Annual Review 2011/12 - Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution

STAFF DEVELOPMENT | 19
Staff development –
the key to improving
our services
We have continued to invest in the development of our staff, and to expand and promote the
provision of person-centred care services. Leadership in this cultural change is driven by the
Homes’ Management Teams who have embarked on the accredited Diploma in Person Centred
Care. Every RMBI Home now has at least one member of the staff team either qualified in or
working towards this Diploma.
In all our Homes, every member
of staff has completed foundation
learning in providing person-centred
care. The interactive sessions involved
in this facilitate discussion and debate
through examples and understanding
of people who experience care
services. Through follow-on
participative staff meetings, staff
are encouraged to be actively
involved in the design and delivery
of local care practices to meet the
needs of the individuals living at
their particular Home.
The learning and development of
our staff on a wider scale remains
our key focus. A review of learning
and development commissioned by
the RMBI in 2011-12 highlighted
the need for staff training in an
ever-growing range of topics,
indicating that support for the local
Management Teams could be better.
The review also recommended the
introduction of an Assistant Director,
Learning and Development, and this
appointment has now been made.
This role will provide expertise to
ensure that appropriate learning
strategies are designed and then
delivered consistently throughout
all our Homes.
Attracting and retaining a competent,
stable workforce are vital, and during
the year we have overhauled our
recruitment and selection methods,
and candidates for all vacancies are
identified and selected on the basis of
their qualities and competencies and
potential abilities. Once they are in
post, we support their development
and ensure they enjoy their time
with us, and annual staff turnover
at the RMBI is 12%. Although this
represents a slight increase compared
with the previous year, it is well below
the overall staff turnover rate for the
care sector of 22%.
Historically, the RMBI has retained
a large amount of manual
administrative work related to staff.
Following the launch of Snowdrop
(an HR staff database system) some
years ago, we are planning to expand
and upgrade the system to ensure
this continues to handle staff
records efficiently.
Further automation has been
undertaken this year in respect
of processing information about
staff attendance. Two Homes took
part in a trial of Kronos, a time
and attendance system. This was
enormously successful and we
achieved about a 75% saving in
time spent on administration and
management approval systems,
while improving the accuracy of
information on working hours,
and therefore pay data, for salary
processing. Kronos was introduced to
all our Homes during 2012. We plan
to introduce additional functions to
the system so that all staff data and
information on working hours can
be transferred electronically across
multiple staff computer systems. This
will eliminate multiple data entry and
therefore further reduce time spent
on administration.
Snowdrop and Kronos provide analysis
tools to optimise staffing levels, and
also provide valuable information
on staff trends for both internal and
external benchmarking.
“There is always
somebody around
if I need them.”
A resident at Devonshire Court,
Leicester