People are People Too
There's an interesting dilemma in the care services which isn't new and I suspect won't go away.That dilemma is based on how we treat people.
Notice I used the word people, not service users, residents, students, customers, clients, people we support etc. People, just people.
When we work with people in our care, there is another group of people who often are disregarded as part of the care system and that's those that work in care.
I don't mean they're disregarded in terms of we don't know they're there. I mean disregarded in terms of how we treat them.
Do You Feel Like You Matter?
I suspect that if you work in care, you don't feel particularly valued. In the new Government public sector system we are euphemistically going through a "restructuring" process. What this often means is, that people (staff people) are informed that for every 4 jobs available there are currently 5 staff working. Our "restructure" needs to reduce that number to match the number of jobs. Typically those people (again staff people) are informed that they will be going through this restructuring over the next few months or so. As part of this "restructure" you will be interviewed by people (manager people) who may well be going through a similar process and therefore be looking over their shoulders to figure out whether they've got jobs or not.So? What's New and Interesting About That?
Well, the interesting thing is, that almost all the places I've been to, don't have people (staff and manager people) who feel they've got 20% too many people working there. In fact the 120% of people working there often feel that they could do with six people rather than the four they currently have.
They often feel that the lack of staff they have means that the people they support often don't get the quality of care they deserve due to this very shortage (or in restructuring terms, surplus) of staff. This shortage of staff may not be apparent to the funding bodies, but when an organisation tries to provide person centred approaches, that means that we should be doing activities based on a "person" by "person" basis. So, if you support 6 people in your small home, then how do you enable everyone to do activities based on that individuals personal needs. I'm not saying it's impossible and in fact, with a well motivated, trained and energised staff group you should be able to manage that fairly easily.
Wait, Did You Say Motivated? Energised?
Yep, that's right!
We all pride ourselves in care at having empathy for the people we support, however, it seems to me this empathy often doesn't move towards the other forgotten people, the ones who do the supporting. We know that, as a rule, if we want people to be good at their jobs, be positive in the care environment, turn up to work, be motivated to learn, be encouraged to develop then we need to have the correct leadership, correct setting conditions and the correct approach to supporting not just the people (we care for) but the people (who care for them). A good way of making this all fall apart is to create an atmosphere of uncertainty and anxiety. I suspect this is often deliberate in the hope that some people will jump ship before they're pushed which will save time and money.
I was working with a group of staff this week and one of the things they were describing was the sheer terror at having to interview for their own jobs as part of the "organisational restructure". They described interviews that had little to do with their jobs and more to do with sitting in a room answering standardised questions asked in turn by people (random managers they'd never met). One of the people (interviewees) suggested that perhaps there were two types of people -
Those that were good at interviews and those that were good at their jobs!
So? What Next?
To be honest, I suspect that most people (managers) when they hear about budget cuts start to think of who they can get rid of and how many, and what they can cut back on. For me, creativity is the key as well as the long run process of developing services. Sometimes jobs have to go, sometimes services have to go.
The first port of call then, is when a "restructuring" takes place, treat the people (staff) on the receiving end as you wish them to treat people on the receiving end of their work. Strangely we seem to think if we treat people (staff) badly they will then forget all about that, stay motivated and work brilliantly. Why is it we know that in care, a positive approach shapes behaviour, but in management strategies we think the opposite is true?
If services have to go and people have to go, keep everyone informed of what's going on, remove the uncertainty, allow them a say in what's happening. Don't just interview them for their jobs, go observe them doing their jobs. This is someones livelihood and dare I say it, their vocation. People don't enter into the world of care to make a million pounds, in fact in many places they could make more in McDonalds. Treat them with respect, treat them with dignity and treat them as actual people. You'll be surprised at the results!
