Session 4: Supporting carers in the workforce
RT_4Caring_Counts_in_the_Workplace
Session 4: Supporting carers in the workforce
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Contents
- Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- Making my caring experience count
- Thinking about transferable skills
- Returning to work
- Support for carers
- Support within the workplace
- Factors that might help or hinder carers
- A carer’s support network
- A culture of support
- Summary
- References
- Acknowledgements
Introduction
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Figure 4.1
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Carers and carers’ organisations tell us that there are different reasons why carers choose to return to work. A change in circumstances may mean that the time is now right for them to think about returning to work.
This could involve building on the knowledge and skills they have gained from caring to pursue care-related employment, such as health, social care or social work. They may return to their previous career, or their skills could be transferable to a completely different career.
This session draws on the experiences of individual carers to illustrate their motivations for returning to work, and how the skills they have gained are transferable to different roles. It will also explore the support available to carers returning to work, and specifically how you can support carers in your workforce.
Learning outcomes
After working through this session you will have:
- a clearer understanding of the experiences of carers
- an appreciation of the various skills, qualities and attributes that carers may develop and how some of these are transferable to work contexts
- an understanding of carers’ motivations to return to work, or to balance paid employment with their caring role
- an awareness of the factors that may help or hinder carers who are in paid employment, and the support available to them
- an understanding of your role, and your organisation’s role, in supporting carers in your workforce.
Making my caring experience count
In this session we will meet Naomi who cares for her daughter. Naomi is considering returning to the workforce. You will explore her motivations for returning to work and how the skills she has gained from her caring role are transferable to employment.
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Naomi
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Figure 4.2 Naomi (Library image)
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Naomi is 24 and a single parent. She left school at 15 with no qualifications and before having her daughter she worked in call centres. Her daughter, who has just started school, is visually impaired because she has albinism. Caring for her daughter has changed Naomi’s ambitions and she has decided she would like to develop a career in social work.
These are the steps Naomi has taken from making that decision to starting to gain experience and qualifications that will lead her towards achieving that goal.
- Naomi decided she wanted to get qualifications to give her daughter a better life. Her daughter inspired her to get started. She decided she wanted to do something in social care.
- As she needed qualifications and experience, Naomi looked into volunteering and studying.
- She has good support from her mum and her gran, and her brother suggested she try The Open University.
- Naomi heard about an advert for a Children’s Hearing Panel member, applied and was accepted. This experience gave her an insight into social work, which she would like to pursue as a career.
- She started the health and social care course with The Open University. She would prefer to be in college with more face-to-face learning but knows she’d be financially worse off doing that.
- Naomi has applied to do further voluntary work to support parents, giving her even more insight into the kind of work undertaken by social workers.
Naomi has started K101 An Introduction to Health & Social Care, which is an overview of health and social care and an introduction to learning in higher education.
She is also studyingKYJ113Foundations for Social Work Practice– a key introductory level 1 Open University course that develops knowledge of the key roles of social work and introduces the social work standards and codes of practice relevant to each UK nation.
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Thinking about transferable skills
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Figure 4.3
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Naomi is working towards a career in social work. The following is a list of the skills, qualities and attributes that a social worker would need:
- excellent communication and people skills
- the ability to relate to people of all ages and backgrounds and gain their trust
- a practical and flexible approach to work
- tact, patience and empathy
- an understanding of the needs of different client groups
- a non-judgemental attitude
- the ability to work in a team and also use their own initiative
- the ability to assess situations and take appropriate action
- resilience – for coping with difficult situations and challenging cases
- good time management and organisational skills
- computer literacy and administrative skills.
(Source: National Careers Service, 2012)
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Activity 4.1 Reflection on carers’ skills, qualities and attributes developed through their caring role
We suggest spending around 15 minutes on this reflection activity.
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Think about the following question and make some notes in your notebook or Reflection Log.
- Looking at the skills, qualities and attributes above, how might Naomi’s caring experience prepare her to become a social worker?
Go to Activity 4.1 in your Reflection Log. Once you have completed the activity make sure you save the document again. Alternatively, you can use this document but don’t forget to save it.
If you are doing this course as part of a group or with a mentor then you can share your answers and discuss your notes with others.
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Returning to work
Drawing on Katrina’s experience of returning to a career in nursing you will explore the skills, qualities and attributes carers can bring to the workplace.
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Katrina
Katrina, 49, is married and has five children, two of whom live at home. One of her sons has autism and attention deficit disorder. As her sons got older Katrina found she had more time for herself and knew she wanted to do something but wasn’t sure what. She took up an Open Universityaccess course, which she passed. This gave her the confidence to take a Return to Nursing Practice course at university, something she’d been thinking about for ten years but didn’t think she’d ever manage to do. Two years on, she was working as a support worker in her local mental health unit waiting for her nursing registration to come through so that she could apply for a job as a staff nurse.
Listen to Katrina talking about her return to nursing.
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While caring for her son during his childhood it just wasn’t possible for Katrina to study or to think about returning to work full time. However, she did manage a few different jobs while caring. As her son grew up it was possible for her to think about returning to work, but she didn’t know where to start. There didn’t seem to be too many jobs around. But when she heard about Open University courses that were free to carers, she was able to recognise the opportunity they offered.
These are the steps Katrina took to get back to her nursing career.
- Doing some part-time work fostering other children and working as a childminder while still caring for her son.
- Her local Carers Centre told her she could study for free with The Open University because she was a carer, so she decided to take the plunge.
- Katrina started studying with a group of other carers as part of a collaborative initiative between the carers centre and The Open University.
- Succeeding with this course then gave her the confidence and impetus to plan her next steps and think about returning to work.
- With the support of the carers centre, Katrina looked into how she could return to nursing, having gained the confidence to do a Return to Nursing Practice course.
- She subsequently started working in a mental health unit.
Katrina completed Y177 Understanding Society (a former OU access module that has been replaced by the Y032 People, Work and Society access course) and a reflection course. These gave her the confidence to do a Return to Nursing Practice course.
Katrina has now received her registration documents and is working as a staff nurse in her local hospital. She continues to care for her son.
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Activity 4.2 Looking at person specifications
We suggest spending around 30 minutes on this activity.
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Bearing in mind what you have learned about the carers and their experiences in a caring role we would now like you to consider what carers may bring to your organisation.
- Identify a person specification for a job in your organisation.
- Explore the information in the person specification, so that you are able to respond to the following questions:
- What knowledge, skills, qualities and attributes are required in the person specification?
- What might someone with experience of caring bring to the role?
- What kinds of question could an interview panel ask to identify some of these things during recruitment?
Go to Activity 4.2 in your Reflection Log. Once you have completed the activity, make sure you save the document again.
You can complete this activity on your own or in pairs if you are in a group. Remember to save your answers because you will return to these in future activities.
You can use your Reflection Log to record what you’ve found out or use this table. Whichever you use, remember to save the document.
If you completed this activity in pairs or in a group environment, you may want to discuss your answers.
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Support for carers
So far you have thought about the skills, qualities and attributes carers can develop as part of their caring role. You may manage a carer who is returning to paid employment or someone who has been combining their work and caring roles. Now you will look at the support available for carers in the workplace and in the wider community.
For some carers, support might mean joining a carers group. For example, the young adult carers in Renfrewshire have a social group that meets fortnightly. They take part in a range of activities, learning together and supporting each other in their caring roles. Joining a support group may just be about having fun with people who understand the challenges in carers’ lives.
Clair, a young adult carer in Renfrewshire, comments about what she gains from being part of the young adult carers group.
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Everyone needs a break from their emotions, you know, just to kind of sit and have a laugh and a chat with someone, get it all out, you know.
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Listen to young adult carers Clair, Jade and Scott talking about how they support each other.
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Support within the workplace
The following two case studies show how support within the workplace can make all the difference to employees who have a caring role.
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Michael
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Figure 4.4 Michael (Library image)
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Michael is 49 and a skilled mechanical engineer. He has worked for the same Aberdeen-based construction company for the last 20 years. For the past four years Michael has been caring for his wife Linda, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in her early 40s. As Linda’s condition became more serious and she required more care, Michael found that coping with the household duties and caring for Linda, as well as fulfilling his role at work, was becoming increasingly challenging.
For a while Michael didn’t want to raise the issue at work and continued to juggle his responsibilities without asking for any kind of support or speaking to anyone about the impact that caring was having on him. He didn’t actually think of himself as a carer – he ‘was just helping to look after his wife – as anyone would do’. He found it a very stressful and tiring time but continued to work as normal, and if he ever needed to take Linda to hospital or for an appointment, he would use annual leave to take a morning or an afternoon off work, but also worried about doing this, especially if it was at short notice.
Michael is part of a small team of highly skilled and experienced engineers, each with an important part to play in the company. Sometimes he and his colleagues are required to travel beyond Aberdeen to work on site at developments across the North East of Scotland, if necessary including overnight stays. Eventually, Michael felt he had to speak to his senior manager about the impact his caring role was having on him and his ability to continue in his current role at work. His manager and colleagues knew Michael’s wife was unwell, and although they saw he was clearly tired, had assumed he was coping and everything was under control.
After a discussion with his line manager, Michael and his colleagues were asked to a team meeting to talk about how best Michael could be supported to balance his work and caring responsibilities. The company was keen to retain a valuable member of staff and wanted to ensure that the team was involved in any decisions around this.
The company didn’t have any formal flexible working policies in place but were happy to accommodate any times when Michael might need to alter his hours to come in or leave a bit earlier or later if necessary. They also assured him that he’d be able to take time off for hospital appointments or emergency situations. The team were similarly happy to support Michael as a colleague and have agreed an arrangement that means he does not have to work away from home.
Being able to work more flexibly has been a tremendous help to Michael who, as a result, feels less stressed and more able to cope. Equally important is knowing that the company understands about his caring situation and supports him.
Recognising that Michael’s situation may be one that others in the organisation could experience, the company is now looking at how it can develop its support to carers in the workforce:
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Realising that we could potentially lose Michael was a bit of a wake-up call and has really made us think about how important the health and well-being of our employees is to the company as a whole.