Working in the care sector can be a pressurised, difficult job, yet it also brings with it huge rewards. Helping and encouraging staff to develop and maintain healthy habits while at work can go a long way towards making them feel fitter, happier and better supported. This, in turn, can lead to higher retention rates and lower levels of sickness or stress-related absences. From nutritious eating to better organisation of admin and routine tasks, there are many ways in which to create a healthier working environment in a busy care setting.
Supporting healthier choices
While employers cannot dictate how their staff eat, exercise and spend their free time, they can try to make it easier to choose healthier options. Some ideas include supplying free healthy snacks and drinks, always making sure people have access to water to ensure they do not become dehydrated over the course of a physically demanding day. Providing safe areas for staff to store bicycles during their shift could encourage people who live locally enough to cycle to work, rather than drive. Support staff’s mental health too, by planning social activities and giving opportunities for people to get to know each other away from a work setting.
Physical working space
Health and safety needs to be top of any care setting’s list of priorities for a number of reasons, not least the safety and wellbeing of residents and staff. This important area encompasses a wide range of tasks, including clearing clutter and ensuring people can move about safely. In addition, it is vital to test all electrical appliances used for work and to provide equipment that is fit for purpose and in good repair. Giving staff the correct training for aspects of their work such as manual handling and working with cleaning chemicals will also help keep them safer within their physical working space. Always provide correct PPE and safety equipment too, as this can quite literally, be lifesaving.
Streamlined admin
Admin, record-keeping and updating paperwork can take a lot of time and cause stress and anxiety if people are unable to keep on top of it for any reason. Taking too much time on admin can also prevent staff from spending time with those they are there to care for, which can be demotivating and frustrating over a longer period of time. By switching to a digital care system, such as Care Vision, care home managers can remove much of the stress of manual paperwork and make the process easier, faster and more accurate. Care Vision allows data to be shared instantly and securely, allowing for easier transfer of medical information, shift changeover notes and results from tests.
Time management and planning
For many people who are unhappy at work, the reasons can stem from not having enough time to complete tasks, or there being a lack of planning to allow jobs to be done methodically and effectively. Again, Care Vison’s rota and shift planning tools can help enormously with this, as can its various planning modules. Managers can ensure that they have enough staff present at any one time to do what needs to be done, which raises morale and protects people from becoming tired or physically unwell through not being able to stop for a rest. Digital care management systems like Care Vision also help improve communications, which in turn stops misunderstandings and lack of information causing delays to resident treatments and worrying staff by mistakenly failing to update them on important situations.
Lead by example
Finally, staff will be more motivated and keen to follow healthy habits in the workplace if they see others around them doing the same. In other words, if you are a care home manger it is important to lead by example and follow healthy habits yourself. So, choose healthy snacks at work, drink plenty of water and take time out to spend getting to know your staff. Invest in Care Vision’s streamlined admin system and use it to communicate with staff, keep vital resident information updated and share record with external healthcare providers and others who need access to them. Make 2025 the year that your care home becomes as healthy a workplace as it possibly can!