Home Instead Maidenhead, Henley & Wallingford share how they鈥檝e developed a #PositiveWorkplaceCulture
21 Jul 2023
3 min read
Home Instead Maidenhead, Henley & Wallingford shares the initiatives they鈥檝e put in place to create a positive workplace culture for their team.
Home Instead Maidenhead, Henley & Wallingford is part of the Home Instead domiciliary care provider, which has over 250 offices across England.
They’re proud to have recently been awarded the top office in the group for care professional feedback, with 97% of their team having completed the organisation’s annual workforce survey which encourages staff to share their feedback about the organisation. This high engagement rate shows that staff here are encouraged and feel safe to have their say.
They also saw positive feedback from the responses:
- 100% of respondents agreed they have access to the training they need to do their job well,
- 98% said the office team are responsive to any queries they may have,
- 98% would recommend Home Instead as a good place to work.
Melissa Johnson, Director, Home Instead Maidenhead, Henley & Wallingford shared with us the steps they’ve taken to create the positive workplace culture which has yielded these results.
Firstly, staff are regularly celebrated on special occasion such as birthdays, work anniversaries, Christmas, and Easter.
This includes personalised birthday card, Christmas get togethers, Easter eggs and anniversary thank you messages in the team newsletter. Team members also receive a card and gift each year on their work anniversary.
Every month the team has a monthly coffee and cake meeting where everyone can get together informally to socialise and bond. This is important for domiciliary team cultures, where staff aren’t seeing each other every day.
Even during the pandemic, the management team made sure to reach out to their care team en route to their client visits with homemade cupcakes, homemade candles, and other goodies to boost morale up during that difficult time.
They also offer a benefits scheme across Home Instead which gives staff access to discounts at high street stores.
Wellbeing is important to the team, and they’ve produced Zoom sessions on acupressure and meditation by local professionals. They also created a wellbeing brochure, full of tips and advice on looking after yourself – as the team spend their whole working life looking after others, its vital they take time to care for themselves too. Also linked to wellbeing is their Employee Assistance Programme where employees and their immediate family can benefit from legal information for work and home life.
Beyond this, Melissa says it’s the team’s values which really makes their office a positive place to work.
She says:
We have an amazing office team 鈥� every individual takes time and really, sincerely cares about the Care Professional team. We treat our clients and our team as family. This starts from the very first recruitment phone call all the way through. Our team鈥檚 initial training is second to none, and Home Instead has received the Princess Royal Training Award to recognise that. Many people join us with no experience in the care industry at all, so we understand that those initial few days and weeks, support is vital to ensure new team members feel confident and happy doing their role. And this support continues and grows into a friendship as time goes on.
Melissa also explains they do a lot of work for the local community which creates positivity for everyone. This includes Christmas parties for older people, sponsorship of events, and producing and delivering hampers to local people. She says:
I think this is recognised by everyone who is part of Home Instead. We aim to do good in the community and we work together to achieve this. Our team know we care; we live and breathe the values we hold at Home Instead.
We always think, a happy team member shines brightly and brings happiness into the homes of every client they visit during their busy days. And that鈥檚 our ultimate goal, to support our clients well and to do that successfully, we need a great team- and that鈥檚 what we have here at Home Instead.
If you have a good news story to share email marketing@skillsforcare.org.uk
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