However, speaking with one care organisation after another, there is a common theme – care worker churn.
It’s a major pain point in the health care industry. So, how can we overcome this?
Reducing employee churn and burnout
In government research and various studies into care worker churn, it revealed that low pay rates, significant lag between start date and receiving their first shift, and inconsistent hours or not enough shifts were key reasons for staff leaving a care organisation – and in some cases the caring industry altogether.
Other issues to surface are the lack of training for care workers, inaccurate matching of care workers to clients, outdated client information, too much paperwork at the end of the day, poor compensation and the demanding nature of the job.
While some of these reasons are more difficult to overcome than others, the use of innovative software can address a number of these issues.
How human centric technology can help
The AlayaCare software is designed for mobility. With mobility, client information can be in the hands of care workers in the field, on their mobile phone or iPad. Care workers have real time access to rosters, client plans, any client risks (e.g., client has peanut allergies), and any visitation risks (e.g., client has a dog).
Charmaine Grogan, Care Companion for Perth CCC, said, “AlayaCare [mobile app] has really helped me with my work life. It’s really efficient as I can just get on to the app and find any information about any clients that I need to know.”
Another care worker, Mitzi De-Klerk of Avivo, shared,“I don’t have to come home and spend any time filling in information, so that it gets to the office. All that pressure has been taken off with what’s in AlayaCare.”
Increased job satisfaction and productivity
There are many other benefits with the AlayaCare mobile app as well. The functionality of the app has brought a new way of working, a new way of operating, and that makes the job of a care worker so much easier and more enjoyable.
Some of those other benefits include being able to simply clock in and out of each visit, a convenient map functionality built in with directions to each visit, mileage between visits calculated automatically, easily enter any notes about the client in real time, and there’s no paperwork at the end of the day – which solves some key care worker churn issues and increases job satisfaction.
Annette Hili, General Manager of AlayaCare, shared, “We want the user experience to be a great one for every person who interacts with our software, so they can get on with the key part of their role, which is supporting their clients and growing their business”.
To find out more about AlayaCare and how they can help empower care organisations to achieve better health outcomes, visit their site and request a demo by clicking here.
Of all the issues you mention in your article that had to be the easiest to address and that is not exactly new.
Now it is time to tackle the real issues that only employers can manage but they have to be willing to change. Cultural shifts need to be made so that carers are actually valued and not just “lip service” paid to how important they are.
While this article is basically an advertisement for software, it makes a good point.
In my more than 40 years of dealing with the Disability Sector for my son, and more than 30 years of dealing with the Aged Care sector for older family members one point is obvious.
Those organisations that carefully chose competent Managers and carefully chose individual Care Workers are able to invest in those staff and treat them with respect.
Reasonable workloads, good training and opportunities for advancement generally means a happy workplace, clients who are well cared for and low staff turnover.
Those organisations who say its not possible need to have a really serious review of their business. Perhaps its not a viable business ? Perhaps some small changes will make a big difference.
High staff turnover is a symptom of a poor business, rarely the cause.