Training and Healthcare Blogs
Simple steps to ease the stress of struggling to arrange training around staff rotas
In a recent survey of care managers, 70% found the biggest struggle when it came to staff training was trying to fit courses around staff rotas.
From our experience working with care providers over the years we have come up with some simple steps to make the task of arranging courses around your staff rotas a little easier.
1) Get to know your staff and their timetable.
- Consider those that are part time - is there a day when all staff or most staff are in work?
- Are there certain days that some staff are unable to work?
- Do any of them have flexible working to be considered?
- Do your staff have the availability to come in on non-work days to attend training?
2) Familiarise yourself with work trends.
- Which are your busiest days?
- What times of the day are your busiest?
Avoid them!
3) Think outside the box when scheduling training.
- Training doesn't have to be 9-5. In care often the busiest times are early morning and evenings so perhaps a course between 10am and 4pm would suit better?
- You could also break the training down into bite size chunks of 3 hours training per day.
- Do you really need a full week of training? If you know certain days (e.g. Wednesdays and Thursdays) are your quietest days of the week for caring for people. Then book training on Wednesdays and Thursdays over consecutive weeks until the training is completed.
4) Plan in advance.
With the possibility of staff sickness or people on leave it is vital to plan in advance.
This can also help staff who may need to plan in advance for childcare etc.
5) Communicate with your team.
- You have now planned in advance - ensure everyone knows when these important training days are so they can organise their annual leave or other priorities around them.
- Use a rota planning tool - whether this is a bespoke system or an excel spreadsheet and ensure the team have access to view it.
- If you have line managers who sign off leave and shift swaps - ensure they have the training days visible to them so they can check before authorising
6) Have a plan B.
- Have a waiting list of staff who can be called on the day of the course to fill any unexpected spaces on the course.
- Schedule course 1, 2 and 3 this month for half the staff and the same three courses next month. Anyone who misses the first course can then transfer straight onto the second date.
We understand it can be difficult arranging training around staff rotas, so we are here to discuss solutions with you and how we can be flexible to help ease the stress. Get in touch to discuss your training needs; training@ctrcaretraining.co.uk.
Good luck with your training planning!
