The context
Social care has a problem with young people. It struggles to recruit and – particularly – retain them as workers. In the overall economy, under-25s make up 11% of the workforce and in some sectors it’s far more: around half of all waiters and waitresses are under 25. Yet in adult social care, only 8% of the workforce is under 25. Generation Z and social care are not, it seems, on the best of terms.
Why is this? Can anything be done about it? And – crucially – does the sector want to do it? These are the questions we set out to answer in recent research with social care providers (our further research with under-25s care workers themselves is just being completed and will be published this summer).
The answers are quite challenging for the social care sector, suggesting that there are deep-rooted attitudes on both sides – sector providers and young people – that will need to change if we are to see significantly more younger people working in our care homes, home care and day centres. In addition, it may require concerted action by individual providers, local care bodies and national organisations if those changes are to happen.
The scope
For our research, we spoke with representatives of 11 social care providers from medium-sized and large companies (these types of organisations employ almost half of the adult social care workforce). The providers varied in the type of care provided, the settings in which they provided it, and the types of people who typically drew on their services. Where known, the proportion of 18-25s they employed ranged from 3% to 25%.
We spoke with people in a range of senior leadership positions, including chief executives, human resources managers and recruitment managers about their experience of recruiting and retaining younger care workers, and about how the wider social care sector responds to younger workers.
Key findings
The respondents told us that younger staff had a great deal to offer social care, including – but not limited to – their energy, their core values and their familiarity with technology. One provider, for example, told us how a younger worker had used TikTok to explain a client’s care package to them, which had been really beneficial.
Providers also realised that age could sometimes be an important factor when matching the needs of people being supported to their care workers. One provider told us that one of its clients, a young man aged 21, went to a concert with care workers of a similar age to him and told them: ‘For the first time, I feel normal.’
But providers also told us that employing younger people has drawbacks. For example, they do need support, they may not be as ‘work ready’ as older workers and they may not fully understand what social care involves. As a result, we were told, many social care organisations were reluctant to employ them or – when they were employed – they were seen as short-term appointments who would likely leave their roles quite soon.
Additional responses
Some of our participants, while personally positive about young people working in social care, said they had experienced negativity in other parts of the sector or even within their own organisations.
One told us that managers in their organisation had said ‘oh, don’t give me anyone young’ because there were assumptions that they would not be able to cook or would be unreliable because ‘they’re going to be out clubbing and they might not turn up’. There was also sometimes resentment from the more experienced, older workforce about having to train new people in new skills.
Familiarity with technology, while an advantage, could also have its downsides, said some providers. We were told by one that it was ‘so, so difficult to get young people to leave their phones alone’ and even that social media has shortened the attention span of younger people.
Providers also told us that the main reason younger workers leave the sector after initially taking up roles is the inherent nature and challenges of social care jobs, for which younger people were not necessarily prepared. One provider told us that some people had left after the first couple of shadow shifts. ‘You can do training and you can show them useful things… but actually the reality can be quite shocking.’
Initial analysis
Many providers said they did try hard to tackle this, providing as much wraparound care as needed for all new starters, whether young or not. ‘If they’re 18, maybe had a bit of a Saturday job but nothing much more than that, then absolutely there needs to be a lot more handholding and support there’, said one.
Others worked hard to ensure that younger people were properly welcomed and had a chance to discuss career development. Some felt that the sector could do more to showcase the opportunities available to some young, rising stars – and it was noticeable that several of the senior managers we interviewed had themselves started off in the sector as care workers or ancillary workers.
But providers also thought that many young people already held negative attitudes about social care and were put off from entering it even before they started. We were told of preconceptions about social care including care homes that smelt of ‘cabbage soup’. ‘It’s just not seen as a glamorous or attractive line of work, is it?’ said one provider. Often it was felt that these attitudes started earlier, informed by negativity from parents, teachers and careers advisers.
Respondents felt there was scope for providers to work together locally to promote the sector within schools and colleges. They also felt there was a strong case to be made for a national campaign to change attitudes towards social care and the opportunities that exist within it.
While we agreed with this, we also felt that the sector will need to address its own, sometimes stereotypical attitudes towards younger people. While some generational differences do exist – Gen Z is more socially progressive in some areas than previous generations, for example – these differences are more subtle than newspaper headlines would have us believe and do not necessarily affect young people’s capacity to work in social care. Nor do they apply to all younger people.
Gathering feedback
When we have presented our findings to providers, we have generally received an acknowledgement that the sector will need to change, and stereotypes will need to be addressed. However, we have also experienced some defensiveness.
Some have said that while attitudes towards young people can be negative, that is not true in their organisation or in their part of the sector. Others have said that young people may experience negativity in social care, but it is no worse than in other industries. Some have told us that the stereotypes – or some elements of them – are true.
Further research potential
We think there needs to be a wider discussion about these attitudes and issues. Our research with younger people in the social care workforce will be published later this summer and will reinforce the need for the sector to adapt itself more effectively to the needs of younger people if it wishes to recruit and retain more of them.
But with the international recruitment option for providers now apparently becoming more difficult, if the sector wants to fill its continuing high number vacancies, then looking to domestic workers, and under-represented groups like men and younger people in particular, may need to be part of the solution.
What is your experience of recruiting and retaining young people in your setting? Leave a comment on this article or join the conversation to share your thoughts.
Simon Bottery is Senior Fellow, Social Care at The King’s Fund.
Email: [email protected] X: @blimeysimon