A study has revealed that staff turnover rates in the adult care sector remain high at 29%, with around 400,000 people leaving their jobs. Turnover is highest among younger staff, with 53% under 20 leaving within a year.
This highlights the long-term challenges facing the sector, with the report revealing that around 480,000 more posts need to be filled by 2035.
With no guarantees or promises of much-needed change coming soon to lessen these figures, it leads us to wonder if anything could make the workload of adult carers easier and more manageable.
Hannah Wilkinson, head of People and Culture at Radar Healthcare, discusses why there is such a high staff turnover rate in the adult care sector and how technology can help to combat this.
Why is there such a high staff turnover in the adult care sector?
Low pay
One of the main reasons for a high staff turnover is extremely high workloads and low salaries. Many carers have to travel long distances to reach their patients and are not fairly compensated, while many roles within the sector advertise with rates that don’t meet minimum wage – due to issues such as ‘sleep pay’, where carers rest during some of their shift and are then not entitled to their full wage.
Lack of experience
Due to limited training opportunities, many staff leaders in the adult care sector are not experienced enough for certain roles. In 2019, 33% of adult carers that left had not received relevant training. This leads to a lack of organisation and possible resentment within the team.
No work/life balance
In 2019, 40.5% of adult care workers admitted that they could not separate their work from their home life and did not spend enough time away from their jobs. Many carers also believe that the realities of the job are sugar-coated.
How new technology can help to reduce staff turnover?
Luckily, the world of healthcare technology is constantly improving, allowing companies like Radar Healthcare to enhance the quality of life for workers in the care sector. With regular compliance checks on offer, carers can ensure that every process is being completed safely and securely.
With Radar Healthcare’s single central interoperable system, communication can be improved, allowing teams and employees of all levels to liaise in one place – avoiding missed crucial information.
An incident slipping under the radar can become a thing of the past with advanced AI & machine learning, which makes it easy to set up triggers and alerts for certain periods when accidents may be more frequent. This allows carers to make informed decisions quickly and prevent life-threatening accidents.
Simple-to-use reporting allows managers to access valuable analytics whenever needed without worrying about Excel sheets or missing physical documents. This also simplifies overseeing large teams, as everybody’s data is stored in one place.
With so many packages, there has never been a better time to invest in the good of your employees and patients.
