Jane took a particular interest in the experiences of our live-in carers arriving from South Africa, wanting to ensure that they weren’t exposed to any unethical practices or potential modern slavery concerns at any point in their recruitment journey. She interviewed carers on the frontline, senior members of the team, and colleagues working in the central hub to discover exactly what our people said about working for Helping Hands, assuring confidentiality so that honesty would be achieved.

Here’s just some of what Jane had to say about her experiences with Helping Hands:

“The dedication of all the colleagues I have had the pleasure of meeting has been evident in our exchanges which is the main reason I believe that they are so committed to supporting their internal teams and continuing to provide high ethical standards of service. Their shared vision runs continuously as a heartbeat through the business, and I believe this distinctive detail will protect the Helping Hands brand, and all those working within the business and contribute strongly to its continued success.

Due to the carers coming from overseas, the best practice is to check the recruitment route to mitigate any concerns of Human Trafficking/ Modern Slavery happening. I have gathered the relevant information, provided to me, and spoke to some of the group of carers from the recent assessment to understand the stages of their journey for work in the UK, focusing on their initial enquiries and applications for working for Helping Hands.

Before candidates are approved to come to the UK, they attend an assessment day in South Africa, at the Helping Hands registered location, which is run by two members of the SA Helping Hands team. This is an excellent idea for the potential carers to meet representatives of the company that they will be working for at the first stage of their application, and a valuable piece to give them the information provided to find out more and check if the role will suit them before they commit and take their journey to the UK.

Research shows a higher risk of labour exploitation occurring in the care sector when agencies are involved in the recruitment and placement process. With Helping Hands employing their carers directly, with no agencies present in the chain, a lot of these identified risks are mitigated. There is a strong focus on the carer’s documentation & records, and well-being. If night-time disturbances occur, these are monitored, and sufficient steps are taken to cover the night times to help the live-in carer. Assessments are carried out at every location in detail before any carers are placed, breaks are covered with other carers to allow the suitable rest periods needed, and detail in matching skills and personalities together to help the process run smoothly for the engagement in carers to clients’ lives, this is just a few of the examples of robust focused, strong processes in place.”

We are highly encouraged that Jane found so much to celebrate at Helping Hands, and she recognised that our carers really are the beating heart of our company. So if you’re looking for a rewarding role as a live-in carer in the UK, get in touch with us today. It might just be the best move you ever made!

If you would like to read Jane’s full report or our Modern Slavery statement, you can do so here.

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Employee Net Promoter Score measures employee satisfaction and highlights how likely you are to recommend the company to your friends and family. It is calculated on a scale of -100 to 100. In terms of scores, anything above 0 is acceptable, between 10-30 is good and above 50 is excellent.

According to the survey, 91% of the carers stated that they would recommend Helping Hands to their family and friends. The carers shared positive views stating, “It’s an amazing place to work”, “I feel valued” and “I’m genuinely proud to work for Helping Hands.”

Some of the salaried employees expressed their roles as ‘stressful’ and ‘demanding’, while most of the staff used words such as ‘caring’, ‘challenging’, ‘rewarding’ and ‘supportive’.

Marketing Director, Mark Beavan, said: “Having an NPS score of 50 is absolutely fantastic and goes to show the hard work that the company has put into caring for its staff over the past few years. Being able to not only love what you do but love where you work is so important to us, because without the buy-in of our valued members of staff, we wouldn’t be where we are today. It’s our employees that make the company what it is; a truly great place to work.

He continued: “Ultimately, happy staff means that we are able to provide exceptional care but also go the extra mile for our customers. The positivity felt by employees filters down to the team throughout the company, giving the customers we care for the best possible experience and enabling them to stay in the home they know and love.”

To commemorate employees for their hard work, Helping Hands launched the Moments of Kindness scheme in 2020. This initiative was put in place to reward and recognise when employees go above and beyond their roles.

The company has continued to introduce several employee benefits, including guaranteed pay contracts, early pay, mileage allowance, hybrid working for office staff and a free Blue Light Card, which offers more than 15,000 discounts from national retailers and local businesses.

If you are interested in becoming a carer or joining the support office team, visit the Helping Hands website.

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Nosheen has various skills and qualifications; she graduated university with a degree in Computing and Business, is a trained Fire Marshall and can even speak five different languages! Caring for people was just a hobby for Nosheen; she didn’t know it would become her career, but we at Helping Hands are happy it did.

Nosheen used to run a very well-known coffee shop on the high street in Bishops Stortford, and her favourite customers were what she refers to as the ‘goldies’. After a busy ten years of running the coffee shop, she became an events manager at her local theatre, again specialising in events for the elderly. Nosheen told us that nothing gave her more pleasure than when she would walk around offering these wonderful people tea and biscuits whilst they enjoyed dementia-friendly cinema screenings.

When lockdown hit, Nosheen began volunteering to look after the elderly before she eventually decided to join a care company and commit herself to the role full time. Nosheen has cared for the wonderful people in Bishops Stortford for almost two years now, working for another care provider. However, we are now lucky to have Nosheen in the Helping Hands family as the new Branch Care Manager for Bishops Stortford.

Nosheen says: “I am ready for the challenge ahead to deliver beautiful, tailored, person-centred care to all of the fantastic people in the community.”

Nosheen told us that she is absolutely loving working at Helping Hands; she relates to the story and journey of how Helping Hands originated; she also started her very first business from her dining table. Nosheen appreciates Helping Hands for its people-centred approach, and she is people-centred through and through. She is thrilled to have found a company where she can be herself and make a whole-hearted contribution to her community and impact dozens of lives. Nosheen said she’s now living her dream!

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The video focuses on Helping Hands carers, with videos of them answering questions about what it’s like to work in care and what motivates them. It also includes snapshots of carers in their day-to-day work supporting their customers.

The video also highlights their reward and recognition scheme, Moments of Kindness, which was launched in July 2020 to celebrate acts of kindness and dedication across the business.

Professional Care Workers’ Week from Helping Hands Home Care on Vimeo.

In celebration of Professional Care Workers Week, Group Managing Director Karyn MacKenzie said: “I’m delighted to be celebrating our amazing carers this week. Our people are at the core of everything we do, and without our wonderful carers, we wouldn’t have been able to provide the best possible care to our customers throughout the past 18 months of the pandemic.”

She continued: “I’m really proud of our carers and the exceptional work they do for our customers every day. Every single member of our Helping Hands team embodies the foundation of our company: kindness. We appreciate them so much, and this video is just a small token of our gratitude to them.”

Helping Hands carer Martin Davis said: “I have been an hourly visiting carer for nearly 5 years now and I believe coming to work for Helping Hands was the best decision I ever made.

“Behind every carer is a great team who are nothing but supportive. The whole team will always go above and beyond to offer the best service possible and make sure all our customers are happy and well looked after. Helping Hands is not a job it is like being part of a big family.”

If you would like more information on arranging private care for you or a loved one, or are interested in becoming a carer, visit the Helping Hands careers page or call 03301 625 325 for care.

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Helping Hands offer great employee benefits, including competitive rates of pay, flexible work patterns, a 24/7 carer helpline and ongoing support from your local care manager, free uniform and generous mileage allowance. Alongside our fantastic pay and benefits package, Helping Hands’ training doesn’t end with your induction, we offer ongoing specialist training and opportunities for development, including qualifications. We have spoken to some of the wonderful people across Helping Hands and in this article, we want to share their journeys since joining the business and how they have progressed within their roles.

Georgia Hall, Romford Care Coordinator:

Georgia Hall joined Helping Hands as a carer in May 2020, and in March 2021 she was promoted to Care Coordinator. Georgia shared her journey of joining Helping Hands with no previous experience:

“I did about three or four shadowing sessions with the Care and Training Practitioner (CTP) at the Chigwell branch, which was a great help, it put everything into light for me and showed me how to do things properly. We did an assessment day after the interview as well – I received a lot of training and there’s also online training which you can go back to and access at any time. I have also received a lot of training for all our online systems.

“My Branch Manager, Jazz, she’s great – she helps me with everything, and if I ever have any questions, she’s happy for me to just pick up the phone and ask. “They’ve put me forward to do my Level 3 in Health and Social Care so hopefully once I complete that I’ll go on to do my Level 4, 5 and hopefully be a branch manager one day!”

Natasha Homer, Enfield Branch Manager:

Natasha Homer joined Helping Hands in September 2020 as Care Coordinator, eight months later she was promoted to Branch Manager. Natasha shares her experience of beginning her career in care with Helping Hands:

“I hadn’t actually had care experience prior to joining, other than looking after family but I’ve always worked in customer facing roles. So, the idea of putting customers first and meeting all their needs has always been at the forefront of all my job roles.

“I love that the core value of the company, kindness, matches my own. I love that I’m helping people and making a positive impact on people’s lives, and the fact that Helping Hands are so supportive of training and the managers are always there for anything I need.

“I’ve got a really positive working relationship with my team, we’re all here to pull together and help our customers and support our carers to give a great service. It’s fantastic, its great coming into work every day.”  

Nicholas Dickinson, York Branch Manager:

Nik Dickinson is the Branch Manager for the York branch, he joined Helping Hands in August 2018 as a carer. Nik shares his journey from carer to branch manager:

“I’m the York Branch Manager and I’ve been here since August 2018. Prior to starting at Helping Hands, I was a manager at Tesco and I took redundancy and started here as a carer. I think I was looking for an industry where I could give back, something that was still the same as people management – however, this job is more rewarding in the background of what we do. I was a little bit bored of putting baked beans and broccoli on the shelf, so I wanted to do something completely different but still stick to people management and working with people – which is my passion.

“So, I started here as a carer in August 2018, then within the first four weeks I became part-time Field Care Supervisor, and then from there I became full-time CTP and did that for about 12 months. Then I became Care Coordinator for another 12 months and then became Branch Manager.

“I think Helping Hands creates a really open and transparent environment, so compared to where I’ve worked before, the CEO, area care managers and regional care directors are quite accessible if you need their help. I think it’s a company that promotes speaking up, asking for help, asking questions and it revolves around human interaction. I know with my line manager Leigh, I can go to her with anything, whether its personal or professional and she’ll help. It’s quite an exciting place to work at the moment because there’s so much growth and development – it’s enjoyable to work!”

Joining Helping Hands

If you’re ready to take on a new challenge where you can invest in your future and progress to new heights, Helping Hands can provide a supportive and knowledgeable environment for you to flourish in. Whether you’re interested in becoming a visiting carer for Helping Hands, or you believe that live-in care is for you, explore our current job vacancies now or read more about what it’s like to be a part of Helping Hands Home Care.

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The company-wide scheme is for carers, office staff, customers, families and health care professionals alike who want to nominate anyone from Helping Hands that has gone above and beyond in their role.

The recent coronavirus outbreak has highlighted so many incredible moving stories of how care teams have helped to support customers to stay safe and comfortable at home during these unprecedented times, such as Helping Hands customer John.

John, a farmer and avid gardener, joined Helping Hands after a stroke last year and his carer Kate has supported John with his mobility to enable him to get back on his tractor and prepare for this years’ harvest.

In recognition of the incredible work care and support teams do, Group Managing Director Karyn MacKenzie has created the Moments of Kindness scheme to celebrate and reward those on a local, regional and national level.

She said: “I came to Helping Hands because I was captivated by a business whose values were underpinned by making a difference every day and caring for people in need, and over the last 18 months I’ve been overwhelmed by how much people really go the extra mile. The effort, the care, the passion and the kindness that I see every day as incredible kindness underpins everything at Helping Hands, and I want to celebrate this.”

She continued: “I’m really excited and proud to launch Moments of Kindness and recognise those moments that we know happen every day at Helping Hands. This is much more than a regular box of chocolates once a year or a pat on the back – those things are fine in themselves of course – but this scheme is about making sure rewards are really meaningful and relevant.”

Nominations can be made by anyone and will be put forward for selection at a local level. If successful, winners will then be selected for regional and national awards.

Click here to find out more about working at Helping Hands Home Care.

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Pete: “Hello, I’m Pete. I was born with cerebral palsy, but I have achieved many qualifications and have also studied at university. I live independently at home with the help of my live-in carer, and I also have a new van which my carer can use to take me to my appointments, join me for a coffee or take a trip to the library.

“I don’t remember much from the last year, but I do know that Madelene made me feel the need to talk again, when I didn’t for a while.”

Madelene has been working as a live-in carer for Helping Hands for one year and started caring for Pete after he returned home from hospital.

Madelene: “When I met Pete, he was very poorly. He didn’t talk for about four months. He stayed in bed for long periods of time because he didn’t have any energy, and he would only communicate with me with his eyes.

“We both wanted to build a connection and boost his confidence, and I made the effort to understand him better. We listened to soft music, made fresh food together and bought flowers so that we could make his house a home. We talked a lot, and I told him how important he is and how much he is needed by those he loves.

“Step by step, I started to help him out of bed so that he could eat his meals at the dining table, and together with his family and other supporting carers, we helped him get back to his normal self. After some time, Pete started to talk again – and it’s been amazing.

“I’m so happy that Pete has opened up. He told me that he had completely lost his confidence, but he is improving every day. Now that we are ten months down the line, I’ve noticed a big difference.”

Pete: “I’ve got lots of things to look forward to now, and I am going on a cruise next year.”

Madelene: “Supporting Pete is amazing, and it’s so nice that we are able to do things together now. We have been for lunch, dinner, visited friends and have had so many nice things to do. Pete has a great sense of humour, he’s intelligent and he observes the world in his own way.”

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“My customer Julia loves going out into the community and meeting new people. On a hot sunny day in August, Julia decided she would like an ice-cold drink. Julia loves Café Nero, so I took her into Godalming so she could choose her drink. She loves going out and about and feeling independent, and particularly enjoys browsing clothes on the local high street.

“Afterwards, we decided to take a nice stroll around the park to see the dogs and enjoy the sunshine.

“Julia also enjoys making cakes, so we also made some white and dark chocolate chip muffins with chocolate icing (Julia’s favourite). She had so much fun making the mixture and spooning it on to the cakes, and they tasted delicious too!

“After many times of going out together, Julia and I have a very good friendship and we always look forward to our adventures.”

 Megan Setchell – Care Coordinator, Guildford & Godalming Branch

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“I visit Martin once a week to give his wife a bit of time to herself. Today, Martin chose to go shopping and buy some clothes. He also chose to go on the bus and we like to walk to the bus stop, so that’s what we did.

“We went into Marks and Spencer’s and brought some clothes and then to Boots to buy toiletries.

“After shopping, we then went to Costa Coffee for some lunch and we had a lovely chat together. We then caught the number 58 bus home, but the great thing about this was that Martin knew which bus to catch and was able to direct me to the bus stop. This was brilliant as he has dementia and I know he struggles with remembering things sometimes.

“We then had a lovely walk home and had a nice cup of coffee whilst we had a catch up with his wife. She was very pleased with how well he had done and so was I.

“I love my job at Helping Hands. I love helping people of all ages and backgrounds and making new relationships and giving people the confidence to know they can do things and make their own choices, as some just like having someone to talk to as well as helping them. The most rewarding thing about my job is seeing people smile after they have achieved something and knowing I have made their life and their family’s life that little bit easier.”

Michelle Mepham – Helping Hands Carer, Guildford & Godalming

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“I am a live-in carer with Helping Hands, currently on a month-long break between placements. My last placement was in Cheshire. My customer has Down’s Syndrome and communication challenges, so I provide general help in their home and on outings together. One of our favourite things is going to the disco and dancing together! We also enjoy getting new library books out.

“One of the things I love about live-in care is the opportunity to travel between placements. This time, I am cycling 600 miles through Denmark and Norway – a huge change from being a carer in leafy Cheshire! While I go, I’m raising money for a charity called Phone Credit for Refugees. All money raised goes directly to help displaced people who are living in a war zone, keeping them safe and connected to support networks, family and friends.

“I have the freedom to earn, to holiday, to enjoy life, and while I sometimes question my specific choices in ‘enjoyable activities’, the fact is I am blessed beyond measure to be able to do this. A staggering percentage of people in the world have to travel much longer distances just to find safety to live. I’m thinking of them as I exercise my privilege.

“I couldn’t do this without a phone. It helps me find somewhere to sleep, the best route, and more than anything it keeps me connected to my friends and family, so that I have support. I’ve been in situations where I didn’t have good connectivity and when things got bad, they very quickly got worse because I had no outside support. I cannot imagine the fear and danger of refugees who have no ability to contact people for love or for help. Nobody should be in their situation to begin with, without the added vulnerability of being so alone.

“There are so many issues in the world, and so many ways to help. This is just one small way, but it’s a relatively easy and successful method to provide a little bit of vital help to those who need it most. This charity supports refugees all over the world, with 95% of donations going directly to buying phone credit.”

For more information on Phone Credit for Refugees, you can visit their website here: https://www.pc4r.org/

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