Residents have their say when hiring new staff

Aged care providers are finding innovative ways to engage residents in decision making about their care, including having residents help in the recruitment of staff.

The quality of the staff in an aged care home is, of course, a key determinant of the quality of care. 

Aged care staff must have the right knowledge and experience to care for older people, but they also must have the right personality, they must have a genuine interest in older people, and empathy for people who are nearing the end of their lives. 

Being an aged care worker is a unique role where the personal is just as important as the clinical.

Having residents involved in the recruiting of staff can help providers ensure they are getting the right ‘fit’ – not only staff with the right skills, but also staff who know how to get on with the residents, know how to chat to them, have a laugh with them, and show genuine care and compassion.

The right thing to do

Opal Aged Care has embraced this ‘resident-centered’ approach to recruitment. Several of its facilities came up with the idea independently – simply because they individually felt it was the right thing to do – and now the organisation is developing ‘supporting guidance’ to help more of its 77 facilities introduce the practice.

The manager of one Opal home in Victoria explained the importance of getting aged care recruitment right, and how important it is to involve residents in the recruitment decision-making process. 

“This is our residents’ home. For that reason, we need to make the best hiring decisions that we can. 

“It’s very important that we involve our residents when we’re selecting the people we bring in to work beside them, and partner with them in their care.”

Residents gain a sense of worth, pride, belonging

Opal’s program has not only resulted in successful new hires, but it has also empowered residents, giving them a greater sense of worth and providing them with stimulation.

“They feel empowered, heard, included and proud that we ask them for their perspectives during our recruitment process,” the manager told HelloCare.

“In my observation it helps to deepen a resident’s feeling of belonging in the home.”

Another manager from an Opal home in Western Australia said the residents like to chat amongst themselves about the process, and more residents are keen to get involved. “The residents we involved have loved it, and it has created a talking point at lunchtimes with other residents. We’re now seeing more residents volunteer to take part in interviews,” they said.

How will they fit in?

Residents are generally brought at the second interview stage, where much of the clinical knowledge has already been assessed and there is a greater emphasis on ensuring the prospective employee is a good fit in terms of their personality.

“We always have a clinical team member involved in interviews to ensure the clinical requirements are met, as well as another member of our home leadership team,” the WA manager said. 

“Our residents explain their expectations to the potential candidates and they ask questions about how a candidate intends to meet those expectations. 

“A common topic of discussion is how they would respect the resident’s choices. They also like to engage the candidate in conversation to see if they would fit in with our culture and the personalities in our home.”

“Extra confidence we’re getting the right fit for our home”

Enabling the residents to help with recruitment has not only helped the residents, it’s also been beneficial for the managers and operators.

“This way of working gives us the opportunity to see a candidate from a resident’s perspective and their insights help to inform the decisions we make about hiring,” the Victorian manager said. 

“Our residents feel that they have more involvement in our home and we have that extra level of confidence that we’re getting the right fit for our home,” the WA manager told HelloCare.

Both managers said they would recommend the process in other aged care facilities.

Increased diversity

The process has had some surprising effects on the pattern of staff recruited as a result.

“Having a resident in the recruitment process certainly helps in identifying whether the potential candidate will be able to meet our residents’ expectations. What we’ve seen is that we’re hiring more people from different backgrounds and with more diverse sets of skills and experience which is an interesting outcome,” the Victorian manager said.

Often, both resident and management agree on who the best choice will be.

“So far, each time the resident and our team have been completely aligned on the preferred candidate,” the WA manager said. 

Having the residents’ feedback has also helped the recruitment managers understand what they should be looking for in staff.

“I think our residents’ insights are helping to shape the things we look for in candidates and the type of team member we’re employing.”

Scope to extend resident involvement

Residents are mainly involved in recruiting for care positions, but there is scope to broaden their involvement in future.

“At the moment we’re involving residents in recruiting direct care team members and we’re looking at how we could extend their involvement to other roles in the future,” the Victorian manager said.

Opal is now looking for other ways it can engage residents. For example, resident and relative forums provide an opportunity to provide input for refurbishments and garden designs.

Are residents involved in decision making in your home? Tell us about it in the comments below.