Hiring a Disability Support Worker
Sometimes it’s helpful to have someone that can take some stress off your shoulders, good help starts with a good person. You might need someone to set schedules, take phone calls or help you with your finances, you may also need someone to do some housework and cook you some meals. If your needs require higher care support, you might need someone to provide personal care duties for you, for example: showering, dressing, toileting. Whatever your needs are, you definitely want to make sure you get the support person who is right for you. Below are 10 steps you should know when hiring a Disability Support Worker:
Tip #1
You have decided that you need a Disability Support Worker. It is a good idea to write down what supports you need and to be specific about them.
Tip #2
You will need to find out what qualifications a Disability Support Worker needs, usually they require a "Working with Children’s Check" (a card that proves the person is safe to work with children), a First Aid Certificate, Certificate III or higher in Community Services or Disability. But check the rules in your state or country.
Tip #3
You will need to do research in your state of country on what the legal rights you have and that of your Support Worker. You will also need to research what the correct pay rate your Support Worker will receive from you, whether they are a Casual worker, Part-time, Full-time etc. and how much tax you should withhold from their pay.
Tip #4
Once you know what your Disability Support Worker is required to have in regards to qualifications and pay, you can plan and write down a job description and responsibilities of your Support Worker, what the hourly rate you will pay, and how many hours you require someone to assist you. All the information you provide can be placed on a job advertising website.
Tip #5
Research job advertising websites to place your job ad. Some job advertising websites can be expensive to be able to utilise them, other websites are free and are just as effective. You might also want to inform your prospective Support Workers, on the job ad, that you will be conducting interviews.
Tip #6
Once you have received enough resumes, you can read through all of them to narrow down the ones that may be your fit.
Tip #7
Contact your chosen people that you would like to interview, arrange a time with them and conduct the interview in a public place rather than your home, this is essentially to protect yourself and your privacy.
Tip #8
Once you have scheduled dates for your interviews, write down some questions that you might like to ask people, it’s always good to see how the person reacts when you ask questions and you also get a feeling of what the person is like. This is optional, but, you may also want to talk about a probation period with your Support Worker, the probation period can be 1-3 months, this is just in case you and your worker are not seeing eye to eye.
Tip #9
Never make up your mind at an interview, always wait until you have interviewed everyone you like, then you can make an informed decision. Once you have chosen your Support Worker/s, you can contact them again to discuss times and days you will require them to work. If you have two Support Workers, it’s always good to even both of their hours, that way it will help them both with their schedules for their free time.
Tip #10
The final step is to enjoy being more independent now that you have a Disability Support Worker, but also make sure are absolutely happy with how things are working out.
There are some important things to remember, you should never feel trapped in any situation. If you have an unhappy feeling every time your Disability Support Worker works with you, you must write down everything that you are unhappy with, and plan a meeting with your Support Worker, so you can discuss an opportunity for improvement. You are well within your rights have someone else with you for support during the meeting. You should also have professional boundaries when it comes to yourself and your Disability Support Worker. I have had too many issues with previous Disability Support Workers, and that is why I had to come up with this 10 step solution, which has helped me a lot when I have hired current Disability Support Workers.
