Our first join staff night out

I’d like to start things off by thanking Rob Mackin’s for organising our first fully inclusive team night(s) out and for Annie and David sanctioning these. We all enjoyed the food, drinks and getting to know each other a little better.

I think most of you will agree, both nights were successful and go towards helping us achieve a more cohesive and close-knit team. We have learned from both nights and will take this forward when planning for future events. I appreciate not everyone could attend, so we will make sure that we stagger the dates better to allow everyone the opportunity to come.

Welcome

We are happy and excited to announce, we have appointed to our vacant Care Coordinators post. After many interviews, we are please to say, Dionne Mombeyarara comes to the team, bringing a mix of care provision experience, has also worked as a small business entrepreneur, and has shown the personality and drive to be a great addition to the operations team. Once inducted, you can expect to hear from Dionne when communicating with the office. Dionne will bring some much-needed support to Courtney and will have the bonus of freeing up your managers to be more active in the field, seeing you and your customers far more often! So please, extend a warm welcome to Dionne when your paths cross!

Christmas scheduling

This has been a contentious topic, but one we want to address positively. My initial noticeboard communications were not well received and were possibly misinterpreted. For that, I am sorry. The care industry is a 24 hour, 265 days a year service, which customers rely on for their quality of life and safety. As their provider, we have a duty of care to ensure their care needs are met. Most care providers take the approach of not accepting annual leave requests over the Christmas period, but we understand, you too want to be with friends and family. The only way this can be achieved is by cooperation and careful planning. Earlier in the year, we asked all carers to send in their preferred working pattern and availability for Christmas and new year but, unfortunately, this did not get the response we wanted. Only a handful of you sent in your requests and preferences.

To establish who needs to take annual leave for the time they wish to have off, we have to adhere to the rolling rotations (your 4 and 3 patterns) so we have a starting point. If your pattern falls on the holidays, you will need to make sure you apply for leave but also let us know where you can compromise and support service delivery. For example, if Christmas is more important for you, you might offer to work new year or vice versa. Courtney will be sending out a new noticeboard with a further request for this detail, so please, respond and send this in otherwise, there can be no complaints once rotas and schedules are developed and set!

Notice periods and leaving the Bluebird team

Whilst we never like to see people leave, we must accept that people move on, their lives change and sometimes, moving on is the right thing to do. I’d like to take this opportunity to explain to you the notice period we have and why it is there. The notice period is part of the contract you sign when you accept to join us here at Bluebird. Notice periods vary depending on your time with us and ranges from two weeks if you have been with us less then 2 years and four weeks if you have been with us any longer. This period of notice is designed to help both the business, and the customer prepare for the change. For example, if a long serving carer is leaving us, they leave behind their customers, who have grown used to them and whom they feel comfortable with. By honouring the notice period, it allows us to advertise, recruit and introduce the new carer to the customers, helping them adjust, and to reduce the stress and upset caused. When we experience staff leaving with immediate affect (serving no notice) it places a huge strain on the business, has the potential of leaving the customer and their families feeling let-down and impacts on the colleagues left who pick up the pieces.

As I say, we all understand that moving on is a part of life and we would never wish to stifle or prevent someone from doing so however, what we do expect is that they work with us to help manage the process positively, and in a way that protects the customer and lessens the impact on your colleagues. If it helps, we can be flexible and I’m sure, the values we share would want us all to uphold those standards of care and to manage these changes positively for all parties.

Seasonal recognition

David and the Senior Leadership Team recognise the service and care you provide and the commitment you give to Bluebird over the year. We are also committed to providing you with a small gesture of appreciation, which we hope brings some joy. The trouble is it can be a tricky thing to get right! Each one of you is individual and has different ideas and expectations. I would like to invite you to make suggestions about what kind of gesture would you like to see. Again, this is your chance to influence what we do through the “You said-we-Did” method, so if you have ideas, share them. Last year, Boxed hampers were given out. Would you like to receive something similar again, or something different? Get emailing and messaging now as we will need time to arrange things as time is pressing!

As always, thank you for all your hard work, endeavour, and superb care you give. Keep it up and remember, if you have anything you need to discuss, come in, grab a coffee, and let us know.