workforce
Of course, each department may potentially only affect somebody once a month or once a week; whereas, obviously, our carers would affect somebody every day.
It could be things like opening the curtains for people. It might be bringing in the newspaper, or saying good morning. It might be that somebody is not feeling the best that day, so they would like physical hugs. It might be the activities we provide, such as bingo, or physical therapy events like‘ Sit Dance’. They might do chair exercises if people can’ t get up and move around as well as they used to.
What did staff take away from the workshops? What do you think that number 58 really means? I think the number 58 could be a little bit elastic. At SwanCare, we wanted to show the staff that what they do is important. You know, it’ s hard work working in aged care, but we’ re a team of people that are connected and motivated by our vision and mission. I think it drives us to go above and beyond every day, and that includes all of our staff.
So we wanted them to understand that we have the same passion every day as our staff on the floor do, and that there’ s always room to improve. We’ re always looking for that genuine commitment to our people where, no matter what role they undertake, they’ re truly recognised and rewarded for their dedication and achievement.
I think putting a number on it and having our workshops actually allowed our staff to recognise how very important they are in the lives of our residents every single day.
What feedback did you get from staff who took part? The SwanCare staff that took part in our workshops came from all areas of the organisation, and the feedback from them was that they really enjoyed having the opportunity to look at what they do in a more meaningful way, and be able to quantify how much they do.
Quite often, caring can be a nebulous thing. For example, in sales, you can say“ I’ ve made this many sales” or“ I’ ve made this much money”. But with care, it’ s not quite so easy to quantify. I think that being able to put our number of 58 on there – even though it might be elastic – we can give them an actual physical number that they can take away and go,“ You know what, I do good work every day, and I do impact on somebody 58 times a day.”
Von Isser Patalan, registered nurse. Photo: SwanCare
As you say, the number is elastic, but what message do you hope this project sends out to other aged care workers or providers or to the general public? I guess what we would like to portray to the public is that at SwanCare, just like no two people are the same, no two workplaces are the same.
We believe that we offer our people something that can’ t be found elsewhere. That we’ ve got a genuine commitment to our people, whether it be our residents or our staff, and that they can be comfortable in the fact that we know what they’ re doing every day.
We know that what they’ re doing is meaningful and that aged care providers are in the business of improving lives for a living. That’ s what we do. ■
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