Every day is different as an ENA live-in carer

Thinking about a job in social care? Beth Britton interviews ENA’s Recruitment Manager Catherine Wingrove to find out what it takes to be a live-in carer and the rewards that are on offer.

Thanks to high-profile campaigns like the Department of Health and Social Care’s ‘Every Day is Different’, working in social care has never been talked about so much. The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that many people who worked in other industries have taken up positions in social care and found they love the work, with aspects like being able to ‘make a difference’ to people’s lives and ‘doing something worthwhile’ being key reasons new social care recruits have quickly grown to love their jobs.

As a passionate advocate of the impact people who work in social care make to the lives of those who are ill, vulnerable, ageing or disabled, I’m always interested in knowing what employers look for in care staff and how they are going the extra mile to make the heroes who work in social care feel really valued.

With this in mind, I caught up with Catherine Wingrove, ENA’s Recruitment Manager, to find out what ENA offer to their employees and the qualities potential new recruits need.

Hi Catherine, thank you for agreeing to be interviewed. I know that ENA are supporting the ‘Every Day is Different’ recruitment campaign from the Department of Health and Social Care, so I’d like to start by asking you: What makes a career as an ENA live-in carer so rewarding?

Every day our live-in carers are helping people in need and making their lives that little bit easier. Knowing that you make a difference to another person’s day provides a real sense of achievement that’s difficult to experience in any other role. The personal connection that builds up between a live-in carer and their client is what makes live-in care work so special and unique, and is often what attracts carers to this type of role over other care settings.

It’s been extensively reported that the COVID-19 pandemic has meant that many people are looking for new career opportunities. What benefits are available to successful applicants to ENA’s live-in carer roles?

Successful applicants are rewarded with a whole host of benefits by working for us. We offer competitive salaries, 24/7 support from our care team, paid annual leave, flexible working patterns, wellbeing programmes (including access to the Calm App), a pension scheme and a guaranteed work scheme.

We also provide ongoing training and development to support our carers, and we have recently won an award for our training which we are incredibly proud of.

Your guaranteed work scheme sounds particularly beneficial to new recruits. How does it work?

The guaranteed work scheme ensures that our carers are guaranteed to earn £6000 in the first 12 weeks of their employment, even when they are waiting to go into a placement with a client. Occasionally it can take a number of weeks to find a suitable placement, so this scheme gives our carers the peace of mind that they will still be earning money even if they aren’t with a client yet. Not all live-in care providers offer this guarantee, but we felt it was an important aspect in attracting the very best live-in carers to work for us at ENA.

What induction do you offer new live-in carers?

We offer a free 5-day induction to new live-in carers, which is a face-to-face training and assessment week based at our head office. During this week carers are taught the Care Certificate and other mandatory training using classroom-style teaching. This comprehensive induction process ensures that carers are taught all of the live-in care skills and care techniques that they will need, as well as gaining the confidence necessary to enable our clients to live well and safely at home.

What values do you look for in a live-in carer?

ENA’s company values are Enabling, Nurturing and Aspiring. These are the values we look for in our live-in carers, alongside a number of qualities that we try and identify during the recruitment process to ensure we are selecting the best carers for our clients. These include empathy, flexibility, a can-do attitude, a love of people and excellent communication skills. We don’t recruit based on experience, but we certainly look for carers with these values.

July is ‘Good Care Month’ in ENA’s home county of Hertfordshire. How are you supporting that campaign?

During Good Care Month we have been sharing content across our social media platforms to raise the profile of working in care using the hashtag #GoodCareMonth. We have also been liaising closely with HCPA (Hertfordshire Care Providers Association), who are running the campaign, and we were lucky enough to have Bugsy MaGNOME, the Good Care gnome, join us in the office for a few days. As you can see, he has been making his way onto our social media to promote Good Care Month at ENA!

Many thanks for your time Catherine. I know that ENA have numerous positive reviews on jobs website Glassdoor, and I’d like to finish our interview with quotes from some of those reviews:

“It’s been a long time since I had a job that I looked forward to getting out of bed for. A job where I felt challenged and received so many opportunities to develop my skills and knowledge.”

“I have worked for several care companies throughout my career, including the NHS and private sectors, and ENA are by far the best I’ve encountered. They are a company led by extremely passionate and talented people, who invest in the people who work for them from their live-in carers to office staff.”

“Today I successfully completed live-in carer training provided and taught by Kirsty and Daisy of ENA Care Group Ltd. I was pleasantly surprised by not only the amazing content of the training, but also by the professional and fun manner in which it was delivered. I have been a carer for a number of years, but I can honestly say that as a result of today’s training I have gained essential knowledge and confidence to provide the best service possible for my clients.”

To find out more about working for ENA Care Group, please call 01707 383 033 or email recruitment@ena.co.uk.