Are we exploiting care worker's compassion?
Sophie Chester-Glyn
The Care Boss 🦹 Social Entrepreneur 👩💼 Speaker 🎤 Mentor 👩🏫 Eternal Student 👩🎓 Trustee 💚 Social Care Advisor 🗣️ Governor 📚 --> Coproduce Care YouTube Podcast Host. Connect for #Social Care #Growth #Equality
It's Friday, so of course i'm writing a LinkedIn article (my new years resolutions continues!)
This time, I'm reflecting on Coproduce Care's livestream discussions this week. They made me think, with the lack of recognition of the care workforce, despite their work ethic and impact, are we as a society, conducting, what I would call 'Compassion Exploitation'?
(Watch the discussion back on this link and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel).
Summary of livestream clips focusing on supporting care workers
Karolina Gerlich FRSA of the The Care Workers' Charity summarised the desperate need to support the care sector, not just to keep it afloat. She highlighted the need to recognise the relentless sacrifice care workers have made, since the height of the pandemic and beyond.
Ensuring that politicians, public and public authorities value the sector is crucial.
Social care workers regularly report that they feel valued in their work and they value the difference they make to other people’s lives. It is that which keeps them doing what they do rather than pay and recognition. A recent survey by Social Care Wales found that, while 76% of care workers surveyed felt valued by those they care for, just 44% said the same about the general public, and 48% about partner agencies like health staff and police.
So, in reality, we are not valuing care work, care workers know that, but their passion for their work and to give to others, shows a level of compassion which many of us will never display to anyone outside our family network. 💡
Are we then exploiting their compassion by ensuring that they remain the lowest paid profession with a fundamental lack of parity of employment terms in comparison to their colleagues in health?
Also on our livestream, Simon Bottery from the The King's Fund , focused on the data. Despite increased costs, year on year, the sector seems to be able to survive. I wonder whether 2025 will be the year the government sees more care companies fail before taking the pressures on the sector seriously? On a positive note, he advised people to emphasise the ‘moral’ argument for supporting the sector - it’s fundamentally not about the economy, it’s about people’s lives – a common theme from all of our YouTube interviews this week.
Lastly, Polly Robinson reminded us to focus on the small things which make a big impact to motivate and support our staff. She reminded us of the importance of active listening, proactively avoiding conflict and making supervisions matter.
These are a few things we can do within our care organisations to support the care workforce, but essentially we need to raise awareness of the difficulties the sector faces and the potential impact on staff in any way we can.
Following and supporting the Care Workers Charity is one of those. The charity has a number of opportunities to raise awareness and funds for care workers including:
🙏Direct donations,
🙏Supporting care workers week,
🙏Leaving money in memory of a loved one,
🙏Encouraging your company to make the Care Workers Charity their charity of the year,
🙏Becoming a corporate sponsor or
🙏Buying a table at this year's Care Sector Ball ( Care Sector Fundraising Ball ).
All options can be found on this link: https://www.thecareworkerscharity.org.uk/fundraising/
Hopefully 2025 wont see the End of Social Care, but instead the end of society's & government's lack of recognition of its care workforce. 🙏💖🥳
Reshare this article if you agree. 🔁
Service Director Commissioning Housing and Performance at South Gloucestershire Council
8moThank you Sophie. I wonder if also there's an socisl important factor here from a feminist perspective that our culture still assumes compassion is inherent in women's chemistry somehow.....and that this is still a largely female workforce. its all a bit circular. In a social care future where there was more of a focus on people's rights to dignity choice and ordinary lives I wonder whether that would also improve the rights amd recognition of people who work in care and support. ,Organisational cultures seem to work that way and in my limited experience organisations that have a strong person centred focus also often seem to be clearer about the rights and needs of their paid staff. 🤔
I build people-first workplaces by helping teams work better together and build a positive culture; leaders align behind a clear strategy, purpose and shared values, managers build confidence and emotional intelligence.
8moThis is an insightful summary of a really interesting session. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about how leaders can support their people through tough times.
Psychotherapy consultant and content writer at MindLife UK Ltd
8moA very important message 👏