The Big Reshuffle report: unique poll of health & social care joiners and leavers

After releasing The Big Exit in 2022, detailing the motivations of 1000 health & social care leavers, Sona has acknowledged that responses can shift with time, as working trends change, and decided to run the poll again this year in order to help organisations improve their recruitment strategies.

Recruitment and retention are two of the biggest challenges the social care sector faces. The Big Reshuffle aimed to answer the most pressing questions social care organisations have for both leavers and joiners:

  • Why are employees leaving or joining the industry?
  • Where are they going?
  • What would motivate leavers to return?

Oli Johnson, Sona co-founder, found some of the results eye-opening:

“We committed to running this poll yearly because we wanted to shed light on the most relevant topics influencing social care and develop solutions that are truly needed by the industry. When I learned that 46 per cent of leavers were not asked to stay at all, I wanted to share this with all the organisations struggling with recruitment and retention.”

Some other standout findings in The Big Reshuffle are:

  • Most common reasons for leaving health & social care were pay, health issues, and lack of flexibility.
  • Education is a top choice for 13 per cent of leavers, followed by retail at 12 per cent.
  • Third most influential reason for leavers under 35 was not feeling valued.
  • Seventy-seven per cent of leavers would consider returning in the right circumstances.
  • The first 90 days onboarding process is essential to increase retention.
  • How organisations can attract those leavers as well as new joiners.

The Big Reshuffle report can be accessed in full for free here.

Feature sponsored by Sona.

About Sona: Backed by Google’s Gradient Ventures, Sona is an award-winning Frontline Operating System that combines the functionality you expect from any workforce management software – including scheduling, time & attendance, HR and payroll – with dedicated features to empower staff and solve unique challenges in frontline work, all in one easy to use platform.

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