“if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff will just take care of itself.” – Tony Hsieh
It’s a simple statement, but one that gets to the heart of a major challenge facing social care.
You can invest in recruitment, introduce new processes and implement the latest technology, but if people don’t feel valued, supported and part of something worthwhile, keeping a settled and motivated team will always be difficult.
That was one of the key themes explored during our recent webinar, Culture isn’t a perk – it’s your competitive advantage, hosted by CoolCare’s Iain Corrigan with David Beattie, Founder and Managing Director of Care Ideals.
The discussion looked beyond culture as something that’s simply ‘nice to have’. Instead, it explored the direct relationship between workplace culture and staff retention, leadership, accountability, care quality, compliance and ultimately, the performance of a care organisation.
So, what does a strong culture actually look like in a care home – and how can leaders create the conditions for people to stay and thrive?
staff retention starts with the workplace people experience every day.
The scale of the retention challenge in social care is significant. During the webinar, Iain highlighted figures showing staff turnover in adult social care can sit at around 28–31%, compared with a cross-sector average of approximately 15%.
Perhaps more importantly, around 60% of people leaving their jobs in care remain within the sector.
People aren’t necessarily walking away from care itself. In many cases, they’re moving from one organisation to another.
For care home leaders, that puts culture firmly in the spotlight. Pay, location and career progression all matter, of course, but so does the experience someone has when they arrive for their shift each day.
A strong culture doesn’t live in a values statement pinned to the staffroom wall. It lives in the way people communicate, lead and work together.
good culture needs clear leadership.
Culture isn’t created by accident. As explored during the webinar, leaders play a crucial role in setting expectations and demonstrating the behaviours they want to see throughout their organisation.
That doesn’t mean the registered manager or senior leadership team has to have every answer. It means being consistent about the standards, behaviours and values that matter.
When expectations are unclear, teams are left to fill in the gaps themselves. Different shifts can develop different ways of working, accountability becomes inconsistent and frustrations can build.
Clear leadership creates greater confidence. People know where they stand, understand how their role contributes to the bigger picture and can see that expectations apply consistently across the team.
For care home staff working in an already demanding environment, that clarity can make a real difference.
communication can make or break culture.
Strong communication is one of the foundations of a healthy workplace.
In a care home, however, communication isn’t always straightforward. You’ve got different shifts, multiple departments, changing rotas and colleagues who may rarely be in the building at exactly the same time.
That creates plenty of opportunities for information to get lost.
When communication breaks down, relatively small problems can quickly become cultural ones. A missed update feels like exclusion. A rota change that isn’t clearly communicated feels unfair. A decision without explanation can create mistrust.
Good communication doesn’t mean holding more meetings. It means making important information accessible, communicating changes clearly and giving people appropriate opportunities to contribute and ask questions.
This is one area where the right care home management system can support the culture leaders are trying to build.
By bringing information together and giving teams greater visibility, care home management software can help reduce uncertainty and keep everyone working from the same information.
Technology won’t create trust on its own, but it can remove some of the unnecessary friction that gets in its way.
make accountability feel fair.
Accountability sometimes gets confused with blame. They’re not the same thing.
In strong teams, accountability means people understand what they’re responsible for, are trusted to do their job and know that the same standards apply to everyone.
That consistency matters. Consider rostering. Few things will damage morale faster than staff feeling that shifts, overtime or holiday requests are being handled unfairly.
Using Care Rostering Software or care home rota software gives managers better visibility of staffing requirements, availability and open shifts. It also helps employees see opportunities and respond to shift requests more easily.
For providers looking at their wider Healthcare Workforce Management, greater visibility can support more transparent and consistent decision-making.
take unnecessary admin out of people’s working day.
Culture is also shaped by the tools you give people to do their jobs. If staff are repeatedly dealing with inefficient processes, duplicate paperwork or systems that make simple tasks harder than they need to be, frustration is inevitable.
Over time, that friction takes its toll. Good Care Home Admin Software should do the opposite. It should make everyday tasks simpler and give teams more time and headspace for the work that really matters.
At CoolCare, that’s the thinking behind our approach to care home administration – admin made easy.
Our care home software helps providers manage areas including staffing, rostering, occupancy, enquiries, resident administration and financial processes from one intuitive platform.
For managers, this provides greater visibility across day-to-day operations, while administrators can spend less time on repetitive processes. Across the wider team, reducing the administrative burden creates more time to focus on residents, support colleagues and deliver great care.
When considering software for care homes, usability matters for culture too. A system is only useful if people are confident using it. Technology should support your team rather than becoming another source of stress.
listen to what your team is telling you.
Strong cultures evolve. Even organisations with engaged, settled teams need to keep listening.
That might mean staff surveys, one-to-ones, team discussions, exit interviews or simply creating an environment where employees feel able to speak openly about what is and isn’t working.
The important part is what happens next. Asking for feedback and then doing nothing with it can be worse than not asking at all. When leaders act on feedback – or explain openly why a particular change can’t be made – they show staff their opinions are taken seriously.
Not every suggestion needs to become a new policy, but every employee should feel they have a voice.
culture has an impact far beyond recruitment.
It’s easy to discuss workplace culture purely in terms of recruitment and retention.
More settled teams build knowledge and experience together. Communication becomes easier. Staff understand residents, routines and each other better. Managers spend less time constantly recruiting and filling gaps. Greater consistency can support quality, compliance and the overall experience of residents and families.
There’s a commercial benefit too. High turnover creates recruitment costs, management time, onboarding requirements and potentially greater reliance on agency workers. Improving retention helps create greater stability across the organisation.
At CoolCare, we believe better systems should support better working environments. Our easy-to-use care home management software helps reduce the administrative burden, improve visibility and give care home teams the tools they need to work smarter.
Ready to make care home admin easier for your team? Get in touch with CoolCare to discover how our Care Home Admin Software can support your operation.
Alternatively, watch our Culture isn’t a perk – it’s your competitive advantage webinar to hear more of the discussion and practical advice for building stronger, more sustainable care teams.
