The family behind a Lincolnshire care home group say they have hired 135 new staff since taking full ownership last summer – despite a nationwide shortage of carers.
The De Savary family own Home From Home Care, which operates 11 care homes for individuals with learning disabilities, autism and complex mental and physical health.
They have been working hard to attract new starters despite a long-standing staff shortage in the sector made worse by the pandemic, and the requirement for all care home workers to be double vaccinated from November.
As well as increasing pay and benefits for every role, the company has introduced improved employee wellbeing, flexible working and fast-track career progression schemes.
On average, they said pay for all Home From Home Care team members has increased 19 per cent in the last year.
The business employs more than 400 people.
Managing director Paul de Savary said: “There’s been a looming staffing crisis facing our whole sector for many years but it’s really come to a head in the wake of the pandemic.
“Luckily, we saw this coming and since we were able to become a fully family-owned company in September, we’ve been able to bring in a load of changes to make sure that we’re the best employer we can possibly be.
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“Now that we have total ownership of our company, we’ve increased overall pay and remuneration expenditure by 19 per cent, we’ve introduced lots of new flexible working options and introduced fantastic systems and strategies to truly support their mental and physical wellbeing, prevent overloading and burnout, while ensuring that colleagues at all levels can share in the joy of care.
“We’re very passionate about making sure that care is a career in which people can gain real progression and growth on a personal and professional level while also having a direct impact in transforming the lives of the individuals we support.
“Training is hugely important and this doesn’t stop with a person’s induction; we continually invest in their futures so they can move onto a huge range of new and exciting roles.
“This is all making a big difference in terms of recruitment and retention, helping us to overcome the national staffing shortage to deliver outstanding care to some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.
“We still need to keep pushing for more and more people to join our growing team and we’re working on new ways to make roles even more accessible and flexible but, thankfully, we are now in a better position than many others in the sector.”
Sarah Kerrigan joined Home From Home Care on the company’s fast track training programme in the autumn.
After a series of promotions, she has progressed to become an assistant manager at Home From Home Care’s Kirk House, gaining a pay rise of almost 20 per cent since joining.
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She said: “The fast-track scheme has been really good. The training and mentoring has been fantastic and, after shift leading for two months, I’m now an assistant manager which is terrific.
“Every day is different and It’s been great to get to know all the individuals and my colleagues, working as a team at Kirk House.
“The highlight so far has definitely been supporting individuals at the events – the Halloween and Christmas parties were really fun and a chance to join other co-workers and individuals from different homes.”
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