How we helped Riverside Home Care build something their team believes in
Riverside Home Care is a small home care provider committed to supporting people in their own homes with dignity, respect, and independence. When they came to us, they wanted to strengthen their culture and give their growing team something that captured what Riverside actually stands for.
Through Worcestershire County Council’s workforce planning funding, we worked closely with their leadership team to create a culture handbook that reflected the organisation’s mission of compassionate, person-centred care. It included real staff stories, a welcome that felt genuinely warm, their values and what those mean in practice, and practical information to support the team.
Charlotte Keen, Director, told us:
“The culture handbook has been a really useful tool to give to new employees to help outline who we are and what to expect when working at Riverside. It’s benefited our business as it streamlines information and gives key points staff must be aware of.”
The result was a resource that gave new starters a real sense of what they were joining, and leadership a consistent tool to onboard and engage the team.
What home care businesses can do now
- Audit your onboarding process. Map out what the first two weeks look like for a new care worker and ask honestly whether it sets them up to succeed or leaves them to figure things out alone
- Create something that tells your story. A culture handbook, a welcome guide, or even a well-crafted induction document can make a significant difference to how quickly someone settles in and whether they feel part of something
- Train your coordinators and managers on what good support looks like. The relationship between a care worker and their coordinator is one of the biggest factors in retention
- Talk about what you offer as an employer, not just what you do as a service. Candidates need to see the employer, not just the job
We support home care businesses and other care providers across Worcestershire and beyond with HR, culture, and recruitment. Book a free 30-minute discovery call and let’s talk about what’s working, what isn’t, and what might make the biggest difference for your team.
Frequently asked questions
Why is care worker recruitment so difficult in 2026?
The end of overseas recruitment for care worker roles in March 2025 significantly reduced the available talent pool that many providers had relied on. At the same time, demand for care continues to grow with an ageing population and increasing preference for home-based support. The result is a domestic recruitment market where the competition for good care workers is intense and retention is more important than ever.
What are the most effective ways to retain care workers?
Research and practice consistently point to the same factors: feeling valued by management, having predictable and manageable hours, being part of a genuine team culture, having access to training and development, and seeing a future in the role. Pay matters and must be competitive, but it rarely appears as the primary reason for leaving. Relationship with direct management is consistently the most significant retention factor.
What should a care worker induction include?
A thorough induction for a care worker should cover the organisation’s values and how they show up in practice, practical role-specific training, safeguarding and mandatory training requirements, the support structure and who to contact with concerns, what a typical working day looks like, and how performance will be reviewed. A well-designed culture handbook can form a core part of this induction.
Is an employee handbook a legal requirement for care businesses?
The handbook itself is not a legal requirement, but many of the policies it typically contains are. Disciplinary and grievance procedures must follow the ACAS Code of Practice. Sickness absence policies must reflect current statutory sick pay rules. Health and safety information must be provided. CQC registered providers are also required to have specific policies and evidence of their implementation as part of their regulatory obligations.
About the author
Helen Scullion Assoc. CIPD is HR Client Manager at Limelite HR & Learning. Helen works as an outsourced HR partner for retained clients, supporting organisations across Worcestershire and the UK with a wide range of people challenges, from day-to-day HR questions to longer-term people strategy. Connect with Helen on LinkedIn.
