Rebecca Pearson, General Manager, Bupa Care Services, Bupa Global & UK
In our business, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We look after some of the most vulnerable members of our society, requiring a strong workforce of committed, caring people. Our post-pandemic world, with a hot labour market and rising living costs, presents several risks to our workforce, at a time when it’s ever more important to promote good wellbeing.
But the good news is that there are many ways that we as providers can promote health, wellbeing and job satisfaction among our people. This can range from introducing new technologies that ease pressure on frontline teams, driving engagement, to creating pathways for long-lasting careers and highlighting the benefits available.
Digital solutions have the potential to transform the way care is provided, which can also drive job satisfaction. We know that caring is a passion for people in our sector, so it’s up to us to provide tools that enable them to spend more time with residents; whether through electronic care records to help reduce paperwork, digitising our compliance processes, or piloting the latest dementia memory apps and games.
With labour shortages and burn out risks for our workforce, we need to focus on retaining our talented people. Engaged employees who feel valued and recognised stay with their employer longer, so boosting engagement should be in every employer’s workforce strategy. Where providers have a network of homes, a disparate workforce can be seen as a barrier to engagement. However, technology can step in and help.
A highly interactive intranet can go a long way to driving engagement, incentivising teams to get involved. Gone are the days of top-down only company updates; a social media-style intranet can be used as a living, breathing hub where people can share ideas, gain recognition and crowd-source solutions. It’s a key pillar of our strategy to increase engagement at Bupa Care Services, and since the launch of our site, we’ve seen participation rising week by week.
To help people stay committed to a career in care with other industries competing for their attention, employers also need to think about how to deliver career progression, highlighting the opportunities available. For example, we know our people want to gain new skills and are hungry to learn, so we partner with the Open University to deliver training programmes and apprenticeships, and support talented people from overseas to achieve their UK Nurse PIN.
With mental and physical health high on the agenda it’s also important to support people in staying healthy and happy at work. In fact, the latest Bupa Wellbeing Index data shows that a third of employees (33%) believe their employers have a responsibility to support their health and wellbeing, and more than half (53%) say they are more likely to choose to work for an organisation which offers good health and wellbeing benefits.
At Bupa Care Services our people told us that they wanted more support with their physical and mental health at a time that worked around their shifts, so we’ve worked with the wider business to provide physiotherapy and mental health support, as well as GP and nurse helpline access available around the clock.
Ultimately, we know that we’re not alone in facing risks to our workforce, and some changes will need to be made at a government level. But the sector has a lot to offer, and through driving innovation within our own networks we can mitigate risks while providing a happy, healthy, long lasting career.
