The challenges facing the social care workforce aren’t new - but they are becoming more acute. In 2024 alone, the sector lost an estimated 350,000 staff to turnover. Nearly half of all domiciliary care workers are still on zero-hours contracts. Amid growing demand and shrinking budgets, there’s a question that haunts every care manager: “How do we maintain quality when we can’t always maintain numbers?”
At Flourish, we work closely with providers across the country, and we see the pressure you’re under every day. The truth is, the cracks in the system are widening. But we’ve also seen what works. There are practical, people-first strategies that help managers hold the line on quality, even in the most stretched services.
There’s no magic fix. But there is a way forward - and it starts with investing in your people and getting smart about your systems. We’ve put together some useful tips that care providers have shared with us, to help you with staffing while looking after your team and - vitally - yourself.
Prioritise Retention, Not Just Recruitment
If you only focus on bringing new people in, you’ll always be on the back foot. Retention is your most powerful weapon, and it's about more than just pay (though fair pay matters).
According to Skills for Care, staff are significantly more likely to stay when they:
- Receive meaningful training and development
- Work full-time or have predictable hours
- Earn above minimum wage
- Feel respected and valued
And here's something important: over 60% of new recruits already work in care. They’re not leaving the sector, they’re leaving specific employers. So ask yourself: why should carers choose to stay with your service? Why did you stay?
Use Temporary Staffing… Wisely
Sometimes, you just need someone now. That’s where temporary staffing solutions come in - but tread carefully. Traditional agencies can be expensive, impersonal, and opaque. And once you start looking at weekend shifts and holidays? Costs can spiral fast.
That’s why we developed Click Shifts - our shift-filling platform built by the care sector, for the care sector. It’s not an agency. It’s a digital marketplace that connects you directly with qualified, pre-vetted care workers looking for flexible opportunities. You choose who to bring in, when, and for how long - putting you back in control, and giving workers more flexibility and fairer pay.
Make Learning a Priority
In a sector where change is constant and demand is rising, knowledge is power. Well-trained staff don’t just provide better care, they stay longer, work more confidently, and are better equipped to adapt and evolve in their role. This means supporting your staff to grow through engaging, interactive and adaptable training and eLearning. Some training needs to be repeated to assess mandatory skills – but consider where you could include a blended approach, with in-person training for learning new skills.
Staff with access to high-quality training are significantly more likely to feel empowered and stay in role. Skills for Care have found last year that turnover rates decrease from 37% among staff who have no qualifications to 26.5% among those that have a qualification.
Keep learning visible and meaningful, and make sure everyone - from new starters to senior leaders – in invested in professional growth. This might look like regularly sharing your team’s overall training progress (if you have Click Learning, you can print or share your Training Matrix to show a snapshot of your compliance), or you can get creative. For example, you could run a competition for the most up-to-date learners, or for the most courses completed in a month.
Look After Your Team
Even the most skilled workforce won’t thrive if they’re constantly overwhelmed. Burnout isn’t just a personal issue - it affects the whole service.
Support wellbeing by:
- Protecting break times
- Monitoring workloads
- Offering flexible shift options where possible
- Creating space to talk about stress and mental health
- Including emotional resilience and time management in your training offer
Above all, recognise effort. Whether it’s an awards scheme, a small thank-you gift, or a shout-out in a team meeting, it matters.
Use Tech to Free Up Time
Some tasks don’t need a human touch – it’s about freeing yourself up where you can for the tasks that only you can do. Use technology to automate repetitive admin, freeing your staff to focus on people, not paperwork. Whether it’s filling rotas, logging medication, or proving compliance - if it can be digitised, it can be streamlined.
Just remember: tech should support your workforce. It’s important that the tech you use doesn’t add to your workload. It should be easy to use – because your time is valuable, but also because if you invest in a system that doesn’t work properly, it’ll be much harder to get staff to engage with it.
Don’t Just Plug Gaps, Plan for the Future
Yes, there are moments when firefighting is inevitable. But if your workforce strategy is built entirely on crisis response, the crisis never ends.
Instead, get proactive:
- Plan ahead. What does your staffing need to look like in three, six, or twelve months?
- Look local. Build links with colleges, job centres, and community groups.
- Hire for values. Keeping mandatory training and qualifications in mind – especially for more senior roles - technical skills can be taught; empathy, patience, and purpose can’t.
- Map out progression. Create clear pathways from induction through to advanced roles. You might find
Referral schemes can be another high-impact recruitment tool. Care England recommends referral schemes as a cost-effective way to recruit new staff to the sector who understand enough of the role to join and are incentivised to stay.
Keep Quality Front and Centre
Being understaffed is tough. But it doesn’t have to mean lowering standards. Create a culture where:
- Everyone understands what good care looks like
- Concerns are raised and addressed early
- Mistakes are treated as learning opportunities
- Quality is everyone’s responsibility, not just the manager’s
When standards are clear and shared, they’re easier to uphold, even in tough times.
The Bottom Line
Managing staffing issues in care is hard - there’s no sugar-coating that - but quality doesn’t have to be the casualty. With the right tools, culture, and mindset, you can hold the line on quality while building a workforce that feels respected, supported, and proud to stay.
