Epoch homes are humble abodes for elders who need care round the clock. Most of our elders come and stay with us for life. And that’s why our aim is to facilitate happy and healthy ageing for all our residents, give them the best quality of physical and emotional care and build a trustworthy bond with their families assuring them of their parent’s safety. This lies on the shoulders of our team members, especially support staff who are instrumental to the operations of each home as they are the ones who are involved in taking care of their day-to-day requirements including care, food, grooming, hygiene, cleanliness etc.
As a caregiver, it is important to understand residents’ behaviour and health conditions. Most importantly, they are required to build & establish a bond of trust with the residents. A bond of faith and confidence, so strong as to understand and interpret the unspoken words. This and all is possible only when the caregivers have their peace of mind, and are happy and satisfied.
Caregiver burnout is common and occurs when one feels overwhelmed by how challenging the process of caring for someone can be. With time, one may begin to lose the interest or motivation that brought them to this role in the first place. It eventually gets to the caregiver and affects them both psychologically and physically.
The life of a caregiver is like a ride, sometimes smooth, sometimes bumpy! They are trained and are required to deal with the agitated behaviour of our residents. It becomes more critical to understand their physical and mental health to minimize their stress and burnout.
Being cared for has a profound effect on our emotional state. It gives a sense of relief and relaxation. Doesn’t everyone want such in their work-life balance?
At Epoch, most of our support staff comes from a challenging environment where their entire family is somewhat dependent on them. Also, most of our support staff are from distant areas. They live apart from their families; so it becomes our responsibility to make them feel that Epoch is their home and we all are here for them. They expect an environment of care, respect, safety, motivation and empowerment along with competitive pay packages.
Epoch constantly works toward achieving the goal of keeping them motivated and flowing. For fulfilling such, we at Epoch have an “Employee of the Month” program for our support staff. We recognize the employees for their extraordinary performance and reward them with tangible rewards. Believe me, it makes a huge difference!
From my years of experience, and rolling, I have witnessed different organizations and their different approaches to staff management. However, in an eldercare sector such as ours, the structure and management of human capital slightly vary.
Caring and managing support staff is very different from managing corporate staff given their different job roles. Also, the role which our support staff plays is very crucial and demanding. While dealing with them, we have to be very sensitive and conscious. Must to do things- spend time with them regularly, counsel them and discuss their personal and family concerns, we make them feel they are at home. On the other hand, corporate staff are more comfortable in a healthy and conducive environment.
At Epoch, we believe our team members are our assets and being an HR professional it is one of my key responsibilities to perfectly manage these assets in a true sense and retain them for a longer term. We care for our team members and their happiness. We believe in investing in our team and providing them with an opportunity to grow both personally and professionally.
For keeping them motivated and going, the keystone is to have a heart-to-heart conversation with the team members. Trust and Care are the two main ingredients to motivate and retain our employees. Sharing some pivotal tools- Epoch’s personal touch to caring for its team and boosting their morale to retain them in their profession
Listening: We believe patiently listening to the thoughts and issues of our team members can do magic, and give them a feeling that someone cares for them. This reduces their stress level and burnout. It’s better if I share this through a relatable story: During the peak of the COVID-19 surge, most of our team members were bound to stay inside 24*7 and were not allowed to step outside the resident's rooms for their own safety as well as for our residents' safety. This was the time they got very stressed and some of them felt like quitting because of this burnout. During that time the listening approach did a miracle, and our team members felt so motivated that they started working more efficiently and happily and none of them left!
Empowering the Team by Involving: We believe in involving team members in decision-making related to care plans and operations or explaining the reason for a particular decision, rather than just imposing it onto them. We believe it is important that team members should know the reasons, be comfortable and familiar with the process, share their feedback, be open about any challenges and then be in a position to acknowledge and accept the changes happily.
Transparency: Being transparent in all our processes is what we firmly believe in and hence practice. It is another key factor that plays an important role in building trust and earning the loyalty of our team members, and it’s a boon! We give our best, and we are true to ourselves. Being transparent with our team acts as our strength. And the understanding is not one-sided, in return, the team mutually adds their effort and will to establish seamless transparency in their mode of conduct, communication, and course of work. We at Epoch believe in doing open, honest and direct communication with the team, and are always open to honest feedback.
Conflict Resolution: We strongly believe that every conflict/issue should be resolved on priority by defining a timeline. It should not just linger. I personally follow this to resolve each and every grievance/concern raised by our team members on time. I feel that for resolving the issues, we have to focus on incidents and events and not on individual personalities. For every healthy relationship, one needs to listen and talk out what’s stuck in their heart and mind. It ain’t any different for an employee-employer relationship. As Head-Human Resource at Epoch, I bridge people and their emotions and pave a way so that Epoch's workspace remains an exemplary hub for learning, exploring, prospering and building strong connections.
Everyone Is a Part of Our Mission Statement: We believe in evolving and constantly growing together with our team. We consider that our team members matter more than anything. Making them feel that they play a key role in executing our vision is a vital thing for us. This forms a powerful bond between an employee and the employer. We call each of our team members, a brand ambassador of Epoch! We let them own this title with pride and its responsibilities therein. We firmly believe in functioning as a torch bearer for the betterment of ourselves and our organization, Epoch.
As Epoch’s HR personnel it is my top most priority to take care of my team members’ happiness by ensuring that they are promptly heard and understood. It gives a sense of satisfaction to both me and my team to know that I will always be there for them. My aim is to make our team members truly feel they are always Supported, Valued, Heard and Validated.
Given my personal experience, I can say that a personal touch is integral for an employee’s motivation and thus their retention.
