Hiring an elderly support worker or home care assistant

Finding the right person to take care of a loved one or to support you in your own home can be a daunting and difficult experience. We understand that it is a huge responsibility to entrust another person to work in your house, so we’ve outlined what to look for in a home care assistant, which questions to ask at the interview stage and what to do if you are not happy with your home care provider.

Contents:

What makes a good carer or home care assistant?

Allowing an individual to take care of you or a member of your family is a huge responsibility and requires complete trust in the carer or home care assistant. It is therefore very important to ensure you hire the right person, take your time and do sufficient research when conducting your search and ensuring you have found a good candidate to match both your requirements and personality.

Whilst all carers are different and may provide unique services depending on the requirements of their client and their own skills or personality, we’ve listed the core traits and experiences to look for when hiring your carer or home care assistant:

  • Dedication and Passion – Working as a home care assistant or an elderly carer can be a demanding and difficult role at times. The position can include unsociable hours especially for those providing physical assistance such as help getting up and ready in the morning or into bed at night, and of course the position is year round as some clients will need daily care. The position can be both monotonous as the routine may be exactly the same each day but may also require carers to think on their feet in case of emergency or unexpected change. It is important therefore to hire an individual who is truly dedicated to and passionate about helping the individual in their care and who strives to constantly improve the quality of life of their employer no matter how many time they have to complete the task.
  • Hard working and driven – The hours of a carer can not only be antisocial but also long and tiring, so it is important to be sure that the carer you hire is a hard worker and is physically and mentally capable of fulfilling all the necessary tasks. When hiring a carer is can be helpful to know how many other individuals they are looking after, the maximum hours a week they are able to work and to ask if they are willing to take on extra work as and when it is needed. For those who require a considerable amount of care and many hours a week, it might be better to hire a carer with fewer clients to ensure they are able to provide sufficient attention and time to the individual.
  • Experience and qualifications – For specific duties such as providing medical assistance, administering medication or providing physical support to those less mobile or disabled, the carer may be required to have specific experience of qualifications in this area. For more general roles such as companionship or housekeeping duties former experience can be from less formal roles, such as volunteer work or looking after their own family but it is still important to ask for references of their previous work. All carers should have a valid DBS check to ensure the safety of the individual they are caring for. Other qualifications that can be desirable are a drivers licence and first aid certificate.
  • Personable – As the carer may be spending a considerable amount of time alone with the individual they are caring for, it is important that the pair gets on well together and are comfortable around each other. The personality match essentially comes down to the decision of the individual receiving care and their family, which is why it is important to conduct in person interviews and trial shifts with a carer before hiring them in the long term.
  • Trustworthy – Entrusting the care of yourself or a loved one to another person is a huge responsibility and it is important that there is a high level of trust between the home care assistant or carer and those for whom they are providing care. Key factors involved in building trust are that the carer is respectful of the wishes and boundaries of the individual, follows reasonable instructions without complaint or fuss, is punctual and reliable and is committed to providing the highest possible level of care every time they are on duty.

Conducting an interview:

Before reaching the interview stage, if you have found your applicant on Yoopies you are able to contact them via our instant messaging service to get to know more about them and ask any introductory questions to decide whether or not to proceed to the interview stage.

Wherever possible it is best to conduct an interview in person and with the individual who will be receiving the care present as so much of what makes a carer successful in their role is their personal relationship with the individual for who they are caring.

Before conducting the interview it is important to clearly set out your situation and requirements including:

  • Duties expected (cooking, cleaning, help getting dressed etc.)
  • Physical or mental disabilities or restrictions of the individual
  • Hours of work per week
  • General timings (morning, afternoon, evening or overnight)
  • Any specialised care due to illness or disability required
  • Will there be any support from family members or other carers

For a more detailed explanation of the roles a home care assistant can carry out read our information guide about Elderly Care and Home Care Assistants. We’ve also compiled a list of questions that can be helpful to ask when hiring a carer to determine whether they are a suitable match for your requirements:

  • Do you have a valid DBS Check?
  • Do you have a drivers licence?
  • Do you have a first aid certificate?
  • Do you have previous experience as a carer?
  • Do you have any other relevant experience?
  • Why do you want to work in this role?
  • What do you think will be difficult about this role? and how will you tackle this?
  • What skills do you have and to what standard? (cooking, cleaning etc)
  • Can you cook this type of food?
  • Any additional qualifications?
  • What are your holiday expectations?
  • Are you able to administer medication?

This list is of course not exhaustive, and another suggestion can be to create specific scenarios that are likely to come up during the role and ask the candidate how they would deal with this situation.

It is also important to offer the candidate an opportunity to ask any questions about the role they might have and to be prepared to answer honestly so as not to produce problems and inconsistencies in expectations later down the line

What to do if you are not happy with your home care solution?

In any job it may take a while to settle in and especially with a care position in which the employer and employee exist so closely together it can take time to work out any difficulties or problems. If you are experiencing problems with your home care assistant it is important to address them as quickly as possible to try and resolve the issue whilst before it gets out of hand.

Common problems encountered can include:

  • My carer is not completing all the tasks required
  • My carer is not performing tasks to a high enough standard
  • My carer is too unreliable and has been late or cancelled too often
  • We are not getting on well together as a partnership
  • I do not feel as though my carer is respecting my wishes and requests

Most of these problems can often be caused due to miscommunication between the carer and the employer or it could be that there is a discrepancy between the expectations of the employer and the abilities of the carer. In this case it is important to sit down with the carer, and perhaps a mediating third party, and clearly set out what the exact issue is and a solution to resolve the problem. Perhaps they were unaware of how a certain task needs to be completed or have different methods and standards of work to what you expect. In any case it is essential to try and resolve any grievances face to face before deciding to stop working with the carer or to find another carer.

If the problems persist and the issues addressed remain unresolved after a few more shifts or weeks, it may then be time to decide to start to look for a new carer better suited to your needs. When interviewing and advertising for this new role, make sure to outline what your exact requirements are to avoid hiring another carer who does not meet your expectations.

Although it is important to try and resolve issues, remember that a carer is employed to provide as much help to the individual as possible and at the end of the day it is up to the individual to decide whether they are satisfied with the service.

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