Qualification: Level 2 Diploma in Care, Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care
Unit name: Responsibilities of a care worker
Learning outcome: 1. Understand working relationships in care settings
Assessment criteria: 1.1 Explain how a working relationship is different from a personal relationship
When working in the care sector, it is important that you the relationships you have with colleagues, clients and partners remains professional. Even if you are close friends with the people that you work with or you work with members of your family, you must remember that whilst you are at work the relationship you have with them is a working relationship.
Therefore, it is important to be able to distinguish between what is a working relationship and what is a personal relationship.
Working relationships are:
- Formal
- Strictly professional
- Paid
- Bound by working time, working locations, organisational policies and procedures
- Unequal (the carer will often know more about the person receiving care)
Conversely, personal relationships are:
- Informal
- Optional
- Unpaid
- Unbound by rules and regulation
- Equal (usually)
It is important to understand that whereas personal relationships can be intimate with kissing, hugging and sexual activity for mutual pleasure, this is not appropriate for a working relationship. Similarly, a carer should limit the things that they talk about regarding their personal lives with individuals receiving care and maintain a clear distance and boundary.