Your Best Care Worker Isn’t Automatically Your Best Mentor

When a new employee joins, it can feel natural to pair them with your strongest care worker. They know the service, deliver good care and can be trusted to get things done. Those qualities matter. But helping someone else learn requires additional skills: patience, clear explanations, constructive feedback and the ability to recognise when a colleague needs more support.

This week’s Skills for Care workforce report brings recruitment, retention, training and qualifications into focus. For individual providers, it offers a timely prompt to examine how new employees learn once they arrive, and who is supporting them through those early shifts.

A buddy can help someone feel welcome and build confidence. Choosing that person deserves thought beyond identifying who has the most experience or happens to be available.

Look for someone who can explain their decisions

Experienced care workers may perform familiar tasks almost instinctively. A new colleague needs help understanding the observations and decisions behind those actions. A suitable buddy can explain why they approached someone in a particular way, what they noticed and when they would seek advice. They can connect everyday practice with the person’s care plan and the organisation’s procedures.

Ask potential buddies how they would demonstrate a task to someone unfamiliar with it. Listen for clear explanations, opportunities for questions and an understanding that watching once may not be enough.

Pay attention to how they make others feel

A new employee may be anxious about asking something that seems obvious. Their buddy’s response can influence whether they ask again or quietly try to work it out alone. Look for someone who listens, remains respectful when repeating instructions and can correct a mistake without embarrassing the learner. They should also recognise when someone appears overwhelmed and make time to check their understanding.

These qualities connect closely with Emotional Intelligence: A Skill That Matters in Every Healthcare Role. Supporting a new colleague involves noticing their response and adapting how you communicate.

Consider the attitudes they will pass on

New employees learn from informal conversations as well as demonstrations. They notice how colleagues speak about people receiving care, respond to concerns and describe the organisation.

A buddy should be able to acknowledge difficulties without drawing a newcomer into gossip, cynicism or personal disputes. They should demonstrate how to raise a problem constructively and where to seek help.

As explored in When One Negative Person Changes the Mood of the Entire Shift, the way one person behaves can affect those around them. That influence deserves particular attention when someone is helping a new employee form their first impressions.

Ask whether they want the responsibility

Being good at a job does not mean someone wants to teach it. Some employees enjoy supporting newcomers; others may prefer to focus on their existing responsibilities. Discuss the role before allocating it. Explain what is expected, how long the arrangement will last and what support will be available. Give the employee space to raise concerns about their confidence or workload.

Avoid repeatedly selecting the same dependable person simply because they rarely refuse. Our article, The Care Worker Nobody Notices Until They Leave, offers a useful starting point for reflecting on whose contribution receives attention.

Mentoring should be an agreed responsibility that is recognised and supported.

Make room for teaching within the workload

A buddy needs time to explain, observe and answer questions. Expecting them to maintain an unchanged workload while supporting a newcomer can leave both people feeling rushed.

Plan how the arrangement will work during actual shifts. Consider whether duties need adjusting, where supervised practice can take place and who will provide cover when the usual buddy is absent. Be clear about which tasks the new employee can undertake and what supervision they require. Their presence should not automatically be treated as additional independent capacity.

Check in with the buddy as well as the learner. Ask whether they have enough time and whether the arrangement is affecting their own work.

Give feedback that helps someone improve

Useful feedback identifies what happened, explains why it matters and describes what the employee should do next. A general instruction to be more confident or communicate better gives someone little to practise. A specific discussion about introducing themselves, explaining a task or checking someone’s understanding provides a clearer next step.

Correct unsafe practice promptly, with immediate safety taking priority. Where possible, discuss learning points privately and allow the employee to explain their thinking. They may have misunderstood an instruction or need further teaching.

Buddies should also recognise progress. Explain what the new employee handled well and why it was effective.

Keep the boundaries of the role clear

A buddy should know which questions they can answer, what they can demonstrate and when they need to involve a manager or another qualified colleague. Clarify whether the role includes any formal assessment. Being allocated as a buddy should not automatically give someone authority to sign off competence or approve independent working.

Managers remain responsible for overseeing induction and ensuring that required training, supervision and assessments take place. The buddy needs a clear route for raising concerns about progress, practice or their own ability to provide support.

Check whether the pairing works for both people

Ask the new employee whether explanations are clear, whether they feel able to ask questions and where they need more help. Give them an opportunity to speak privately with their manager.

Ask the buddy what is going well and what additional support would help. If the arrangement is not working, review it without automatically treating either person as the problem. Different communication styles, shift patterns or learning needs may call for an adjustment. Build a wider pool of suitable buddies over time. This shares responsibility and gives employees opportunities to develop their teaching skills.

Your strongest care worker may become an excellent mentor. The decision should rest on their ability and willingness to help someone else learn, supported by the time, guidance and recognition that responsibility requires.

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