Reference no: EM133043060
Topic: HRM Planning: Mini Case Study:
Homely Care Homely Care is a Canadian company headquartered in Vancouver, BC which owns and runs over 25 private sector care homes as well as providing a home care service to over 1,000 clients in the provinces of BC, Alberta, and Manitoba.
One of the core occupational groups it employs are Care Assistants (CAs). However it continually struggles to fill vacancies in this occupational group, with an ongoing vacancy rate of 19%, a 15% turnover rate and an absenteeism rate of 12% which drastically impacts its ability to continually deliver a quality service to its care home residents and to its clients in the community.
The work of a CA can be very demanding and stressful leading to burnout and high sick leave as they work with a variety of clients with a myriad of ailments including dementia as well as performing core household and personal care duties. Now they are gradually being asked to do more semi medicalized works, such as medication management and dressings as well as using hoists and mechanical equipment with patients and clients who are immobile. The advent of Covid-19 has significantly contributed to the staffing crisis. This creates a constant challenge for Homely Care's Strategic HR Planner, Ms. Sangeeta Merchant.
Approximately, 1.3 million people in Canada employ Care Assistants in their home as well as more people moving into full or partial residence in care home. This is predicted to continue to grow with the 'greying' of Canadian society.
Sangeeta is weighing up some of the factors that influence the demand for this occupational group including
Demographics: the number of Canadians over 65 continue to grow as the 'Baby Boomer' continue to retire from the workforce.
Health Science: Due to on going advances in medical science, people are living longer with the average life span for a female being 83 and for a man, 79. Also chronic diseases which historically may have caused premature death are now better managed and controlled through medication and therapy leaving to greater longevity.
Culture: More and more retirees wish to remain in their homes longer and have care in their home rather then moving into an institutional setting or care home.
Advances in technology and automation make this possible with use of alarms and smartphones.
Society: Canada is a vast country and families have become more dispersed in living in various parts of the country, usually long distances from their parents and family. The traditional family where many generations of the same family lived in the same home, is declining as traditional carers, such as daughters, are pursuing their own career and 'dual career couples' are now the norm in many Canadian households. Also, family size has reduced with couples having fewer children who then have greater education and career mobility both in Canada and internationally. These factors have led to the prediction that the demand for CAs will double over the next 25 years.
Sangeeta also reflets on a number of factors which are influencing and shaping the supply of Care Assistants:
Job v Career: The role of CA is seen my many as a "stop gap" job on the path to another job with a more defined and lucrative career path. This contributes to the high turnover. The work tends to be very precarious with many employees on short hours and casual on call and many working multiple hours in different locations. Given the fractured nature of this occupational group, unionization is very low as union organizing is very difficulty and many employers are anti-union.
Nature of the Work: The work is very demanding and stressful especially working in the home of difficult clients, with deteriorating health conditions, where CA may be subject to harassment, abuse and racism. Also the work is very demanding physically in terms of lifting patients which results in high occupational injuries being reported. The quality of the CA's working environment can be further exacerbated by family pets, poor hygiene and clients smoking.
Pay and Terms and Conditions of Employment: Pay and terms and conditions of employment in this occupational group tends to be quite poor and normally pays the minimum wage as laid down the provincial Employment Standards Act. Also pay is not usually on a parity with CAs employed in the public sector such as hospitals, which tend to be highly unionized. Also the high concentration of women and immigrants in the sector is put forward by some as a factor contributing to the low pay and poor terms and conditions of employment,
All these factors contribute to a poor image of the role of CA and does not make it attractive as a job or career with high attrition rates as a result. This makes Sangeeta's job difficult in attracting and retaining Care Assistants. She is planning to draw up a 2 Year Workforce Plan and conduct 'Gap Analysis' to ensure Homey Care will have the "right" people with the right skills and attitude in the right place at the right time and at the right cost to meet the projected growth and expansion of Homely Care's business into the future.
Q. What role and actions can other stakeholders such as Trade Unions do to address the issue. Explain