Inside My Business #8

Hi Reader,

Just over five years ago, we got our sponsorship licence.

The UK care recruitment market was brutal at the time, genuinely one of the hardest periods we'd been through.

Sponsorship felt like more than a solution. It felt like hope.

Casey and I had big dreams. We had rose-tinted glasses on, if I'm honest, and approached it more philanthropically than commercially.

We pictured people who genuinely wanted to work in care, who were committed, who'd stay. People who'd grow with us and help us build something extraordinary.

So we went all in!

Our office was based in our home back then, so when people arrived from overseas, our home became theirs too.

We put people up in hotels and Airbnbs while we got them settled. We ran Christmas parties and team meetings in the cleared-up dining area of our kitchen.

We didn't just train people to deliver care. We helped them navigate the culture and everyday life in a new country, which takes so much more time, money and heart than most people realise.

And we genuinely believed that all this investment would help us grow the business much faster.

Five years later, I can tell you it's been quite a journey!

This Week's Lesson

Some people have built fantastic careers with us and played an important part in growing the company.

Others moved on much sooner than we'd hoped, sometimes after we'd invested heavily in helping them settle and develop. Some have since told us they regret leaving.

Then there’s the cost, the paperwork, and the constant low hum of anxiety that one compliance mistake could put the whole licence at risk. Even the rules themselves keep moving, there’s live debate right now about indefinite leave timelines changing, with some routes stretching from five years to ten.

None of that featured quite so prominently in our early thinking!

But here's the thing.

Sponsorship has helped us grow. Just not quite in the way, or at the pace, we'd imagined.

Having a more stable workforce has been invaluable, but we've also learnt that recruiting more people doesn't automatically translate into business growth.

And that good intentions, however genuine, need to be supported by sound business decisions.

What's changed in our approach?

One of the things we've introduced this year is a more structured sponsorship review process.

In the early days, when someone's sponsorship was approaching expiry, we'd focus largely on what was needed to renew it.

Now we take the opportunity to have a much more meaningful conversation.

We ask colleagues to reflect on their journey with us. We review their performance and development, discuss their aspirations, and consider what support they might need going forward.

We also look at our own workforce needs and the opportunities available within the business.

It's an opportunity for both sides to reflect on how things are going and what the future might look like.

And some of those conversations have been quite moving.

Hearing directly what working with us has meant to colleagues and their families has reminded me why we started sponsoring people in the first place.

Some have progressed significantly in their careers. Others have grown steadily, gaining skills, experience and confidence.

And the impact has gone far beyond the individual employees.

We've also welcomed colleagues from other sponsors who've independently told us how different their experience has been with us.

That's been lovely to hear.

So yes, we're much more commercially minded about sponsorship these days.

We're more deliberate about recruitment decisions, the costs involved, the support we provide and the systems needed to manage our responsibilities.

But I don't think we've lost the human side of it.

If anything, we've learnt that the two need to work together.

Three things I'd encourage other providers to consider

1. Look beyond the initial recruitment costs.

Sponsorship isn't just about securing a worker. Think about the full investment, including onboarding, training, accommodation support where offered, ongoing compliance and the potential disruption when people leave.

2. Build meaningful reviews into your workforce planning.

Don't wait until a Certificate of Sponsorship is about to expire before having conversations about performance, development and future plans. Make these discussions part of your normal people-management processes, while keeping sponsorship decisions aligned with the applicable immigration requirements.

3. Don't confuse workforce stability with business growth.

Having the people to deliver care creates capacity, but you still need the right strategy, operational systems and opportunities to turn that capacity into sustainable growth.

📌 This Week's Takeaway

You can lead with your heart, but you still need to run the business with your head.

Five years on, I still believe in the opportunities that international recruitment can create.

We've built a stronger, more diverse team, developed some wonderful people and made a difference to families far beyond those we directly employ.

But we've also had to learn some expensive lessons along the way.

Would we do it all again?

Yes.

Would we do some things differently?

Absolutely! 😂

And I think that's what experience is all about.

Your Turn

If your business sponsors international workers, how has your approach changed since you first started?

What's one thing you wish you'd known before getting your sponsorship licence?

I'd love to hear your experience.

P.S. Ready to build a business that doesn’t depend on you?

If this has got you thinking about your own business, I’d love to help.

I’m offering a complimentary Care CEO Strategy Call, where we’ll look at where your business is today, what’s keeping you tied to the day-to-day, and the first steps towards building a team and systems that give you more freedom.