Employers must collaborate not compete

Employers must collaborate to improve the recruitment and
retention of staff, said speakers at a session on the social care
workforce.

Social care employers were in competition for staff with other
sectors such as supermarkets and call centres.

“If we lose a member of staff we joke that they have gone
to Tesco’s. But in most cases they really have gone to
supermarkets,” said Clare Smith, human resources director for
charity Leonard Cheshire.

Smith said that private and voluntary sector employers
identified inadequate fees as a major barrier to paying staff
adequate wages.

Carole Wilkinson, chief executive of the Scottish Social
Services Council, agreed that social care was competing with other
industries for staff and called for employers, colleges, funders
and sector skills councils to collaborate and influence the
development of training and recruitment initiatives.