Engage: How a good induction helps social care providers keep the right people

As a part of their #KeepTheRightPeople campaign, Jayne McCabe, Skills for Care Project Manager, discusses how a good induction supports social care providers to retain staff and the launch of their new induction resources.

Welcoming new staff into your organisation is not just about getting them started on the right foot—it’s about setting the stage for their long-term success. A large proportion of staff turnover arises from workers leaving their posts soon after joining. Our research shows that care workers with less than one year of experience in role have much higher turnover rates (45.9%) than those with 20 years or more (14.0%).

When new staff members feel welcomed, valued, and confident in their abilities from day one, they are more likely to remain engaged and committed to their role. Additionally, a well-conducted induction enables your organisation to deliver a higher quality of care by ensuring that everyone is equipped with the knowledge and resources they need.

Not only do effective inductions support with staff retention, which saves you time and money, but they also lead to higher quality care and better Care Quality Commission (CQC) ratings. This is why Skills for Care has developed a new induction toolkit – to help your organisation plan, design and improve your current induction.

Induction toolkit

Our new induction toolkit is designed to help managers plan and deliver a supportive and inclusive induction for new starters at all levels across all types of roles in adult social care.

When you access the toolkit, you’ll find free resources that will help you prepare for the arrival of a new staff member and guide you through this initial period. It’s also broken down into helpful milestones, such as their first day, week, month and beyond.

This includes checklists to track your new starter’s progress, assessment documents to help you improve your induction processes and plenty of guidance on what factors are important to consider.

The toolkit also includes guidance on inclusion, diversity, cultural awareness and inducting disabled workers and agency staff.

You can access our new induction resources by visiting www.skillsforcare.org.uk/induction

Coming soon: Skills for Care is working with NHS England to create a new free-to-access national induction programme for health and social care. It’s designed to support and equip new starters with a clear understanding of health and social care, helping to build a sense of belonging and support retention.

About The Author

Jayne McCabe is Programme Manager Leadership Development at Skills for Care.

Jayne has worked in a wide variety of leadership development roles across key policy areas including education, health and social care, engaging leaders, sharing concepts, developing concepts and ensuring that leadership at all levels is at the heart of organisations.

At Skills for Care, Jayne has been working on the leadership programmes, attracting graduates to the sector and developing the leaders of tomorrow for health and social care.

Picture (c) Linkedin.