Carol Benbow.  May 2023.

People who know me will understand my long-term view that without our team, we wouldn’t have Amber Family. Possibly an obvious statement, but our team IS Amber Family, and we work hard to support them, care for them, listen to them, encourage them and develop them so that the service we provide to the Local Authorities who place with us and the parents who live with us, is supported by a workforce of professional, engaged and content staff.

Our service has grown from one four-bedded house which opened in 2014 to now owning three houses which can accommodate 14 families and a fourth one due to be registered this year; we’ll then be able to accept 19 families at any one time into Amber. Our initial recruitment back in 2014 was “low-key” (!) we recruited family, friends, and friends of friends and we operated the first house with six staff who worked three days on, three days off, three nights on, rota. We now have 43 staff who work a variety of shift patterns/days/nights / 9 am – 5 pm and other funky versions to ensure our 24/7/365 service is fully staffed by a team of qualified individuals.

I recently received an e-mail enquiry from an agency offering to support us with our staffing needs. I wrote back explaining that we didn’t use agency staff (unusual for a social care service) and I was told how amazing this was and could provide them with the secret so they could pass it on. This got me thinking…..what do we do that encourages our team to stay with us?

Be flexible and supportive – When Gill and I set up Amber in 2013 / 2014, between us we’d raised 8 children and had both worked a variety of full-time jobs whilst doing so. We worked nights, twilight shifts, weekends and weekdays to support our family and this encouraged us to offer the same flexibility to our team. We recognise that everyone has a life outside work, and we are mindful of how important individual lives are. If there’s an opportunity to let our staff have time off work to watch their child in a play, attend appointments with their elderly parents, or take their beloved animal to the vet, then we make sure we pull together as a team to support them to do so.

Be kind – We work with vulnerable members of society and our service is very much in the public eye and we are subject to great scrutiny. People make mistakes and get things wrong – it’s human nature. As a service, we are heavily invested in employing a restorative approach when we can, and we train all our staff in this. It’s about appreciating our connections with one another and understanding how our actions and words can impact those around us, whether this is a colleague or a parent or a family member. I’d like to think that kindness is at the heart of what we do, whether this is directed towards our own staff or resident parents. We understand that everyone has a past and a present and by demonstrating kindness to each other we seek to support each other to work through any issues.

Communicate – Whilst you may not realise it whilst you are living it, past experiences in the workplace shape your own attitude towards work and staff management and at the beginning of your career, you start to sort through the wheat from the chaff, squirrelling away examples of good practice for future use or acknowledging and remembering the poor practice of those who you have worked for, alongside or with. I remember a great mentor from my time in the Civil Service who always took time – once a month, to connect with every member of his staff team. This was an unenviable task as he had management responsibility for over 150 staff, but he took this self-imposed objective very seriously, as seriously as providing financial forecasts and future plans to the Board. He understood that people work better when they know what’s going on; they feel more secure in their workplace if they understand the path the business is taking and how they are going to get there – together. This strategy of keeping everyone up to date has stuck with me and whilst meetings can be disruptive to the care and support we provide to the families living with us, I am always conscious of keeping the staff team up to date with what direction the company is going in and how any changes may impact them.

Be honest – No one likes to be wrong. It’s a simple fact of life but saying “sorry” for a bad decision and letting others know that you’re vulnerable is empowering. I came from a background in project management and construction, working alongside a workforce, predominately male, whose experiences and education were far greater than mine. Showing a softer, more vulnerable side by admitting you’d got something wrong was not welcomed nor supported and the consequences of admitting that you’d got something wrong was often ridicule, sometimes a more serious sanction. However, when I look back at the pressure I felt, day in, and day out, to live up to this unreal expectation of perfect performance, I realise how desperately unhappy I was. I never want any of our Amber Family staff to feel like this. I want them to enjoy and value the time they spend in work and to that end, Gill and I let them know that we don’t expect them to be perfect, but to be honest. If things have gone wrong, let us know and we’ll support you.

Be realistic – Everyone (no exception) comes to work for the rewards, which are mainly financial. The biggest driver is what everyone is taking home at the end of each month, and we’ve always been honest about pay with our staff. When we started out as a fledgling business with no financial support from anyone other than the four of us (Gill, me and our husbands – oh, and a very good friend who sold his house so we could pay our first wage bill whilst waiting to be registered with OFSTED!) we told our staff that when we could strike the balance between the business being financially stable enough to keep going and giving them a pay rise we would do so. And we did.

Over the last 10 years, Amber Family has grown into a close-knit community that values and invests in its staff. We’ll never be able to match the paying power of the Local Authorities, but what we hope to provide in addition to an attractive salary are other rewards; we offer Perkbox to all employees who have passed their probation, we invest (heavily) in our staff in terms of training and CPD, we organise days out – we’re off to the races this year! – we do treasure hunts, and meals out for learners who have worked above and beyond to achieve an accreditation.

We’ve come a long way in 10 years, and I’m proud that many of our staff who were part of our original gang of six are still here! Here’s to the next 10 years of running a business alongside the best staff team there is!