Supporting your PAs’ wellbeing

This article looks specifically at Personal Assistant wellbeing. It explores what wellbeing means and why it matters. It considers what factors could impact on the wellbeing of your PAs, and has tips to help you think about supporting your PAs’ wellbeing.

What do we mean by wellbeing?

It can be hard to define ‘wellbeing’ in a way that everyone understands. But most people think of wellbeing as a combination of feeling good in yourself, and being able to function well in your day to day life.

Wellbeing is shaped by lots of factors including physical health, mental health, relationships, money, the environment you live in and the barriers you face every day.

PA Employer tip: A good starting point for a wellbeing conversation between PA employers and their PAs may be to explore ‘what does wellbeing mean to you? What does it mean to us? How might we get more wellbeing in our lives?’

Why is wellbeing important?

Wellbeing is important to achieve a good quality of life. It also contributes to more positive experiences at work.

When PAs experience wellbeing, they are likely to get more out of their job, are less likely to have to take long sick leave, and may stay in their roles for longer.

What influences wellbeing?

In Scotland, recent research looked at on the wellbeing of PAs found the key factors that impact on PA wellbeing. These are described below, with some top tips for PA employers on how to support PA wellbeing.

The job itself

PA work can be highly specialised, medically complex, physically challenging, and emotionally demanding. Research also shows that PAs often have high levels of job satisfaction, and value the ways they can support their employers. The PA role can be misunderstood by the public and other professionals, so PAs can feel invisible and undervalued. This also reflects how society undervalues disabled people.

PA employer tip: work with your PA in advance of meetings and appointments to decide how best to introduce them, so that their role is best understood by others. You and your PAs can also access the free elearning module, Understanding the Value of Personal Assistants, to help you both learn more about the uniqueness of the PA role: https://learning.handbook.scot/course/value-of-pas/

Employment conditions

Employment conditions have a huge impact on wellbeing. Some PAs have insecure work, lower pay, and limited access to promotion. PA employers are often limited by how much funding they get from the local authority.

PA employer tip: make sure you know what rights your PA has in their employment – including holidays, sick pay, redundancy and support. Part of being a good employer is to make sure you and your PA are aware of these rights. It is important for wellbeing that PAs can take holidays without stress or anxiety.

Training and support

PAs often lack access to adequate training and support. The evidence suggests that access to training programmes is likely to support PA wellbeing, though it could also risk undermining PA employer choice and control. Some PA employers may want to go on training with their PAs, some may prefer that their PAs do training or their own, and some employers may wish to train PAs themselves

PA employer tip: To find out what training is available to you or your PA locally, visit the Training Locator where you can find what’s available to you.

Isolation

The PA role can be isolating at times, particularly when PAs aren’t part of a wider team. Lone working can come with risks to wellbeing, and means that PAs don’t have the same access to peer support as many other workers.

PA employer tip: encourage your PA to join PANS and to join local PA networks.

Relationships

Relationships between PAs and their employers are important to wellbeing for both. The strong relationships between PA employers and PAs can mean higher trust, closer connection and collaboration. But it can also be a source of frustration and conflict. PAs must also navigate relationships with other professionals, and sometimes with family carers or the partners of the people they support.

PA employer tip: It is often much easier to resolve relationship challenges between you and your PAs as soon as they come up, rather than waiting until they get more serious. Regular, informal communication about what is working well and what could be better can help reduce conflict and keep the lines of communication open. PAs and their employers can access a one-off free mediation session through PANS [link].

You and your PAs can also access the free elearning module Healthy Working Relationships to help you both learn more about building a strong working relationship.