How to Retain Your Care Team | Care Recruitment Tips
5 Things Every UK Care Employer Needs to Get Right
Go to any care show, conference, meeting or discussion about recruitment in the UK and you'll hear the same subjects coming up again and again:
Recruitment. Retention. Staff shortages.
For home care providers, care homes, supported living organisations and NHS teams, keeping great people has become one of the biggest challenges facing the sector.
But why?
When did recruitment and retention become so difficult?
And, perhaps more importantly, are we looking at the problem in the right way?
The Cambridge Dictionary defines retain as:
“To keep or continue to have something.”
But I'd define retention in the care sector very differently:
“To continue to develop and grow your existing team so they can become better people, not just better care staff.”
Because that's what retention should really be about.
It's not simply about stopping someone from handing in their notice.
It's about creating an environment where people want to stay.
And I don't believe the answer is simply throwing more money at recruitment, putting more jobs on Indeed or offering free pizza on a Thursday.
I've worked as a Care Assistant and Support Worker myself, including in domiciliary care with young people and adults, working across companionship, personal care, autism and challenging behaviour.
That experience taught me something incredibly important:
Care is about people.
And if you want to retain your care team, you have to start treating them like people.
First, let's look at two completely different experiences 👇
Employee A
On their first day, they're welcomed warmly.
They meet the office team.
They receive a proper induction and a welcome pack.
They're introduced to other members of the care team.
They're told about the organisation's values, culture and expectations.
Their training is thorough.
People actually seem happy to see them.
They leave thinking:
“I've made the right decision coming here.”
Employee B
On their first day, nobody really acknowledges them.
The office team are stressed and too busy to speak to them.
They're left sitting in a room filling out paperwork.
There's little or no meaningful induction.
The first conversation they have is:
“Where do you live?”
“Do you know so-and-so?”
“Let's hope you last longer than the last person.”
Their training is rushed and they're quickly told:
“You'll learn by being thrown in at the deep end.”
Which of these two employees do you think is more likely to stay?
It's obvious.
Yet I see versions of Employee B's experience far too often.
And then those same organisations ask:
“Why can't we retain staff?”
Retention isn't free pizza 🍕
I've spoken to countless care providers who, when I ask:
“What are you doing to retain your staff?”
give me answers like:
“We're one of the top providers in the area. People are lucky to work for us.”
“They can look at our reviews and see what a great company we are.”
“We give everyone free pizza on Thursdays.”
“We pay time and a half on bank holidays.”
“We have a Christmas party.”
“We pay above National Living Wage.”
Now, none of these things are necessarily bad.
But they aren't a retention strategy.
Retention is about the entire employee experience.
From the first phone call to the first day.
From the first shift to the first six months.
From training and development to management support.
From how you communicate with someone to how you respond when their personal circumstances change.
That's where retention is won or lost.
So, what should you actually be doing?
1. Build the right internal culture 🤝
Retention starts before you've even recruited someone.
Who is responsible for recruitment in your organisation?
Who makes the first phone call?
Who interviews candidates?
Who welcomes new starters?
Who checks in with them?
Who notices when someone is struggling?
And, importantly:
Do those people genuinely represent the values of your organisation?
You can have the best recruitment strategy in the world, but if the people delivering it are cold, negative, disinterested or disconnected from your values, candidates and employees will feel it immediately.
Your team needs to understand:
“This is how we treat people here.”
And that standard needs to apply to everyone — from the newest Care Assistant to the Registered Manager.
2. The little details matter ❤️
Not everyone who applies for a care role is looking for the same thing.
You might have someone who has always wanted to work in care but has no experience.
You might have an experienced carer who has fallen out of love with their current employer.
You might have a student looking for experience before going into nursing, medicine, occupational therapy or another healthcare profession.
You might have someone who simply needs a job.
Or you might have someone who doesn't financially need to work at all — but wants to do something meaningful and give something back.
They're all individuals.
So why do we communicate with them as though they're all the same?
Think about your recruitment conversations.
Are you asking questions?
Are you listening?
Are you understanding what motivates that particular person?
Are you explaining how your organisation could fit into their life?
This doesn't stop when they're hired.
The same principle applies to retention.
Know your people.
3. Be flexible — without becoming a pushover
Let's be realistic.
Care isn't a traditional 9–5 job.
Clients need support at specific times.
People need continuity of care.
Rotas need to work.
I completely understand that.
But there's a huge difference between having operational requirements and refusing to be flexible.
I've heard things like:
“We only employ people who can work between 7am and 10pm.”
Or:
“We only offer up to 16 hours because that's easier for the Coordinator.”
But what happens when someone's circumstances change?
Perhaps they were working 40 hours and now need 25.
Perhaps someone was part-time and suddenly wants more hours.
Perhaps a parent needs different shifts.
Perhaps someone's childcare arrangements change.
Do you simply say:
“Sorry, that's not possible.”
Or do you try to find a solution?
Personal circumstances change.
That's life.
And if your organisation can't adapt with your employees, eventually your employees will adapt by finding another organisation.
Flexibility isn't about letting staff dictate everything.
It's about being willing to have a conversation.
4. Genuinely care about your team's wellbeing 💙
Let's not pretend working in care is easy.
It's emotionally demanding.
It's physically demanding.
It's sometimes heartbreaking.
It's also incredibly rewarding.
Your people experience all of that.
So ask yourself:
Do your staff know that you genuinely care about them?
Do you know what's happening in their lives?
Do managers actually check in with people?
Can someone walk into the office and say:
“I'm struggling at the moment.”
without feeling like they're going to be judged?
One of the best things you can introduce is a genuine open-door culture.
You could even have something simple like a weekly informal drop-in:
☕ Tea & Talk — every Friday, 2pm–3pm
No agenda.
No paperwork.
Just an opportunity for staff to sit down, talk and be heard.
And think about the language you use.
There's a big difference between:
“You must…”
“We require…”
and:
“Here's what we can offer you…”
“Here's how we'll support you…”
Small changes in language can completely change how someone feels about their employer.
5. Pay matters. Full stop. 💷
I'm going to upset some people with this one.
Money matters.
You can have the best culture in the world, but if your pay is significantly below the local market, you're making retention harder than it needs to be.
I've heard the argument:
“But this is care. Our margins are tight.”
I understand that.
But you need to know where your pay sits compared with other employers in your local area.
Imagine you're paying someone £12 an hour.
Their shifts are difficult.
Their manager rarely communicates with them.
They don't feel valued.
Then they open Indeed and see a local employer offering £12.50 an hour, regular daytime hours and no weekend work.
What do you think they're going to do?
People don't leave organisations purely because of money.
But poor pay can absolutely become the final reason someone decides they've had enough.
Pay fairly.
Understand your local market.
And make sure your employees know the value you place on them.
Retention is a long-term strategy 🚀
Here's the biggest lesson I've learned from working in recruitment and retention:
You cannot fix retention with a Christmas party.
You can't fix it with pizza.
You can't fix it with a nice website.
And you can't fix it by simply putting more jobs on Indeed.
Retention is built into every single interaction someone has with your organisation.
It's the phone call.
The interview.
The welcome.
The induction.
The training.
The first shift.
The first difficult day.
The first mistake.
The first achievement.
The conversation with their manager.
The flexibility you offer when life changes.
The way you speak to them when they're struggling.
That's retention.
And perhaps the most important question you can ask yourself is this:
If I were one of my employees, would I want to work here?
Be completely honest.
Would you?
If the answer is yes — brilliant.
If the answer is no — that's where your retention strategy needs to start.
About Stephen Forster
I've worked on the frontline as a Care Assistant and Support Worker, as well as in HR, recruitment and retention within the care sector.
Today, as Founder and Managing Director of The Care Social Network, I work with care providers to improve how they attract, recruit and retain great people.
Because ultimately, better recruitment creates better teams — and better teams create better care.
Stephen Forster
Founder & Managing Director
The Care Social Network
To speak to us about your care recruitment or social media queries, book a meeting or connect with me on Linkedin.