RAVie App Evolves: New Feature to Facilitate Personal Carer Replacements

Published on: 01/07/2021Updated on: 01/07/2021

Personal carers provide home-based support to elderly, disabled, and/or dependent individual employers. Their job is demanding both physically and psychologically. While they need rest, especially with the health crisis that has heavily mobilized them for nearly a year and a half, they struggle to take leave due to the absence of "colleagues" to take over. This situation is over with the new "find a replacement" feature in the RAVie application. In just a few clicks, personal carers can activate the local network of professionals to find a replacement for a few weeks of vacation. A social innovation that comes at just the right time!

Unwavering Dedication, Even at the Height of the Crisis

In the broader sense of "care," personal carers have been on the front lines since the health crisis began. Committed, dedicated, and motivated, many continued supporting their employers during the first lockdown, thus avoiding further destabilizing these populations severely impacted by the crisis. According to an IPSOS survey for FEPEM published in September 2020, 83% of personal carers working with elderly and/or disabled people largely continued their activity during this period, and 60% maintained the same working hours as before the lockdown[1].

These employees often feel invested in a mission through their role as daily supporters of vulnerable populations. They practice an essential profession for society's proper functioning, yet one that remains underrecognized. The professional branch of domestic employees, which has worked to highlight them for over 25 years through an ambitious professionalization policy led by IPERIA, commends their unwavering dedication. Indeed, these employees' mobilization, combined with individual employers' responsibility in generally maintaining their pay, has contributed significantly to preserving the quality of this unique and vital working relationship.

The Paid Leave Conundrum, Between Rights and Duties

Being a personal carer is a highly human-centered profession. Fatigue and exhaustion can sometimes lurk. Taking time to recharge is essential, and taking care of oneself to take care of others is particularly legitimate. However, when it's time to go on holidays, personal carers often face a dilemma that causes guilt and stress: Can they "allow themselves" to take leave and leave their employers?

Legally, the answer is clear. Indeed, Article 16 of the National Collective Agreement for Domestic Employees stipulates that "the right to annual paid leave is acquired by employees (full-time or part-time) who, during the reference year (from June 1 of the previous year to May 31 of the current year), can prove the same employer has employed them for a time equivalent to a minimum of 1 month of work presence. [...] The duration of annual paid leave is two and a half working days per month (or 4 weeks or periods equivalent to 24 days) of work presence, regardless of usual working hours. [...] Annual leave must be taken."

Personal carers officially have the right to rest and consider their well-being and personal balance. Yet, many hesitate to use this right to avoid interrupting care or to take time off because they cannot find a replacement.

RAVie App: New Feature for Peace of Mind During Leave

"We had many requests from personal carers wanting to post an advertisement for a replacement but not knowing how to make it visible," explains Fabien Jacquetton, Marketing Manager at IPERIA. To address this fundamental need expressed in the field, the RAVie app, designed for personal carers, has been optimized, and the "find a replacement" feature has been enhanced. A button allows them to connect with peers to find solutions and avoid care interruptions for individual employers, which are always difficult for families to manage. Personal carers can now enjoy their well-deserved rest and go on holidays with peace of mind. A true social innovation!

Indeed, social innovation most often plays out locally, in the territory, serving the general interest. According to the Higher Council for Social and Solidarity Economy (CSESS), "social innovation consists of developing new responses to new or poorly met social needs under current market conditions and social policies, involving the participation and cooperation of concerned stakeholders, particularly users. These innovations concern both the product or service and the method of organization and distribution in areas such as aging, early childhood, housing, health, fighting poverty, exclusion, and discrimination. They go through a multi-step process: emergence, experimentation, dissemination, evaluation."[2]

After the carers' centers, which last year welcomed 392 participants across 36 departments[3], this unique "find a replacement" feature, accessible on the RAVie app, provides a new solution to break the isolation that personal carers face. Launched in spring 2020, the app already has nearly 700 subscribers. By sharing experiences, exchanges, and advice, personal carers can build a professional network—enough to feel less alone in practicing their profession!

In practice, a personal carer can find a replacement in just a few clicks:

They post a replacement request on the app using the specific button.
The network of users within a 20km radius (geolocation) receives an alert via notification and email.
Interested and available people can start a conversation via the messaging chat..

In parallel, other features enhance the app: regional groups to facilitate local exchanges between personal carers and the ability to post photos... Already available on Google Play, the RAVie app will be downloadable from the AppStore starting July 5. It's time to rally the community to find replacements for summer holidays... Summer vacation is in the air!

[1] IPSOS survey for FEPEM, "Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on the Individual Employment and Domestic Work Sector," conducted from June 23 to July 17, 2020, with a representative sample of individual employers and sector employees.

[2] Source: 2020 Professionalization Policy Report for the Individual Employment and Domestic Work Sector

[3] Source : 2020 Professionalization Policy Report for the Individual Employment and Domestic Work Sector