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Job ad sparks debate over promoting image of nurses as ‘martyrs not professionals’

Care home recruitment ad normalises behaviour that causes burnout, say nurses on social media

Care home recruitment ad normalises behaviour that causes burnout, say nurses on social media

Photo of someone looking at a job ad on a laptop
Picture: iStock

An advert for care home nursing jobs has sparked anger over projecting an image of nurses as ‘martyrs not professionals’.

The listing by agency Recruitment Panda, which specialises in health and social care jobs, was criticised by nurses on social media for suggesting they skip breaks and disregard their own well-being so they can ‘make a difference’.

‘Harmful’ ad promotes martyrdom over self-care

Nurses said the advert, offering £16.50-£18.50 per hour for care home roles in Devon, undermined their skillset and promoted behaviour that causes burnout, while staff are working through a pandemic and struggling with staffing shortages.

Mental health nurse Francesca Marina received more than 100 responses after sharing the advert on Twitter and commenting that the words used did not portray the nurses’ roles well.

Recruitment Panda’s original job ad which sparked debate on social media

One nurse said the advert promoted ‘the expectation that nurses are martyrs, not professionals doing a job’.

‘Harmful, reduces worth of nurses, implies they should just be grateful that they can help people rather than expect fair hours, breaks and remuneration,’ she added.

Another replied: ‘I stopped reading at break skipping. This is vile. This is typical of it being viewed as virtuous “woman's work”.’

Recruitment company defends ‘well performing’ advert

Recruitment Panda managing director Sam Sanderson said the listing was one of the company’s best-performing adverts and he was well aware of how undervalued health and social care professionals felt.

He added: ‘Clearly, the advert does not appeal to everyone's sense of self.’

Mr Sanderson said the tweets had shown him that ‘undoubtedly, nurses want far more than just adoration, which they definitely deserve’.


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