Sona (getsona.com)

Our CTO Ben Dixon joined Richard Ayres from Care England to discuss the key findings of our joint national research report, 'Adult social care insights: workforce stability, digital impact and financial confidence'. The webinar explored why "coping" may no longer be enough for adult social care providers, and what the evidence says about where pressure is really building. A few of the takeaways for providers: → Vacancy rates alone don't tell the full story. Overtime patterns, uncovered shifts and missed breaks are the early warning signs most services aren't tracking. → Commissioned hours don't always reflect what's needed to deliver safe care. Better workforce data strengthens the case in commissioning conversations. → Digital capability isn't a nice-to-have. It's the infrastructure that helps leaders see where strain is building before it hits retention or quality. 👉 Read our blog for five practical starting points: https://lnkd.in/enPZV7t2 📥 Or download the full report here: https://lnkd.in/dyQQ9tsx

Our team spent yesterday afternoon at the Pizza Pilgrims Pizza Masterclass learning how to make proper Neapolitan pizza 🍕 Safe to say some pizzas turned out better than others, but we all had a great laugh trying. Huge thanks to the team at Pizza Pilgrims Canary Wharf for making it such a great experience 🙌 Amie Campbell Jonny Ballance Ashok Lynn-Bertoli Max Carter Festus Shodipo

Care England is delighted to be launching a report in partnership with Sona (getsona.com) today: 'Adult social care insights: workforce stability, digital impact and financial confidence'.   This report explores the need for workforce stretch to become visible and measurable to allow for commissioning to align with real operating conditions. This impactful research is crucial for the sustainability of the sector; the reliance on workforce goodwill is unsustainable.   Key Recommendations: ⭐ Designing structural workforce resilience, not relying on individual goodwill. ⭐ Making workforce, financial, demand and acuity pressures visible to enable stronger, evidenced-based commissioning and policy making decisions. ⭐ Treating digital capability and maturity as essential enablers of services for improved sustainability, quality of care, compliance and safety.   Prof Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England said: “Adult social care is being held together by the professionalism and goodwill of its workforce. This research shows clearly that short staffing and operational strain are no longer occasional pressures but everyday realities. We must stop relying on heroics and start building systems that properly support the people who deliver care.”    👉To read the full report, click here: https://lnkd.in/eMY-Kv9b #socialcare #workforcepressures #research

49% of care providers are regularly short-staffed. 54% rely on overtime to fill the gaps. Every week. And yet - care still gets delivered. Not because the system works, but because people refuse to let it fail. Staff stay late. Managers cover shifts. Teams stretch further than they should. It looks like resilience, but it's actually fragility dressed up as coping. Today we publish new research with Care England and the picture is clear: the sector isn't in crisis because people keep absorbing the pressure, but the systems around them aren't built to sustain it. 80% of providers still lose time to manual processes. The tools and systems around frontline teams simply aren't keeping pace with the pressure they're under. 📗 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆: https://lnkd.in/dyQQ9tsx Thanks to Prof Martin Green and Care England for making this possible, and all the sector leaders and providers who contributed their insights: Richard Ayres, Claire Kennedy - Liaise, Nitesh Somani 💚 - Kara Healthcare, Rahim Walji - iBC Healthcare, Angela Murphy - FitzRoy - Transforming Lives, Laura Perry - Berkley Care Group, Geraint Jenkins - Cartrefi Cymru Co-operative, Angela Fletcher BA (hons) RNLD GCGI FInstLM - Yorkshire Care Group Limited, Consensus, Hft and Nazareth Care Charitable Trust #SocialCare #CareSector #WorkforceResilience #DigitalTransformation

Last Wednesday we brought hospitality leaders together for a breakfast briefing with our legal partner Fieldfisher on the Employment Rights Act. Everyone’s focused on Day One unfair dismissal, our panel wasn’t. The real pressure points are: - Process, not policy: if your probation conversations and documentation aren’t tight, risk goes up fast. - Harassment law shifting to “all reasonable steps”– prevention now has to be active and ongoing. - Day One SSP. Labour forecasting just got harder. One speaker put it best: “This will feel like Christmas for HR… and Halloween for finance.” The legislation itself isn’t the biggest risk, leaving preparation too late is. This summer isn’t about panic, it’s about planning. For hospitality leaders, the opportunity isn't just compliance. It's building stronger, fairer, more sustainable operations for the long term. 👉 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗽 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗴 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://hubs.la/Q0439Kpr0

🎥 New video: In conversation with Kate Nicholls OBE We sat down with Kate Nicholls, Chair of UKHospitality, to discuss the realities facing the hospitality industry today — and what comes next. From ongoing staffing pressures to the long-term outlook for the sector, Kate shares an honest perspective on: • The biggest challenges hospitality operators are navigating right now • What needs to change to tackle the staffing crisis • Where the industry is heading — and the opportunities ahead 👉 Watch the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/eA43sd4k Paul Watson Mark Stretton

🚀 We’re thrilled to announce an exciting new partnership with Grateful! At Sona, we believe great technology should make work easier, more transparent, and more rewarding for teams. That’s why today’s announcement with Grateful marks a big step forward in how businesses can empower their workforce and streamline tipping and engagement workflows. 💡 Together with Grateful, a forward-thinking platform revolutionising digital tipping and employee engagement, we’re bringing a seamless experience to operators and their teams that connects fair, transparent tipping with intelligent workforce management. By integrating Grateful’s capabilities with Sona, operators can now better support team recognition, boost morale, and simplify what used to be complex admin tasks — all from within the tools teams use every day. We’re excited for what’s ahead and proud to help our customers unlock even deeper value through connected technology that supports engagement, retention, and workplace wellbeing. 👉 Read more here: https://hubs.la/Q042Q93t0 Russ Kenyon Mason Potter Jerri Howlett

We’re thrilled to announce that Signature Senior Lifestyle Limited has selected Sona as its end-to-end workforce management partner. 🎉 Signature sets a very high bar for luxury care. But as any operator knows, maintaining that standard is challenging when people's data is spread across different platforms. To deliver a five-star resident experience, frontline teams need a digital ecosystem that actually works for them. By unifying onboarding, HR, scheduling and engagement into one platform, Signature is giving its home managers their most valuable resource back: time. "Sona is sector-specific, which clearly demonstrates an understanding of how the care sector operates... Signature has always aspired to achieve a single, joined-up view of employee data and Sona delivers this." –  Melanie Grigg, Head of Projects at Signature. 👉 Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/dD38MSSw With Sona now rolling out across Signature’s homes, we’re incredibly excited to be supporting the team as they continue setting the benchmark for luxury care. 💚 #SocialCare #ResidentialCare #LuxuryCare #WorkforceManagement #Technology #AI

💡 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗱... It’s no secret that adult Social Care is operating at a consistent stage of high alert. Between staff shortages, changing demand and the constantly increasing complexity of operations, resilience has become a daily requirement. Launching soon, our collaborative research report with Care England will explore the lived reality of workforce pressures, operational strain and leadership decision making. 📒 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://lnkd.in/d4C2nETV On 24th February, join us as we explore the themes, insights, and emerging solutions from this work. Led by our Ben Dixon (Sona's Co-founder and CTO), and Richard Ayres (Social Care Advisor, Care England), the session is designed not as a presentation, but as a leadership conversation. 𝗪𝗲’𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴: 👉 How rota design and deployment gaps impact quality in ways we don't always see. 👉 Why digital capability is no longer a ‘nice to have’, but essential for operational visibility and future-proofing. 👉 How to use data to communicate with your team and commissioners more effectively. This session is designed for care leaders looking to move beyond reactive firefighting, with forward-thinking recommendations you can use to influence your strategy and support your workforce. 🔗 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝘄: https://lnkd.in/dCEvvk-B #Sona #CareEngland #AdultSocialCare #CareProviders #WorkforceManagement #CareWorkforce #SocialCare #FutureOfCare

🚀 We’re thrilled to welcome Richard Tallboy as our new Chief Information Officer Advisor! Richard brings over 20 years of technology leadership in hospitality, having served as CIO/CTO at leading brands like PizzaExpress, wagamama, The Restaurant Group and most recently at Côte Brasserie. In this newly created advisory role, Richard will help accelerate our enterprise strategy, sharpen our product and go-to-market approach, and elevate how we support customers at scale. His deep industry insight and hands-on experience navigating complex technology landscapes will be invaluable as we grow and evolve. 📌 Alongside his appointment, we’re also launching CIO Snapshot — a rapid diagnostic service designed to help operators assess technology infrastructure, rationalise tech stacks, and plan strategic roadmaps. Join us in welcoming Richard — we’re excited for what’s ahead! 🌟 🔗 Read the full announcement: https://hubs.la/Q042mTx30