Recruiting and retaining the staff in social services

"<< Background >>The social services sector is one of the largest employers in Europe, yet it faces a critical shortage of qualified staff due to high turnover, challenging working conditions, and relatively low wages. Many employers struggle to attract and retain motivated workers, which threatens the quality and sustainability of care services. While systemic factors like wages were beyond the scope of this project, the partnership focused on practical HR strategies to improve workforce stability. The project leveraged the experience of participating organizations to share effective recruitment and retention practices, providing social service managers and HR professionals with concrete tools to address these challenges.<< Objectives >>The main objective was to develop tools and resources that help answer a key question: How to recruit and retain the right staff for the social services sector? The project aimed to make a tangible impact by enhancing the (soft) skills of directors, HR managers, and recruiters, enabling them to create a more attractive and stable work environment. Through cross-country collaboration, the project sought to identify and document good practices, develop a vocational training programme, and produce digital tools to support HR professionals in social services.<< Implementation >>To achieve its objectives, the project was structured into four key work packages: WP1: Project Management – Ensuring smooth coordination and implementation. WP2: Catalogue of good practices examples – Conducting four study visits across partner countries to identify and document effective recruitment and retention strategies. WP3: European Vocational Training Programme and its Testing – Developing a universal HR training curriculum and piloting it in Greece and the Czech Republic. WP4: Dissemination Events – Organizing events in partner countries to share project results with stakeholders. These activities involved a combination of research, knowledge exchange, training development, and dissemination efforts, ensuring that the outcomes were practical, widely applicable, and supported by real-world experience.<< Results >>The project resulted in six key outputs: 1) Status reports on the inclusion of foreign workers, analyzing recruitment challenges and opportunities for employing foreign workers in social services.2) A comprehensive Catalogue of good practices examples, summarizing successful recruitment and retention strategies identified during international study visits. 3) A series of ""How-to"" videos, supporting HR professionals for improving workforce management. 4 + 5) European Vocational Training curriculum, forming the foundation for HR education in the sector. Based on this, two localized face-to-face training programmes (Greek and Czech) were developed and piloted. 6) Dissemination events in partner countries, ensuring that project findings reached a broad audience and could be applied beyond the partnership. These outputs provided HR managers and social service directors with valuable tools to improve recruitment strategies, reduce turnover, and create a more sustainable workforce environment."