Report to Review of Recommendations Topic Group

REPORT TO REVIEW OF RECOMMENDATIONS TOPIC GROUP

Monday 17th September 2007

Recruitment and Retention in Adult Care Services 2001-2007

Report of the Director of People and Property

Author: Carole Grimwood

March 2001 – “Recruitment & Retention of Staff”

The Committee agreed that a short life topic group be set up with the following remit:

“To consider issues of staff retention and recruitment which has specific significance to Adult Care Services.” It was also agreed that 2 Members of the above Topic Group would be nominated to join the Resources, Prosperity, Partnership and Consultation Select Committee’s Panel on staff retention and recruitment generally throughout Council services.

Required:

A briefing note that includes a list of any specific recommendations made the relevant group plus a detailed update of the impact of the recommendations (if any) and the current status of said recommendation.

Table of Contents

1.0Outcome3

2.0Summary3

3.02002 Update5

4.02003 Update6

5.02004 Update7

6.02005 Update8

7.02006 Update9

Appendix10

1.0Outcome:

The recommendation that a short life topic group be set up with the following remit: “To consider issues of staff retention and recruitment which has specific significance to Adult Care Services” was subsequently rescinded at the Resource, Prosperity, Partnership and Consultation Select Committee on November 1st 2001. Following discussions amongst members it was agreed that one member panel would be established to consider recruitment and retention issues for the Resources, Adult Care Services and Children, Schools and Families select committees (See Appendix 1).

The following is a chronological summary of the actions that were taken and their impact on vacancy levels within Adult Care Services. In the reporting period (2002 to date) the following trends were recorded in vacancy levels:

2.0Summary:

Social worker vacancies fell from 25 WTE to 8 WTE

Occupational Therapist vacancies fell from 13.7 WTE to 0 WTE

RSW/NRSW vacancies fell from 78 WTE to 21 WTE

Day Service Operationsstaff vacancies fell from 69.4 WTE to 10 WTE

Key Initiatives:

• The Hertfordshire Heroes campaign was particularly successful, resulting in 54 appointments. A major advertising campaign was combined with a sleeker recruitment process resulting in high numbers of applicants and subsequently appointments.

• A recruitment strategy was developed exclusively for Occupational Therapists, the long term strategy focussed on a mix of “grow your own” initiatives and targeted recruitment interventions.

• Open Days were a useful tool for recruiting staff at all levels. Applicants had an opportunity to visit Residential Care centres and get first hand experience of opportunities available.

• A number of initiatives were put in place to raise the profile of social care amongst younger applicants. The Care Ambassadors programme visited schools across the County while the Modern Apprenticeship scheme successful recruited and retained nine employees.

• Converting temporary candidates on to permanent contracts led to over 60 new appointments while the “Recruit a Friend” scheme led to a further 25 new starters.

• ACS continuously reviewed and updated the information available to candidates via the Herts Direct website to take advantage of the increasing number of candidates applying on-line.

• A wide range of initiatives have also focussed on improving staff retention. These have included engagement in the Hertfordshire Heroes initiative, improved Induction training for Managers and for staff, changes to the career development scheme for care staff to make the process more transparent and easier to use and focus on establishments having the most difficulty with recruitment and retention.

3.02002 Update

Vacancies:

Feb / June / Sept / Dec
Social Worker / N/A / 25 / 23.2 / 26.4
OT’s / N/A / 11.5 / 11.5 / 13.6
RSW/NRWS / 48 / 41.4 / 34.5 / 46.4
Day Services / 59 / 54.4 / 59 / 69.4

Initiatives:

A recruitment campaign targeted theWatford and ThreeRivers area. This involved a large advertising campaign in both local and national newspapers. As a result 15 posts were filled across a range of jobsincluding Team Managers, SeniorPractitioners, Social Workers OT’s andadministrators.

A‘Recruit a friend’scheme was introduced on a pilot basis for specific shortage skill jobs such as social workers & OT’s. A £250 bonus was offered to staff who help the council to recruit people in shortage skill areas.

ACSand CSFalso developed joint advertisements promoting all roles with the departments which can be used to take advantage at short notice of ‘Special Offers’ to advertise in the national newspapers. The first advert for Occupational Therapists and Social Workers was published in the Special Supplement of The Independent.

Open Dayswere promoted extensively and held in October and November at four Residential Units which were experiencing recruitment difficulties. Theinitiative was a huge success with over 50people attending the Open days resulting in 19people being interviewed and 7 peopleappointed.

A new Recruitment Strategy was developed exclusively for the recruitment of OT’s. Thelong termstrategy focused on developing better linkswith Colleges and Universities, using moreeditorials, evaluating the information in OTadvertisements and offering specific trainingfor OT’s returning to the profession afterlengthy breaks. Dedicated quarter page advertswent out in national and local papers.

ACS introduced new training for the PersonalSocial Service (TOPSS) standards, which is an induction tool that offers support, and guidance for new members of staff throughout the social care sector.

4.02003 Update

Vacancies:

March / June / Sept / Dec
Social Worker / 18.7 – 9.6% / 14 – 12.75% / 13.7 – 12.47% / 17.2 – 11.35%
OT’s / 12.6 – 24.1% / 9.6 – 19.35% / 12.5 – 25.2% / 13.7 – 27.62%
RSW/NRSW / 43.2 – 12.4% / 78.8 – 18.3% / 62.5 -16.83% / 57.0 – 18.12%
Day Services / 64.6 – 15.6% / 37.96 – 9.83% / 39.5 – 9.6% / 37.34 – 9.99%

Initiatives:

ACS and the Recruitment Centre visited the University of Hertsin March,giving a presentation to a ‘full house’ of approx 45 students. The aim wasto recruit as many newly qualified social workers as possible & the event was a totalsuccess.

Day Services Career Development Scheme was launched in June 2003. This scheme enabled day service support workers to progress through the grading structure from H2 to H3 linked to NVQs and Day Service Organisers to progress from H4 to H5 again linked to NVQs. By March 2004 the career grade had helped to reduce turnover from 15% to 9% over an 18 month period.

Local bus advertising was launched in May promoting shortage vacancies. ACS advertising for Care Workers on the back of Safeway till receipts proved successful and no more expensive than normal ads, 18 people were appointed.

The Council’s new recruitment website was launched, improving access to social care vacancies. The new style site went ‘live’ in July accompanied by an extensive promotions campaign.

A major OT’s advertising campaign was launched in October 2003 using "Therapy weekly",a student guide which is sent to every newly qualified OT in the country. In 2003 2.5 WTE OT's were appointed through word of mouth and 2 OT's via adverts. 2 OT's joined on a 6-month rotation programme from health working at Dacorum EPD and Watford & 3 Rivers EPD.

A retention project was launched in ACS day and residential units. The top 6 units which have the highest turnover of staff were highlighted and reasons for leaving were analysed.

5.02004 Update

Vacancies:

May / Sept / Dec
Social Worker / 22.4 – 14.7% / 23.08 – 15.35% / 22.3 – 14.4%
OT’s / 12.7 – 25.3% / 13.7 – 27.26% / 4.0 – 8.1%
RSW/NRSW / 78.8 – 20.6% / 61.86 – 16.2% / 67.8 – 17.8%
Day Services / 42.3 – 9.0% / 38.28 – 9.3% / 44.61 – 9.0%

Initiatives:

Public Open days were held at 4 key residential units in February. These were designed for prospective employees to get more of a flavour about what working in a care unit entailed. They were also able to meet staff in the units and apply for a vacancy on the day. Approximately 75 people attended these events and a number of appointments were made. Further open days were held in September ‘04’ to recruit for support staff roles in units. As a result of these 3 out of the 4 vacancies were filled. 130 people attended six Residential & Day Care Staff open days in units and Manpower high street branches. 20 permanent vacancies were filled with an additional 30 people taking up temporary work with HCC.

A major campaign using open days, national press and local press saw continued reductions in OT vacancies. By June 4 appointments were pending and the end of the year saw the two year total for the campaign reach 10.5 appointments.

ACS met members of the Black and Asian support group and the Recruitment Centre with the aim of increasing the number of appointments from BME communities. Open days were held in Mayin Borehamwood and Watford and promoted through local papers, posters in Community Centres and leaflet drops in the relevant areas. 24 people attended and one residential social worker and a number of unqualified care workers were recruited.

Manual Grade(s) Open Days were heldin August to assist in recruiting manual grade workers in3 Day Centres. The focus was on recruiting caretakers, kitchen assistants,cooks and assistant cooks. The events were very successful and all vacant positions were filled.

The Social Care content on the Herts Direct website was updated to capitalise on the growing success of web based advertising. 48 ACS web appointments were made in 2004.

Work was done with managers encouraging them to make better use of the “Temp to Perm” process. 55 new starters came through this route since April 2003 including four Socialworkers and OT’s while the total number of ‘Recruit a Friend’ appointments reached 19.

Day & Residential Centres piloted a corporate assessmentapplication form which reduces the length of the recruitment process with thecompletion of formal applications forming part of the interview process.

6.02005 Update

Vacancies:

May / Oct / Dec
Social Worker / 21.8 – 14% / 21.4 – 13.9% / 24.4 – 15.9%
OT’s / 3.4 – 6.9% / 0 – 0% / 0 – 0%
RSW/NRSW / 47.76 – 12.5% / 32.9 – 8.6% / 33.8 – 8.9%
Day Services / 48.75 – 9.8% / 25 – 5.0% / 32 – 6.5%

Initiatives:

TheHertfordshire Heroesrecruitment and retention campaign was launched. It started in February and coincidedwith the new National Public Sector Jobs Week. The campaign initially targeted CareWorker roles and was later rolled out to cover other frontline workers.

The Heroes campaign includes: -

• The use of Employee Focus Groups to inform the detailed direction and content of the campaign.
• Simpler and quicker recruitment and selection processes
• A major advertising campaign – both editorial and advertising using images and case studies of care workers and others.
• High profile conferences for existing employees, in recognition of their contribution to the high quality of service delivery.

Over the course of the year 54 appointments were made.

A joint campaign was run with CSF from September 2004 to January

2005. A total of eight applicants were appointed for both ACS and CSF.

The OT’s campaign of Winter 2004 saw a further 4 appointments which meant there were no further vacancies in ACS.

Residential and Day Care Staff Open Daysresulted in 31 out of 50 vacancies being filled initially with a further 10 vacancies filled later in the year. The success of this campaign was linked to style of advertising, the revised interview and application process, and use of Manpower High Street branches.

The Herts Care Providers Association in conjunction with ACS and Oakland's college launched a project called 'Care Ambassadors'. The aim of the scheme is to raise the profile of careers in the social care sector to young people aged 14-16 in Hertfordshire's secondary schools, highlighting the various career paths available and the rewards they can offer. To achieve this ACS sought to recruit and train 10 to 15 young people aged 18 - 24 to become 'Care Ambassadors'.

10 Modern Apprentices were recruited to join a new care scheme.
7.02006 Update

Vacancies:

June / Dec / Mar 2007
Social Workers / 22.36 – 16.3% / 8.44 – 6.2% / 8.0 – 5.8%
OT’s / 1.49 – 3.9% / 1.49 – 3.9% / 0 – 0%
RSW/NRSW / 33 – 9.5% / N/A / 21.0 – 6.0%
Day Services Op / 34 – 10.8% / N/A / 10.0 – 3.2%

Initiatives:

Management induction sessions were held to improve management skills as a retention tool. The first pilot took place during April 2006, and included 21 managers and supervisors.

A total of 9 day and residential staff were recruited to theAmbassadors for Care Scheme and 15 scheduled school visits took place. The feedback was extremely positive with over 80% of the pupils attending the seminars stating that their perception of Social Care has changed. Of the nine staff, two are from the private and voluntary sector, the remaining seven are from Leyden House, Bishops House, Tanners Wood and Hornbeams, with experience of both day and supported living. To assist, a CD-ROM has been produced in conjunction with CSF, which promotes HCC and the work of our care staff. This is being distributed through schools, universities, libraries and graduate recruitment fairs.

The Modern Apprenticeship scheme saw 9 trainees continue there training through to completion. The pilot will be reviewed in April 07. While there have been some initial issues with the College, the Scheme has been well received by both students and managers

Appendix

01/11/2001 -HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

RESOURCES, PROSPERITY, PARTNERSHIP AND CONSULTATION SELECT COMMITTEE

• One member panel is being established to look at Recruitment and Retention for the Resources and Prosperity, Adult Care Services and Children, Schools and Families Committees. This will sit outside the Best Value Process.

1. Background

At the March 2001 meeting of the select committee a report was presented on recruitment and retention. It was subsequently decided that the decision to establish a member panel to consider this issue should not be implemented as recruitment and retention issues were to be a key focus of member panel under the Best Value Review of People and Employment. This began in September 2001 and will report in March 2002 with recommendations for change. However following further discussions amongst members it has now been agreed that one member panel will be established to consider recruitment and retention issues for the Resources, Adult Care Services and Children, Schools and Families select committees. This will sit outside the best value process. In the meantime work is being progressed across all services to improve the council’s performance on recruitment and retention.

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