WHO IS MY BOSS?

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗼𝘀𝘀?

The traditional home care company has a peculiar structure.

Typically there is one registered manager.

There are then one, two or several co-ordinators, whose job it is to cover all the calls (horrible job that one).

Then there are a number of field supervisors, who visit support assistants in the clients’ homes and do spot checks and supervisions.

There may also be dedicated recruitment and training officers, plus back office and accounts staff.

And of course there is often a large number of support assistants, doing the work with the clients.

In large branches, there may be 200 or more support assistants.

Which leads to the question – who is their line manager?

Who is their boss?

It can’t be the registered manager. No one can manage that number of direct reports. Classical management theory suggests around 12 FTEs is the maximum.

It could be the supervisors, but their only real contact with the staff is 30 minutes every three months.

Support assistants themselves might say their boss is the co-ordinator. It is that person who has the most contact by phone with the support assistant, begging them to take on more work.

But that is not a true management relationship.

And maybe that is one of the key reasons why staff turnover in care remains stubbornly high.