Reduce Agency Reliance With On-Demand Pay for Social Care

Agency staff are less reliable and more expensive than your own staff. And yet, you probably spend far too much on them. Worse still, statistically, you’re likely to spend even more on them this year than last.

But, with 1 in 10 care jobs now unfilled and vacancies up 52% year-on-year, recruiting isn’t easy. And, with the average care employee working 31 hours a week, care providers require more staff than other industries, like hospitality, to fill the same number of shifts.

But, there are ways to reduce this. In fact, the average care home would only need each member of staff to work one extra shift every three weeks to entirely eliminate their demand for agency staff. Even two hours additional hours a week from each permanent member of staff would halve your agency spending overnight.

So, how do you get your staff to work more hours? One option is to increase their rate of pay but, this would make them as expensive as agency staff; which many providers simply cannot afford in this economic climate. The alternative is to be more innovative and change when, not what, you pay your staff.

On-Demand Pay is an employee benefit that allows staff to access their income as they earn it, without impacting your cashflow or payroll process as the employer. By rewarding hard work instantly, you incentivise shift uptake, as people are far more inclined to work for a more immediate reward – even if the actual rate of pay is the same.

This motivates staff to pick up more hours and has reduced the number of unfilled shifts by 62% for some providers. In fact, combined with its ability to attract staff, it can halve your annual agency costs in a matter of weeks.

These benefits explain why many of the biggest providers – from Bupa to Bluebird, Home Instead to Agincare, and HC-One to the NHS – already offer it. Increasingly, it is also why smaller providers like LDC, Coquet and Portland do too.

By incentivising permanent staff to pick up more shifts, as well as increasing loyalty and decreasing the time it takes you to hire, you really can significantly reduce your spending on agencies while increasing the financial wellbeing of your own staff. Again, all without impacting your cashflow or increasing your hourly rate.

Get in touch with Level today to find out why employers like Home Instead, Bluebird Care and Agincare already trust us.