Knowing that your job is helping others must be the most rewarding work out there. Making a real difference to people’s lives who are less fortunate than yourself must be so liberating.
Here’s an interesting question – for every £1 of salary, which profession produces the most social and economic value for society? It’s highly likely that carers would feature in the top ten.
If you did the maths and then put a commensurate salary behind each career based on social value created, I wonder how this would change people’s preferred career choice?
So why is a career in the care sector not more popular ? A role that allows you to make a positive contribution to peoples lives, the chance to learn & develop life skills, where your every action is truly appreciated by your client, must make it one of the most enjoyable jobs out there?
It seems one of the issues is that the role of carers is massively undervalued. The old saying “Givers Gain” does not appear to exist in the world of caring. That’s the main reason companies are struggling to recruit quality carers as they expect them to work in challenging environments, with unsociable hours for little reward and recognition.
If we are serious about improving the quality and provision of care in our communities, then we need to reward carers properly for the social value they create. We need to give them the support they need, structured learning programs, clear career paths and remuneration that reflects their contribution to society.
Social enterprises are leading the way on this by committing to pay the “living wage” to their teams, offering them structured career paths in roles that are making society stronger.
As more people consider “what’s life’s all about”, social enterprises can look forward to more talented individuals looking for new careers that make a real difference to people’s lives.
Let’s get the ball rolling by campaigning for carers to get a minimum wage of £10. We know they deserve it.
