“You are driving real change here at Castlemeadow. The progress and improvements have been noticeable and genuinely appreciated.” Sanjay Kaushal, Owner of Castlemeadow Care

 

 

The challenges they had to overcome

Like many organisations in the care sector, Castlemeadow Care faced increasing complexity around workforce retention, leadership capability, compliance, and the need to maintain high standards while growing sustainably.

Rather than accepting high turnover and operational pressure as ‘part of the sector’, Castlemeadow Care made a conscious decision to invest in their people, leadership, and ways of working. They called in People Puzzles to help achieve this, and fractional People Director Dean Hunter joined the leadership team with a challenging brief to: “deliver instant, dramatic and lasting improvement”.

Key areas of focus included:

• To become a great place to work – where people felt supported, clear on priorities, and proud to be part of the organisation
• Strengthen senior leadership capability and consistency
• Reduce labour turnover in a challenging recruitment market
• Improve board-level focus, accountability, and decision-making
• Support the HR function with robust processes, confidence, and capability
• Ensure the organisation was using data and technology effectively, not simply collecting it

Our six steps of delivering permanent improvement

1. Increase staff retention, through purposeful Induction & Onboarding

With Dean’s guidance, Castlemeadow Care co-created a senior staff induction and onboarding process, ensuring it was:

• Fully compliant
• Clear on expectations and culture
• Designed to help senior leaders succeed quickly and confidently

Building on this, Dean led the design of a brand-new organisation-wide induction and onboarding programme through a small working party. A core feature is the introduction of trained and incentivised buddies, embedding peer support from day one. The explicit aim is to significantly reduce labour turnover.

This programme is scheduled to launch in 2026, underlining Castlemeadow Care’s long-term commitment to their people and culture.

2. Transform internal capacity through strong, confident HR Leadership

Dean designed and delivered a programme of coaching and hands-on support for the HR Executive team at Castlemeadow Care, working collaboratively on:

• Process improvements
• Policy development
• Navigating complex people issues with confidence

This approach deliberately focused on building internal capability rather than dependency, ensuring Castlemeadow Care can sustain improvements over the long term.

3. Enhancing their reputation by navigating complex ER with confidence

Dean provided support on complex Employee Relations cases, enabling leaders to:

• Manage risk appropriately
• Make fair, consistent, and compassionate decisions
• Maintain trust and morale across teams

This strengthened Castlemeadow Care’s reputation as a fair, professional, and values-driven employer.

4. Improving decision-making, focus and engagement, through building Board-Level Clarity & Strategic Alignment

Facilitated strategy sessions with the board resulted in:

• A clear and consistent meeting structure used throughout the organisation
• Sharper focus on what genuinely drives results
• Removal of large volumes of data that were not being used to drive action

This ensured time and energy were spent on decisions and outcomes, not reporting for its own sake.

5. Accelerating and embedding momentum through turning Strategy into Action

To embed momentum, Castlemeadow Care introduced a rolling programme of 90-day improvement projects, which were:

• Conceived and owned by the Regional Team
• Actively project managed
• Designed to deliver tangible, short-term improvements

This has now become a repeatable, iterative improvement cycle, with a second wave of projects already underway.

6. Strengthening accountability and pace by making Data Work Harder

To strengthen accountability and pace:

• Scorecards and action logs were introduced
• Board and leadership teams gained clearer visibility of priorities, actions, and progress
• Decisions were made faster, based on live, relevant data

Leaders were also coached in using data and technology more effectively, improving efficiency and reducing friction in day-to-day processes.

The Impact

The culmination of this work has enabled Castlemeadow Care to:

• Dramatically reduced staff turnover, through improved onboarding and early engagement
• Built leadership confidence and consistency at senior and regional levels
• Created clear accountability from board to frontline – everyone knows what they’re doing, and is accountable for doing it brilliantly
• Embedded a culture of continuous improvement – owned by leaders, rather than imposed externally, ensuring they’re passionately committed to it
• Strengthened their position as a ‘Great place to work’ – even within their very challenging sector

Client Feedback

“On Tuesday, our regional team came together for a fantastic day of connection, collaboration, and inspiration. The team shared exciting updates and insights, all while deepening their alignment with our WE CAN values. This collective energy and sense of purpose are vital as we continue to foster a supportive, thriving, and family-oriented culture within our business. A big thank you to Dean for delivering such an engaging and exciting session!”

“The variety of clients and the energy you describe really shows the impact you’re making, which is evident in Dean’s work with Castlemeadow Care. Dean is driving real change here at Castlemeadow. The progress and improvements have been noticeable and genuinely appreciated.” Sanjay Kaushal, Owner of Castlemeadow Care

 

Question: Would your Care Home benefit from support like this?

If so, please contact People Puzzles so we can connect you with your local Care Home expert, who will share new best-practices that are starting in your sector. We can help you have better people, a better business and – for you and all your colleagues and customers – a better life. Call 0345 646 5201 or email [email protected]