“That an elderly or dependent person is not lifted from his bed or fed for lack of an arm, it will never be [lui] had arrived ” since the foundation of her home help association in 2011. But with the staff shortage, the increase in which is looming with the next probable departure of forty employees out of 130, Aline Burguete, president of the Collective associative network of mutual aid national charity against the exclusion of seniors (Deficiencies), in Anglet (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), fears being in this situation. “It prevents me from sleeping, she says, angry. I have bedridden beneficiaries in wheelchairs. A lot of people are alone, she explains. How are we going to do that? “ She hasn’t been able to recruit for months.
Caregiver, social worker, home agent… These jobs, carried out seven days a week in associations, companies, public structures or directly with individuals, are not attractive. Professions marked by a strong physical and psychological hardship, poorly paid, little considered, often part-time suffered.
“When you stay with the minimum wage as your only career prospect, it’s not very motivating. These jobs have many other dimensions than cleaning. They are very professional, very empowering ”, underlines Marc Dupont, vice-president of the National Union of Assistance, Care and Home Services (UNA), a network of associations which employ 78,000 people. In this sector, co-financed by the National Solidarity Fund for Autonomy and the departments through the personalized autonomy allowance, the wage bill is constrained by this envelope and by the remainder to be borne by the beneficiaries.
This shortage of home help is not new. Numerous reports have been devoted to this issue in recent years. That of the former Minister of Labor Myriam El Khomri, dated October 2019, specifies that in order to meet the needs related to the aging of the population and fill vacant positions “260,000 professionals will have to be trained” over the period 2020-2024 to work in establishments and at home.
Exasperation with working conditions
In the ADMR associative network alone, which employs 90,000 home-based employees, or 70,000 full-time equivalents, “We recruit 10,000 people per year, including 7,000 to replace departures and 3,000 to respond to new requests for assistance, specifies Thierry d’Aboville, its general secretary. However, due to a lack of sufficient staff, we cannot honor a good number of new requests, which represents 10% of the activity. “ At the UNA, this rate known as “renouncing to intervene” is estimated at 20%.
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