Recruitment and retention of care workers: A rapid review

Abstract

Introduction: Challenges in the recruitment and retention of care workers is a long-standing issue [1]. However, these challenges have worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic. In October 2021, there was an average staff vacancy rate of 17% [2], and in November 2021, care homes feared they would lose around 8% of their care home staff as a direct result of the policy of vaccination being a condition of deployment in care homes [3]. This has profound impacts, not only on those in care homes and receiving care at home, but on the health service as a whole, with 33% of social care providers limiting or stopping admissions from hospital [2]. Therefore, this review was undertaken to identify learning about how to support recruitment and retention of care workers during the pandemic. Methods: To identify strategies that are currently being used to support recruitment and retention of care workers, a Google search was undertaken, combining termsthat referred to the setting or role (“social care”, “care worker”) and the topics of interest (recruitment, retention), and for some searches adding in terms that referred to the type of literature being sought (“case study”). Through this, we identified that research on recruitment and retention of care workers since the pandemic was already being published and so a search was also undertaken on Google Scholar for research published since 2020. This was supplemented by a review of websites recommended by an expert working in the area: Care England, National Care Forum, Care Forum, Care Choices, Care Workers Charity, National Association of Care & Support Workers, and Skills for Care. We also reviewed the websites of NHS Confederation, NHS Employers, and the Local Government Association. Inclusion criteria were reports that included recommendations and/or examples of strategies to recruit and retain the social care workforce. While we focused on reports published since the start of the pandemic, given that recruitment and retention of care workers is a long-standing challenge, we also included some significant reports that were published before then. A number of the documents included did not provide a publication date. While many of the reports identified discussed the problems that have led to the social care workforce crisis, we limit our discussion of these in this report, instead focusing on possible solutions. Findings: From the Google and Google Scholar searches, 190 records were screened and 22 potentially relevant documents were reviewed in detail for possible inclusion. Alongside this, seven potentially relevant documents from the websites listed above were reviewed in detail for possible inclusion. From this, 21 relevant documents were identified and included in this review. These included seven documents reporting case studies, one Government report, one report based on a survey of employers, four reports based on surveys of care workers, two reports based on interviews with stakeholders, one report based on interviews and focus groups with care workers, managers, and commissioners, and one based on interviews with care workers. It quickly became apparent that potential strategies for improving recruitment of care workers were closely interlinked with strategies for improving retention of care workers. Below we consider those strategies relevant to both, before moving on to consider specific recruitment strategies and strategies focused specifically on increasing retention.