Why carers leave in the first 90 days

When a care worker leaves inside three months, the exit reason recorded is usually something vague — 'personal reasons', 'found something closer to home'. In our experience, the actual cause is almost always one of three things, and all three are fixable without spending more on wages.

One: they were paid wrong

A carer who is short-paid for a sleep-in does not raise a formal grievance. They take the next shift somewhere else. Pay accuracy is a retention measure, not a finance measure, and the fix is upstream: check timesheets against the rota before payroll runs, and query mismatches with the worker rather than guessing.

Two: nobody prepared them for the first shift

Walking into an unfamiliar service, not knowing where the sluice is, which resident needs a hoist, or who to ask, is the fastest way to make a competent carer feel incompetent. An hour walking the building with a senior before the first shift changes retention more than any induction slide deck.

• Introduce them to the residents they will actually be supporting, by name.
• Show them the handover routine, not just the handover sheet.
• Tell them who to ring if something goes wrong at 3am, and make sure that person knows they are coming.

Three: the rota kept moving

Care workers organise childcare, second jobs and travel around a rota. Late changes are not an inconvenience, they are a reason to leave. Publishing further ahead — even if the rota is imperfect — beats publishing accurately at short notice.

If you are losing people early, look at your last ten leavers and check three things: were they paid correctly every week, did someone walk them round before their first shift, and how much notice did they get of their rota. The answer is usually sitting there.