Supporting staff in community services

Abstract

SUMMARY A high level of morale in staff of community based services is of critical importance. To maintain high morale services must supply a variety of organisational and personal supports. Good organisational supports include: (1) adequate materials, a good and responsive communication system, and cooperation with other elements of the service; (2) sufficient staff with the right skills, which are maintained by relevant training; (3) a clear service philosophy within which to operate and in which individuals' priorities are carefully linked; (4) sufficient variety in the job to avoid staff becoming drained. Good personal supports include: (1) involvement in decisions about client plans; (2) staff awareness of their own part in obtaining service goals and an opportunity to share in evaluation and development of new policies; (3) knowledge of personal objectives; (4) clear and positive, as well as negative, feedback on individual performance; (5) respect, empathy, and a lack of defensiveness from colleagues and superiors.

Staff turnover in ordinary housing services for people with severe or profound mental handicaps

“…The data from this and other studies in Britain and the United States suggest that staff turnover is a permanent feature of staffed housing services for people with severe or profound mental handicaps. Although much may be done by managerial action to establish settings with clear policies and working methods, to train staff and to support them in their jobs (Firth & Myers 1985), it may be argued that staff turnover will persist at a significant level. Some turnover is due to the positive development of staff, as in the case of individuals who gain promotion, move on to jobs with greater or different responsibilities, or seek further training.…”

Stress and Residential Staff: Towards an Integration of Existing Research

“…In a similar way, focusing on team functioning provides us with opportunities for intervention that may have been ignored in the past. There have been attempts to improve the social functioning of staff in isolated community services (Crawford, 1990;Firth & Myers, 1985) but these are more exceptional than general and have not always been maintained. I would argue that in isolated community services regular support for staff needs to be programmed routinely.…”

Maintaining staff morale: the value of a staff training and support network

“…Tyne (1981) pointed clearly to the importance of providing staff access to a network of supportive services. Firth and Myers (1985), writing on the importance of high morale, said that many places do not give staff support a high priority.…”