A values-based approach to recruitment and retention can result in reduced staff turnover and improved staff performance, according to research from Skills for Care. That’s why Skills for Care is working with Oxfordshire county council and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass) in the south-east of England to show employers how they can adopt a values and behaviours-based approach to recruitment and reap the benefits.
What is values-based recruitment?
It involves focusing your recruitment efforts on candidate’s values, behaviours and attitudes, rather than their experience and skills. It’s different from traditional approaches but employers already using this approach are reaping the rewards. The approach opens the potential to reach new pools of candidates who have the right values to work in care, who you might not have found using traditional methods – increasingly important for social care employers recruiting in highly competitive labour markets.
Does it work?
A study published in April 2016 suggests that on the whole, employers using a values-based approach to recruitment and retention reported:
- staff performed better
- staff had stronger care values
- a lower staff turnover
- a positive return on investment (£1.23 for evey £1 spent).
The Skills for Care chief executive, Sharon Allen, said:
Making the right recruitment decisions has never been more important. Values and behaviours-based recruitment takes a different approach to finding the right people to work in your organisation. By exploring candidates’ values, behaviours and attitudes, evidence shows that employers are making better recruitment decisions - selecting people who, from day one, are a good fit for the organisation, have a natural aptitude for providing quality, personalised care and - crucially - are more likely to stay.
Since 2014, Oxfordshire county council has worked with local social care providers to promote values based recruitment. The council developed a suite of materials and training sessions that have helped employers to implement this radically different approach to finding the right people to work in their organisation.
Following its success, the council is working with Skills for Care to roll out the approach across England, with support and funding from south-east ADASS.
From October, Skills for Care will be delivering seminars across the country to support employers with values-based recruitment. Recruiting for values in social care: interviewing for values, behaviours and attitudes will equip delegates with new interviewing skills and techniques to ensure they recruit workers with the values, behaviours and attitudes needed to work with people who need care and support.
Skills for Care is also updating its online values and behaviours based recruitment and retention toolkit with useful guidance and practical resources including:
- an example values and behaviours framework for the adult social care sector
- assessment centre best practice guidance
- case study examples from providers who use values and behaviours based recruitment practices
The initiative has been welcomed by Care Quality Commission chief inspector, Andrea Sutcliffe:
I welcome this new piece of work as a framework for good practice for staff recruitment and retention across adult social care services. Following the introduction of our new regulatory approach to monitoring, inspecting and rating services in October 2014, we know that the recruitment, ongoing support and development of staff is critical in the delivery of great care. I hope providers can make full use of this resource as a way of continually improving for the benefit of people using services, their families and carers – which is what we all want to see.
Rachel Lawrence, commercial manager – workforce at Oxfordshire county council, added: “Great care and support can only be delivered by people who have the right values, behaviours and attitudes. That’s why Oxfordshire county council is asking commissioned service providers to adopt a values and behaviours-based approach to recruitment.”
Gary Bye, chief executive of Life Path Trust who participated in Oxfordshire county council’s original values-based recruitment project, said:
Recruiting the right people to work in our organisation has become ever more challenging. However, since we took part in the Oxfordshire Project, we’ve overhauled our recruitment processes.
All our managers have now been trained to recruit for values and behaviours that align with those of the organisation. We’ve made better decisions and we’re starting to see the benefits. We’re changing and improving the organisation from the inside, through the people we recruit.
To find out more about values-based recruitment visit our website.
Content on this page is produced and controlled by Skills for Care, sponsor of the Guardian Social Care Network leadership, learning and development hub
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