How to care for your carer
The right carer is hard to find. Once you have found the right fit for your family you need to work on building a mutually respectful and caring relationship. Here is everything you need to know about keeping a household employee happy.
Get the basics right
The most important function in your role as employer is to pay your carer the right amount, promptly and to handle all their paperwork properly. Just because they are working in your home doesn’t mean you are not obliged to treat them as you would any other employee – including maintaining and storing their payroll information securely. You might not feel up to this (or have time for this if you are employing a career on behalf of someone else), which is where Carer Payroll comes in. We can deal with all your payroll administration – including providing payslips and dealing with HMRC – on your behalf.
Be clear about your expectations
Set out precisely what their role entails – are they expected to do housework, for example? Agree how you will manage arrangements for holidays – do you choose when they will take leave, or do they? We can provide a tailored employment contract which details these important factors, along with other legal requirements. (It is your legal obligation to provide your carer with key terms of their employment in writing within 5 days of them commencing employment and to provide them with a suitable contract of employment within the first 60 days of them commencing employment with you). For help with an employment contract template, contact Carer Payroll.
Be an approachable boss
Make it clear that your carer can approach you if they are unclear about something – don’t expect them to second guess how they should treat you or your loved one (outside of immediate health needs). If you want them to provide company and a chat over a cuppa over tending to domestic chores, for example, let them know. Communicate with them what you expect of them in order to do their job well. By outsourcing the paperwork and admin associated with hiring a carer to our team at Carer Payroll, you can free up space for more meaningful dialogue around your care, or the care of your loved one (and not be side tracked by requests for holiday leave and payslips).
Communicate
Whether you are communicating on behalf of a loved one or directly to your carer, it’s important to keep the lines of communication open. Check in with your carer about your health concerns, how you or your loved one is feeling – including any new challenges or positive changes – this way you can prevent small issues getting worse. This time should not be dominated by administrative issues – issuing payslips, booking in leave or querying tax deductions. Let us take care of that for you to keep your relationship with your carer cleanly about the best interests of your wellbeing or that of your loved one.
Give them feedback
This should be done in a formal way at a pre-agreed interval i.e. three months and one year. Bring notes to the meeting and feedback on key areas for discussion, for example, how they interact with you or your loved one, how often they bathe them or how often they take you outside etc. You might also want to talk about their behaviour as an employee i.e. reliability, punctuality etc. This area of the conversation will flow a lot better if you have held up your side of the relationship as an employer. In other words, you have paid them the correct amount, on time and in a Revenue compliant way. This is where our team at Carer Payroll have your back. We can look after all your payslips and the admin associated with hiring a carer.
Work as a team
Your carer needs to feel like a valued member of the support team when it comes to your care or the care of your loved one, so make sure to update them with relevant medical information and feedback – good or bad. Resolve issues together with your loved ones.