Laurence Feather, Head of People at luxury residential care provider Connaught Care Collection, explores how prioritising staff mental health is key to delivering high-quality care and improving outcomes for those supported.
As budgets tighten across the UK care sector, there is a growing tendency to treat employee wellbeing as a kind of optional extra – something which is nice to have, but which isn’t essential for high-quality care. As a result, promising wellbeing initiatives tend to be sidelined for more ‘urgent’ operational priorities, whilst frontline workers are left to pick up the slack.
Sadly, whilst this may make sense as a short-term measure to cut costs, it brings with it many downsides that cannot be overlooked. When I joined the Connaught Care Collection as Head of People in February, my ambition was to, alongside the senior leadership team, send a crucial message to the industry: namely, that employee wellbeing is an essential part of exceptional care.
Take the current staff retention crisis as an example. Across the UK, staff turnover in care homes sits at 24.2% (about 350,000 leavers every year), whilst the vacancy rate is at 8.3% (131,000 open positions). Workplace stress is a major driver of this trend. Almost two-thirds of young care workers feel stressed on the job, and nearly 60% say they feel close to burnout. Shockingly, only about 19% of care workers say they have received adequate support from their employer.
The reality is: if people are severely stressed at work, they’re much more likely to leave. Prioritising employee wellbeing is therefore not just the right thing to do; it also makes sound business sense. Indeed, for every £1 invested in staff mental health employers get about £4.70 back in increased productivity and reduced absenteeism.
That’s why at Connaught Care we believe it crucial to take a person-centred approach to employee wellbeing. This means balancing the mental, physical, and financial health of staff, whilst allowing space for a healthy work-life balance.
For instance, in January we partnered with wellbeing and rewards platform YuLifei to encourage and reward healthy habits. Through the YuLife App staff can earn YuCoin, a digital currency, by engaging in habits like walking, meditating, and cycling. This can then be redeemed for rewards from brands like Nike, M&S, Amazon and ASOS, or can be donated to charity.
Every employee is also entitled to life insurance and regular health checks through Bluecrest Wellnessii which check for heart disease, stroke risk, ECGs, cholesterol levels, diabetes, protein and iron levels. In addition, in partnership with Health Assurediii we offer every employee 10 personalised counselling sessions, 1-to-1 financial coaching, a 5-week online menopause programme, and up to 6 life and leadership coaching sessions as well.
Through our listening sessions and employee engagement platform Winningtempiv, we also gather real-time insights into staff wellbeing through anonymous feedback on their job satisfaction. This data is used to shape decision-making across the company and incentivise managers to prioritise morale, stress levels, and good working conditions.
As of April 2025, we have also partnered with Mintagov to offer innovative salary sacrifice options to staff for things like childcare, groceries, EVs, and more. Because Connaught Care pays well above national minimum wage, this will allow the team to save on tax and NI whilst accessing Mintago’s expert-led webinars, pension tracking services, and retirement planning support. We are the first luxury care provider to do this.
Through each of these initiatives, our message is that staff will always be valued and supported in their roles. Working in a care home can be a stressful job, however, with proper support, I firmly believe it can also be the best job in the world.
By offering a market-leading employee wellbeing package, Connaught Care is leading the charge for person-centred care. We sincerely hope others in the industry will soon follow suit.
