Supporting staff

Supporting staff is essential if an organisation is to deliver quality services to vulnerable people. There are challenges in terms of finding the resources and in recruiting and retaining people. There are lots of resources that can help organisations to provide this support.

Context

The relationship between frontline staff and the people they are engaging and supporting to move away from homelessness is crucial. It is often said that it is this that makes the biggest difference. Continuity of keyworker and the skills an individual has, play an important role.

An organisation must get recruitment, retention, support and training right if it is committed to delivering quality services. A key part of the Places of Change approach is developing well-trained, motivated and supported staff.

Working with homeless people, whilst being hugely rewarding, can also be demanding and have an emotional impact. It is important that all staff (at all levels) receive regular supervision. This usually involves regular line management meetings that cover work performance, and general wellbeing and development. It is important that staff are able to reflect on their practice (what they do well and what needs development) and receive feedback. Other models include splitting out the support function from clinical supervision; this can serve to develop reflective practice. Some organisations may choose to undertake some elements of the supervision function in a group setting.

Performance management is important, but can be a challenge. It is important that people with the right skills are recruited in the first place and that everyone has a job description. Once people are in the post, they need to be equipped to do it, which will involve induction, an appropriate level of support and sometimes training. Procedures should be in place to address underperformance or misconduct.

Solutions

The London Housing Foundation established a pilot scheme to provide high-quality HR support to homelessness small agencies. Beyond a Helpline was delivered by Broadway, who continue to offer the service via their Real People Consultancy. Visit the Beyond a Helpline website for more details, to see the evaluation or for contact details.

For detailed information regarding recruiting and managing staff, visit the Homeless Link Good Practice Handbooks. There is relevant information for supporting staff in hostels, day centres and in street outreach services.

Training plays an essential part in supporting staff to provide an excellent service. We have information on Skills Development in the homelessness sector. If you want to know what general training we can offer, please visit our training pages.

Further information

ThamesReach run the National GROW (Giving Real Opportunities for Work) Programme. Supported by Communities and Local Government, this programme is changing the culture of the homelessness sector so that it fully embraces employment of service users. It delivers a bespoke consultancy service to homelessness organisations across the country.

NCVO’s Workforce Development team provides advice and support to voluntary and community organisations to enable them to recruit, retain and develop their workforce.