Workforce recruitment and development

Why we want carers involved

As a carer-friendly organisation, we want carers to be represented within the organisation and our workforce.
Every Caring Together employees role exists because of the need to support carers, so their voices and experiences are crucial.
We want to know what it is that carers look for and value in terms of employees/volunteers who work for Caring Together.
It will help us to make sure we get the ‘right’ employees before they join us.
It will help employees and volunteers to gain a better understanding of the needs of carers.
The more knowledgeable employees are on what matters most to carers, the more knowledgeable the organisation is.
It can add to pride for employees around the work that they do, ensuring they remember the difference their work makes to carers.
We need their input to be able to connect with them in the most meaningful way.
It will help us continue to strengthen the organisation.
It can help build our brand – if carers are involved at the heart of things such as recruitment and development, they are likely to talk about the organisation in a positive light because they know we value their expertise.

By sitting on interview panels for new employees members.
Helping with short-listing for new employees.
Providing questions for interviews for new employees.
Sharing their experiences with new employees and volunteers as part of their induction.
Providing feedback on support provided by employees as part of their annual appraisal.
Becoming volunteers so as to share expertise with other carers.
Helping us to encourage more people to work for Caring Together (such as talking about the difference that our support makes for carers).
Sharing carer experience with employees and volunteers (e.g. at team/employees meetings or with individual employees members).

Through regular communication – keeping them up-to-date, including successes rather than just lots of ‘asks’.
Sharing feedback (e.g. from induction sessions, meetings they attended).
Sharing with them what difference their involvement in that process made (e.g. sharing their story for a job advert – how did we get on with recruitment?).
Sharing outcome of recruitment process with carers who have been involved.
Ensuring carers know what will happen with their feedback (e.g. if they have made a complaint/provided a compliment).