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Epoch homes are humble abodes for elders who need care round the clock. Most of our elders come and stay with us for life. And that’s why our aim is to facilitate happy and healthy ageing for all our residents, give them the best quality of physical and emotional care and build a trustworthy bond with their families assuring them of their parent’s safety. This lies on the shoulders of our team members, especially support staff who are instrumental to the operations of each home as they are the ones who are involved in taking care of their day-to-day requirements including care, food, grooming, hygiene, cleanliness etc. 

As a caregiver, it is important to understand residents’ behaviour and health conditions. Most importantly, they are required to build & establish a bond of trust with the residents. A bond of faith and confidence, so strong as to understand and interpret the unspoken words. This and all is possible only when the caregivers have their peace of mind, and are happy and satisfied.

Caregiver burnout is common and occurs when one feels overwhelmed by how challenging the process of caring for someone can be. With time, one may begin to lose the interest or motivation that brought them to this role in the first place. It eventually gets to the caregiver and affects them both psychologically and physically. 

The life of a caregiver is like a ride, sometimes smooth, sometimes bumpy! They are trained and are required to deal with the agitated behaviour of our residents. It becomes more critical to understand their physical and mental health to minimize their stress and burnout. 

Being cared for has a profound effect on our emotional state. It gives a sense of relief and relaxation. Doesn’t everyone want such in their work-life balance?  

At Epoch, most of our support staff comes from a challenging environment where their entire family is somewhat dependent on them. Also, most of our support staff are from distant areas. They live apart from their families; so it becomes our responsibility to make them feel that Epoch is their home and we all are here for them. They expect an environment of care, respect, safety, motivation and empowerment along with competitive pay packages. 

Epoch constantly works toward achieving the goal of keeping them motivated and flowing. For fulfilling such, we at Epoch have an “Employee of the Month” program for our support staff. We recognize the employees for their extraordinary performance and reward them with tangible rewards. Believe me, it makes a huge difference!

From my years of experience, and rolling, I have witnessed different organizations and their different approaches to staff management. However, in an eldercare sector such as ours, the structure and management of human capital slightly vary. 

Caring and managing support staff is very different from managing corporate staff given their different job roles. Also, the role which our support staff plays is very crucial and demanding. While dealing with them, we have to be very sensitive and conscious. Must to do things- spend time with them regularly, counsel them and discuss their personal and family concerns, we make them feel they are at home. On the other hand, corporate staff are more comfortable in a healthy and conducive environment.

At Epoch, we believe our team members are our assets and being an HR professional it is one of my key responsibilities to perfectly manage these assets in a true sense and retain them for a longer term. We care for our team members and their happiness. We believe in investing in our team and providing them with an opportunity to grow both personally and professionally.

For keeping them motivated and going, the keystone is to have a heart-to-heart conversation with the team members. Trust and Care are the two main ingredients to motivate and retain our employees.
Sharing some pivotal tools- Epoch’s personal touch to caring for its team and boosting their morale to retain them in their profession 

1. **Listening:** We believe patiently listening to the thoughts and issues of our team members can do magic, and give them a feeling that someone cares for them. This reduces their stress level and burnout. It’s better if I share this through a relatable story: During the peak of the COVID-19 surge, most of our team members were bound to stay inside 24*7 and were not allowed to step outside the resident's rooms for their own safety as well as for our residents' safety. This was the time they got very stressed and some of them felt like quitting because of this burnout. During that time the listening approach did a miracle, and our team members felt so motivated that they started working more efficiently and happily and none of them left!

2. **Empowering the team by involving:** We believe in involving team members in decision-making related to care plans and operations or explaining the reason for a particular decision, rather than just imposing it onto them. We believe it is important that team members should know the reasons, be comfortable and familiar with the process, share their feedback, be open about any challenges and then be in a position to acknowledge and accept the changes happily.

3. **Transparency:** Being transparent in all our processes is what we firmly believe in and hence practice. It is another key factor that plays an important role in building trust and earning the loyalty of our team members, and it’s a boon! We give our best, and we are true to ourselves. Being transparent with our team acts as our strength. And the understanding is not one-sided, in return, the team mutually adds their effort and will to establish seamless transparency in their mode of conduct, communication, and course of work. We at Epoch believe in doing open, honest and direct communication with the team, and are always open to honest feedback.

4. **Conflict resolution:** We strongly believe that every conflict/issue should be resolved on priority by defining a timeline. It should not just linger. I personally follow this to resolve each and every grievance/concern raised by our team members on time. I feel that for resolving the issues, we have to focus on incidents and events and not on individual personalities. For every healthy relationship, one needs to listen and talk out what’s stuck in their heart and mind. It ain’t any different for an employee-employer relationship. As Head-Human Resource at Epoch, I bridge people and their emotions and pave a way so that Epoch's workspace remains an exemplary hub for learning, exploring, prospering and building strong connections. 

5. **Everyone is a part of our mission statement:** We believe in evolving and constantly growing together with our team. We consider that our team members matter more than anything. Making them feel that they play a key role in executing our vision is a vital thing for us. This forms a powerful bond between an employee and the employer. We call each of our team members, a brand ambassador of Epoch! We let them own this title with pride and its responsibilities therein. We firmly believe in functioning as a torch bearer for the betterment of ourselves and our organization, Epoch.

As Epoch’s HR personnel it is my top most priority to take care of my team members’ happiness by ensuring that they are promptly heard and understood. It gives a sense of satisfaction to both me and my team to know that I will always be there for them. My aim is to make our team members truly feel they are always **Supported**, **Valued**, **Heard** and **Validated**.

Given my personal experience, I can say that a personal touch is integral for an employee’s motivation and thus their retention.

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Caring for our team members: A key Epoch value

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There’s the music of sarod playing in the background while I write this, helps me write my memoirs!

When I was a child, I used to write diaries. What’s enticing to me at that point in time was the smell of new vintage-looking pages, and a unique feeling to ink it down. It all started then. Who knew the passion for writing would grow so strongly on me!

Hi, I’m Sneha, Business Assistant & Content Writer at Epoch. Yes, I own these words and wear them with pride. The journey to earn this was pretty savage, and I’ll like you to be a part of this! Hence, sharing a page from my memoir.

It was the dawn of the year 2020 when I promised myself to come out of the University with a Mass Communication and Journalism degree in one hand and a placement in other. Things started turning upside down when the covid wave came along and washed away all the aspirations I had of starting my career in a corporate world. Later that year, after graduating, I started freelancing.

Little did I know that the universe had something else up in its sleeves.  On 1st Feb, I started my journey at Epoch, and it’s already a year now! I’ll need pinches from myself to believe so. When I stepped out of my comfort zone, came to a new city, I met amazing people, especially women, who inspired me in the most unusual ways. It is my sheer luck and fortune that I landed in Epoch right after college. The journey of amazement and learning didn’t stop for me, I would say.

How often does it happen that a CEO of an organization holds your hand, mentors you, and walks you through your journey? Well, happened to me and to all those who started anew! Here, at Epoch, I saw myself under the guidance of domain experts. From each one of them, I learnt something, both applicable in personal and professional lives. My team pushed me one notch beyond my threshold, surprisingly that brought different colours to my work. To date, I am told to be the owner of not only my projects, but also my decisions, successes, and failures. I am learning.

Epoch has played a vast role in shaping me into Sneha 2.0. If you know me and don’t believe, let’s go out for a cup of coffee! A confident and radiant Sneha, you’ll see.

Epoch homes abode elderly those who need dementia care and assisted daily living support. When I started, I was briefed about dementia but the understanding of the daily life of a senior 75+, came to me when I was in their presence. Recently through one of the Epoch webinars, I heard a doctor/geriatrician say, and I quote, “there’s a person still behind the dementia patient”, and this made me realize how naïve are we to not notice this in our elderly loved ones!

Amidst the pandemic, there were fewer interactions with our elderly residents, regarding their own safety. But whenever I got the chance, covered in PPE kit, I would jump to know each one of them. With some I sang era old songs, with some I recited poems of Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Dinkar, Nirala, with some I learnt the concept of perspective, with some I learnt fashion, some taught me to live life with a bang, and that’s what I am doing!

Epoch in a way turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I would like to stop the roller coaster of my emotions here by simply being grateful. One day, when I close my eyes, I would love the memories with Epoch to roll in the cassette of my life. 

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To Epoch, a cassette of my life

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I want to share my unique professional journey with you. Personally, I have been someone who is always up for trying new things.

In August 2014, after completing my training as a General Duty Assistant, I got placed at Epoch Elder Care as a care attendant.  Even though I had prior care training, being a care attendant in an assisted living home was new for me and there was much to learn, especially about dementia care. At Epoch, everyone is encouraged to ask questions whenever they do not understand, your colleagues and seniors will answer them patiently and help you understand your issues. I realised how tough life can be with dementia and at Epoch I was able to increase the quality of life of elders with dementia and this was very satisfactory for me. 

Given my inclination to try new roles, back in 2018, I was chosen for the role of Admin Assistant which was a huge change for me professionally as I was moving from  care to an administrative role. With much support of senior colleagues, I was able to manage this role with confidence. Here I learnt new skills like vendor management, maintenance planning, and working with multiple departments. Being an ex-care attendant, I was able to understand the importance of this role where I had to ensure the upkeep of Epoch homes and how crucial it was for our care attendants to take care of our residents. Iss dauran maine apni life ko bahut hadd tak personally, professionally and financially grow bhi kiya hai (During this time, I was able to grow personally, professionally and financially). 

Then in January 2020, I saw an opportunity to move to a new role within Epoch as a Human Resource (HR) assistant and I confidently took the leap. Given my prior experience as a care attendant, I was quickly able to connect to prospective candidates for Care Attendant role and understand who could be a good fit at Epoch, and I learnt the aspect of people management. Ab dedication and guidance of my manager and colleagues ke sath grow kar raha hun or hope aage bhi yun hi grow karta rahunga. (With the dedication and guidance of my manager and colleagues, I am learning & growing  ,and will continue doing so!)

Thanks to Epoch, I have been able to understand this industry well and grow myself professionally in many different perspectives by gaining many new skills.

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Trying new roles and gaining new skills at Epoch

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I want to share my journey so far with Epoch Elder Care. I started my journey as a care attendant with Epoch’s Monet house at Pune location on 15th May 2016 and sab kuch naya tha mere liye (everything was new to me). It was a great year well spent at Monet house; and bohot kuch sikhne ko mila (great learnings came along). Under the guidance of our Facility Managers and Facility Nurses and other care attendants, I was properly trained to look after our residents. Epoch work culture bohot welcoming and unique tha mere liye (Epoch culture was welcoming and unique for me) - where the team was great & they treated me like a family member. Not only this, the relationship and bond I developed with residents was an amazing feeling. The concept of dementia and its management was something jo mujhe dhire dhire samajh aya. (The concept of dementia and its management was something I learned over a period of time).

After the completion of one year, the management decided to transfer me to Epoch’s other home (Vermeer House) in Gurugram. I was happy with the decision for two reasons. Firstly, my learning was about to expand and secondly, my hometown was nearby. After working as a care attendant for a year and a half at the Vermeer House, the management decided to promote me to the role of Head Care Attendant. Finally, my dedication & honesty paid off. My responsibilities increased and I had to oversee all errands related to our residents, other care team members, and the house overall, which I enjoyed throughout.

Then again on 1st May 2019, I was offered a role change based on my skills and eagerness to work. This time the management decided to offer me the role of Admin Assistant, which I accepted confidently. It was challenging at first, but with the constant guidance of the then corporate team, I managed with quite ease.

Epoch has not only helped me professionally but also personally. It is here that I met Sarita (Care Attendant at Vermeer House), married her and started another chapter of my life. She is always there to support & motivate me. 

During the outbreak of COVID-19, around Feb 2020, I was handed over the role & responsibilities of an Office Assistant in the new Vermeer house at Gurgaon. Covid ke first wave me hume bohot kuch naya experience karne ko and samajhne ko mila. Ye time humare liye bohot difficult tha but hum sabne milkar Epoch and ek doosre ko sambhala. (New learnings came along whilst managing and experiencing the first wave of coronavirus. It was a difficult time, but we managed to pull through). I was presented with the COVID warrior award. Epoch ke saath ab itne memories jud gaye hain ki yahan har koi apna sa lagta hai. 

Epoch me hamesha kuch na kuch naya sikhne ko and samajhne ko milta hi hai and mere liye bohot unique experience banta raha hai.

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My journey of multiple roles at Epoch

Epoch homes are humble abodes for elders who need care round the clock. Most of our elders come and stay with us for life. And that’s why our aim is to facilitate happy and healthy ageing for all our residents, give them the best quality of physical and...

Caring for our team members: A key Epoch value

Karina Dhamija , Head - Human Resource

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