Glasgow care workers 'like zombies' after years of gruelling shift patterns

The shifts, which were brought in four years ago, caused havoc at the time but were intended to provide greater continuity of care for clients.

In reality, staff say, mistakes are being made "regularly", with elderly and disabled clients not receiving the care they deserve.

For the first time the effects of the intensive working patterns have been examined long-term, with data obtained by a trade union showing rising absence levels and an increase in agency and overtime spending.

Eating disorders, relationship breakdowns and mental health problems: the life of home carers in Glasgow

Staff and their trade union Unison are demanding that Glasgow city council, which now directly employs the home carers, re-examine the controversial shifts.

It comes after the council’s arm’s length external organisation (ALEO) Cordia was dismantled last year and hundreds of home carers were transferred back under the council’s social work department.

The union says that despite equal pay being settled, the predominantly female workers in home care are still being unfairly treated as no other employees are subject to the same shift regimes or mandatory break times.

While some staff have welcomed the shifts, others say it has cost them their relationships, their mental health has suffered and some have reported developing eating disorders. A survey carried out by the union found that 70% of members reported their health and relationships had got worse with the shift patterns, while 53% said their ability to do their job properly had also got worse.

Two thirds said they felt the home care service overall was now worse than it had been before the changes in 2015.

Jennifer McCarey, area organiser at Unison Scotland said: “In Glasgow City Council, inequality does not stop at the pay packet.

“The working conditions of home carers are riddled with inequalities; hours of work; shift patterns and the imposition of unpaid breaks where no break faculties are available.

“We are working together to eliminate the pay inequalities at Glasgow City Council but the council continue to ignore the unfair treatment that these shift patterns cause. Shifts patterns have taken their toll on home carers health. This mainly female workforce has family or caring responsibilities on top of their paid work. The shift patterns make work life balance impossible. Even without caring responsibilities, 70 hours a week has a massive impact on health and wellbeing.”

READ MORE: Scottish foster carers are out of pocket and feel neglected, report warns

In the survey, the majority of union members told how they have been left exhausted, unable to function or had their mental health ruined by the rotas, while others described themselves as “zombies” by the end of the seven days.

A minority said they enjoyed having a full week off, with some saying it gave them extra time to spend with their families when they weren’t working, or gave them the ability to help out with grandchildren.

Those working full time work from 8am to 1.30pm, with a half an hour unpaid break. Their second shift starts at 4.30pm, until 10pm, with another half hour break. While some employees have a car, most travel on foot between clients, regardless of weather conditions or time of year. Some employees say they walk up to 10 miles a day while at work.

Figures seen by the Herald on Sunday show absence levels since the shifts were introduced have risen, from around 6% in 2013 to 11% by the time the ALEO closed in 2018.

In February 2017, the council was warned about the rising absence rates, which have remained relatively unchanged since. An ALEO report from the time stated “Absence levels are higher than anticipated due to many of the home carers moving to a shift pattern that will see them work seven days on and seven days off. Whilst this will significantly improve continuity of care for service users, Cordia has recorded high staff absence rates during this transitional period. Management remains confident that attendance levels will improve as staff settle into the new shift patterns.”

Agency and overtime spend on home care also increased, from around £6.4m in 2013/14, to more than £7m in 2017/18. Glasgow city council said the absence rates were no different to the rest of the health and social care department. The trade union claim they have asked the council to discuss the working patterns, and the detrimental impact on staff health, to no avail.

However the council insists nobody has raised concerns about the shift patterns with management since the staff moved back under the council.

Norah Maxwell, a home carer and convenor for Unison said: “Our members confirmed that the experience of homecare staff is that health and family relationships have suffered since these shifts were introduced.

UNISON members also have told us that their ability to do the job of carer to a satisfactory level has gotten harder, and the performance of the homecare service as a whole has deteriorated.”

“The lack of consistency in the service was highlighted by members as were staff shortages, changing clients runs, cuts in care time allocated - all identified as being caused or exacerbated by 7 on 7 off shifts. “

A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said: “Shift patterns and care visits are established to primarily to meet the needs of the people, many of them elderly, that we provide vital services to, but we of course have to balance this with being responsible employers. Working practices and workloads form part of our ongoing discussions and reviews with trade unions and staff. Nothing has been formally raised by either group to indicate that the majority of staff are unhappy or there is a negative impact of these shift patterns; in fact we have just recruited more than 150 new home carers with another 120 starting training and induction who will work these same shifts.”