by Michael Brown

Created on: May 02, 2010

Working in the field of Social Care, a high turnover of staff is a very bleak reality. Social Care is widely under funded and therefore under paid. Having met many different members of staff through many different fields, the types of people who work with the disadvantaged can generally be divided into two distinct categories. On the one hand you have the lifelong, dedicated members of staff who disregard their meager pay packet at the end of the month in favor of a warm feeling they get from helping those less fortunate. On the other side of that, you have the people who do it because they feel that they are doing something good, but they have quite a different reaction to their pay packet, and will go off in search of better things.

The resulting high staff turnover can have huge detrimental effects on the service and the quality of care being provided.

Having an experienced team around you can make all the difference when dealing with complicated service users. In terms of managing a team with little experience, constantly investing time in relaying the same information to a constant torrent of new staff can be tiresome and something of a waste of resources.

There is an element of trust that comes with a reliable and well-established team, meaning that a manager can focus on the myriad of other responsibilities. A manager needs to have the confidence to allow their team to work independently, with only minimal overseeing and support where necessary.

As well as stretching the management in terms of training resources and investment of time, an inexperienced team can also have a negative impact on the members of a team who are more experienced. They may find themselves working harder to accommodate, or even taking on extra responsibilities that in spite of their experience for which they may either be unprepared or unwilling.

Real team players should feel a sense of pride in what their team achieves, but this may not be possible if they inexperience of the team leads to poor performance. Experienced staff may get frustrated and leave, confounding the problem.

Having an inexperienced team can also produce a negative picture to clients. Does it suggest that the staff are underpaid? Mistreated? It may also undermine the confidence of external stakeholders.

Whilst trying to paint an even picture, there are some benefits of a high staff turnover.

Having a team of very experienced people with a “been there, done that” attitude, can lead to cutting corners

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