of the care industry;
• and engagement with schools and colleges to attract younger workers.

The report, Factors that affect the recruitment and retention of domiciliary care workers and the extent to which these factors impact upon the quality of domiciliary care, was published last week by the Welsh government.

For the full report, log on to: http://gov.wales/statistics-and-research/factors-affect-recruitment-retention-domiciliary-care-workers/?lang=en