EMPLOYERS are being offered vital support to help them retain staff who find themselves having to combine work with being a carer often facing the prospect of giving up their jobs.
Thousands of people in County Durham and Darlington feel the strain when becoming the main carer of a loved one with many having to give up work.
The charity Durham County Carers Support has just launched an online training programme to help public and private sector organisations support staff who are also fulltime carers allowing them the flexibility to fulfil both roles.
The courses offer a variety of organisations the chance to demonstrate they support and celebrate carers in the workplace. Once they have shown they meet the criteria they become an official Carer Friendly Employer and are promoted as such by the charity.
All the latest policies and employer carers guides are now available free at the click of a button giving employers an insight into the needs of staff who also have to care for family or friends.
The initiative also offers guidance on how employers can identify the carers in the first place as many people don’t see themselves as doing anything formal or special and don’t speak up.
Employers are being given a step by step guide on how to create a carer passport containing information on staff members’ caring roles.
DCCS’ Darlington project lead Alison Donoghue said: “An inclusive, diverse workplace culture fosters a sense of belonging, safety and purpose for employees. It will help employers retain talented and experienced staff and is likely to reduce stress and sickness levels.
“Creating a sense of belonging in the workplace results in greater on-the-job effort and higher employee performance. It will help organisations attract new talent, investing in employees will help them become an employer of choice, preparing them for the future as the UK is predicted to increase the number of carers by 60 per cent by 2030.”
For practice manager at North House Surgery, Hope Street, Crook, Cherrie Hirst the scheme blended perfectly with the NHS drive to improve staff health and wellbeing.
“I’d worked with Darlington Carers Support on introducing this at my last practice and was very keen to have it here,” she said.
“We are focussing on the health and wellbeing of our team and supporting those who are also carers. Flexible working allows them to maintain their work-life as well as their roles at home.
“Caring can be very isolating and it is important that staff keep the social aspect of being at work. We see the difficulties carers face on a daily basis. The training and award helps us with retention and recruitment of staff so we don’t lose experienced and skilled workers – and they really appreciate our efforts.”
She said that now the award was in place and being promoted she hoped more people, men and women, would feel more comfortable coming forward and identifying themselves as carers so they could work more flexibly with them.
“It could be as easy as changing their hours by half an hour or helping them attend a hospital appointment which is easily accommodated,” Cherrie said.
“In this job we are very good at looking after others but it is important, in order to do this effectively, to look after our staff as well. I would highly recommend the Carer Friendly Employer scheme as well as Durham County Carers Support.”
For more details on the initiative visit https://training.dccarers.org or https://dccarers.org for information on the charity.
