International recruitment into adult social care

Pastoral support in the role

Within the role, pastoral support can take many forms and there a numerous considerations that organisations should think about when supporting their employees.

The term 'pastoral’ is derived from the Latin word ‘pascere’, which means ‘to feed’. (Waruta and Kinoti 2000)   ‘Pastoral’ is indicative of the art and skill of feeding or caring for the wellness of others.   Pastoral support recognises the overall well-being needs of all whom we work for by supporting individuals with the resources that can help them adapt and thrive at work. 

Good pastoral support ensures that the physical, emotional, and work-related needs that can help a staff member adapt and thrive at work are supported by the employer. The essence of pastoral support follows the tenets of a nurturing organisation. This will minimise dissatisfaction and in the long run, improve retention for all staff members. Pastoral support should be considered from the onset of employment.

Pastoral support for care workers and senior care workers, whether recruited via domestic recruitment or international recruitment, should recognise the challenges of the role and provide training and support to mitigate the impact of these challenges for retention, particularly if people are new to care work.  Pastoral support can include:

• A comprehensive and supportive induction.
• Formal support e.g., regular meetings with managers and mentoring opportunities.
• Informal support e.g., buddying schemes and developing peer-to-peer support networks.
• Understanding employees learning and development needs and having training and information to support these.
• Making sure employees feel valued and are able to flourish and demonstrate their skills.

General information on pastoral support can be found here:

• The National Care Forum – Pastoral Care Guide for International Recruitment in Social Care
• NHS Employers – International Recruitment Toolkit

When considering international recruitment, pastoral support has two key elements:

• Support in starting their new life in Scotland.
• Pastoral support to help them undertake their role.

Career Ambassadors are individuals who are passionate about the work they do in the different sectors of social care in Scotland and often volunteer to help people, contemplating or beginning a career in social care, to understand and develop a promising career in social care. They are equipped with knowledge of the diverse, inter disciplines, opportunities, and incentives one would find working within social care, and will share their lived experiences as part of empowering individuals who seek a career in the different roles within social care.

To find out more visit: Careers ambassadors - Scottish Social Services Council (sssc.uk.com)

Spiritual and emotional needs form a part of an individual’s wellbeing and cannot be ignored in the workplace. Spiritual wellbeing looks at a connection to profoundly held values and beliefs which help individuals find meaning, purpose, significance, and hope.  Consideration for spiritual and emotional wellbeing at work sets the basis for employees who are grounded, promotes a positive work environment, and forms part of holistic care at work.

Pursuing spiritual wellbeing does not necessarily equate to embracing religion only, as there are other forms of spiritual care practices such as mindfulness, meditation, connection with nature, listening support, utilising quiet spaces for reflection individually or as a group etc.

Employers are encouraged to ensure open communication, empathy, support spiritual needs at work as well as allow for reasonable accommodations to support spiritual practices at work, as appropriate, maintaining good friendships and family circle.  Some helpful information on these aspects of pastoral support can be found here:

• Scottish Government – Discovering meaning, purpose and hope through person centred wellbeing and spiritual care: framework
• NHS Grampian – Religions and Cultures
• NHS Education for Scotland – Spiritual Care Matters
• NHS Scotland - Spiritual Care Matters -Scottish Context August 2023 updated video on Vimeo

Employers are encouraged to utilise a candidate-centred approach when implementing induction, and foster an equitable distribution of resources aimed at supporting overseas staff to not only adapt, but also thrive in the workplace.  Based on research, staff from overseas struggle to report health challenges for fear that absence from or showing weakness at work may impact on their immigration status.   Resources to support this can be found here:

Scottish Government – Race Equality Framework

Menopause occurs naturally in the life of a woman and can have an impact on a person’s ability to cope with work and may leave the staff member feeling unsupported. It is deemed discriminatory if women go unsupported at work.  More information can be found here:

• Royal College of Nursing – Menopause at work      
• British Medical Association – Menopause support in the work place
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence – Menopause: diagnosis and management
• Department of Work & Pensions – Menopause and the workplace: How to enable fulfilling working lives

Noticing behavioural change in your staff is an important way of recognizing that something may be wrong, and that the individual may be experiencing difficulties or trauma triggers. Often, overseas staff will struggle to report difficulties born out of personal circumstance. However you may notice such changes as being jumpy, tearful, anxious, defensiveness, panic attacks and forgetfulness. These are some of the signs that should prompt a manager to compassionately investigate further.  More information can be found here:

• NHS Education for Scotland – What do we mean by trauma informed practice

An employers guide - CWSS has produced a factsheet for employers on mentors, buddies and volunteers. 

For the purpose of international recruitment, a welcome pack will refer to both tangible and intangible resources including information on expectations of the role and information about the organisation, staff relocation, induction, and onboarding.  It should also provide helpful information on local areas, amenities in the local area, and clubs and faith groups a person might want to join; as well as what to expect from life in Scotland. 

International recruitment requires a comprehensive welcome pack that covers both tangible and intangible resources. The welcome pack should provide information about the job expectations, the organisation's details, staff relocation, and onboarding process. It should also offer useful information on the local area, including amenities, clubs, and faith groups that an individual may be interested in joining or identifying with. Additionally, it should provide insight into what life in Scotland is like. This resource aims to assist employers in empowering new internationally recruited employees to thrive within their organisation.

The Centre for Workforce Supply Social (CWSS) NES was set up to, amongst other objectives, establish international recruitment as a viable and sustainable form of increasing the adult social care workforce. The main idea was to scale up and spread its achievement to other adult social care providers in Scotland. Regardless of the unpredicted challenges faced during recruitment and onboarding, the team in collaboration with the relevant care providers and stakeholders supported the transition of over twenty international recruits who have made the journey to work in the Scottish social care sector.  The roundtable discussions were designed with the following objectives as a guide:

Ø  To introduce employees to each other so they start to build up a network of acquaintances across Scotland. 

Ø  To understand in depth, the experience of those recruited through the project. 

Ø  To understand the experiences of using buddies and how this could be improved whilst gathering evidence of best practice. 

Ø  To take learnings on what went well, and what could be improved.