Why all franchise leaders should care about mental health: lessons from homecare

Here’s a true story – not about Walfinch – that explains why looking after the mental health of staff is vital.

Betty, who had been supplied with a care package after a spell in hospital, told me: “A carer I had never seen before arrived, and he hardly even looked at me. Once he’d helped with my personal care he sat in my bedroom chair and just looked at the floor. He said nothing and made no eye contact. It was awful.

“I had been looking forward to the carer visit for a chat, but he seemed very depressed. I felt like I had to cheer him up, and it should have been the other way round. I was angry with the agency and asked them never to send him to me again.”

A carer with mental health issues needs help. If they don’t get it, there’s a risk that they will get worse, and eventually may leave their job. Even if they stay, they could have a negative effect on the mental health of their clients, and other members of the care team.

Whatever your franchise sector, ignoring mental health issues is cruel and counter-productive.

Franchise leaders must be proactive

Before I owned the Walfinch homecare franchise I was a homecare franchisee with another company. There were times, because of unexpected staff sickness, when I had to go out on calls myself. It made me acutely aware of the pressures that homecare staff can face.

Our services included end-of-life care - the one area of care where there is a statutory requirement to provide emotional support to carers. I saw how valuable our staff support sessions were, and I believe they should be available to all members of a care team, regardless of their speciality.

I vowed that when I started my own homecare franchise, I would take as much action as I could to support franchisees, staff and clients with their mental health and wellbeing – and not just by paying lip-service to the idea, but by taking practical measures.  Fast forward to today, and as CEO of Walfinch homecare I’m pleased at how we have worked to improve measures for the mental wellbeing of our franchisees and carers. 

Preventive measures for any franchise sector

Franchise leaders cannot just respond to issues once they arrive. We need to be proactive and introduce measures to create greater staff wellbeing.

Based on my experience in care, these are some ideas that could be used in any franchise sector:

Discover what staff want. For front line staff, knowing that your voice is being heard is a driver for employee engagement, wellbeing and loyalty. At Walfinch we are planning an anonymous survey of our carers asking them how they feel about their jobs now and how their workplace wellbeing can be improved. Then we can take appropriate action, if we need to, and we will have a baseline assessment against which we can judge how effective our action was.

Get customer feedback. We will also ask our clients how they feel about the care service they receive. Walfinch clients are already asked regularly how they feel about their care, but we are adding a more formalised process to record and action the results. This will allow us to see what makes clients happy, and the extent to which reports of unhappiness from clients and carers correlate.

Use data to take action. Data like this can identify areas where action, such as more training or new policies, can improve wellbeing and mental health for staff and clients. Repeated periodically, surveys will help us identify the return on investment of new initiatives.

Train mental health first aiders. Some of our franchise offices already have mental health first aiders but we are moving fast to ensure that someone in every office has competed a course.

Use the buddy system. New staff in particular, can worry about their new job, so twin them with a ‘buddy’, an established member of staff who they can turn to for support.

Encourage franchisees to use the network. Encourage new franchisees to consult others in the network. Talking to someone who understands their position may reduce stress and worry.

 Listen to your franchisees. At Walfinch we have a Franchisee Advisory Council, where franchisees can raise issues with the franchisor, which boosts franchisee support.

Act now

Our plans to improve workplace mental health are on this quarter’s agenda. Our Compliance and Quality Manager Amanda Keeler, is holding meetings with Registered Managers from each of our 30 offices to address the issue.

No franchise can afford to be complacent about mental health in the workplace. It is inhumane – and ultimately risky to the business – to ignore it and hope it will go away.

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