Hiring male care workers is a 'struggle', admits manager

Finding men willing to take permanent care jobs is a "struggle" for many care homes, a manager at a mental health setting has said.

Lannock Manor in Hitchin is among the care settings finding it a challenge to hire more men to reflect the people it supports - which is up to 10 male residents with mental health illnesses, alcohol, drug or sex addiction.

“The type of setting we have is predominantly male but we can’t find enough men”, Samantha McCormack, finance manager at Lannock Manor Mental Health Ltd told carehome.co.uk.

While risk assessments and the right training contribute to a safe environment she says: “The women staff prefer to work in the day because they feel more vulnerable at night. There are only two staff members working at night.”

Typically, one man and one women work on the night shift. The care setting also supports people with schizophrenia or challenging behaviour. While the setting is happy to recruit experienced, motivated women to care jobs, she is aware men are "stronger than women" which can help for handling challenging behaviour.

Out of 14 permanent workers at the Hitchin setting, only six are men. The figure is higher for temporary agency staff where seven out of eight workers are men. “Employers at care homes in general are having the same sort of problems we’re having.

“We find predominantly male staff work for an agency. I don’t know if it’s the pay or because it suits them more but I know there are homes that are running solely on agency staff. That’s not good for continuity. It’s not good for residents.”

Mrs McCormack’s husband Alan McCormack is the director of the company and is himself a qualified nurse who founded the business in 2014. Despite the recruitment ads, Mrs McCormack said finding experienced men who are motivated to do the work is difficult.

“It’s a job not everyone can do. Sometimes people start and leave after two shifts. Applicants can arrive for an interview but don’t have a minimum of two years’ experience in mental health that we need.”

She believes some applicants are simply fulfilling a Job Centre requirement and turn up for the interview but are not interested in the work.

“You want to get staff who want to work, are experienced and are willing do it at a certain rate of pay.”

To add to the issue, council care fees have not risen since the setting opened, even though wages have increased in line with minimum wage rises every April.

She added: “There has been no uplift in care fees. So how do you attract the staff you need?”

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