3 minute read
Making an impact in aged care
FOCUS ON WORKFORCE IS KEY
It would be hard to argue that our aged care sector has experienced tougher times than what we’ve endured over the past couple of years. Already under the necessary but uncomfortable spotlight of the Aged Care Royal Commission, in early 2020 a pandemic emerged that would shake our industry to its core. And we’re still not out of the woods, with providers and their workforces battling to keep their customers safe and well, while managing the complexities of lockdowns, vaccinations and testing and staff shortages amongst a range of issues. The effect on our industry workforce both now and into the future cannot be underestimated. Already faced with recruitment and retention challenges before the Royal Commission and COVID-19, things have only gotten harder. In fact, it’s not overstating the situation to call it a crisis.
This crisis has inevitably had a negative effect on our industry’s reputation—a reputation that the landmark A Matter of Care workforce strategy identified in 2018 as requiring significant improvement in our efforts to attract and keep new workers to our sector.
In the context of the industry’s reputation, the recent release of Australian Unity’s first ever standalone impact report, Our Impact, was a powerful reminder to me of the positive contribution that our sector makes to Australian society.
The unique methodology we employed to measure our impact found that Australian Unity’s portfolio of health wealth and care products and services delivered $1.25 billion of community and social value in the 2020-21 financial year, with our aged care businesses making a substantial contribution. However, it’s the narrative behind the numbers that tells the story when it comes to our workforce.
As a provider of residential and in-home aged care services to about 40,000 customers across Australia, we know that we would not be able to provide our high standards of care without our dedicated workforce.
However, we also know that even though the demand is high for care workers, the care sector is generally seen as undesirable, with high levels of casualisation, job insecurity, irregular hours, minimal support and low wages. This makes it difficult for those in the sector (or those looking to join) to have a sense of financial or job security, which adversely impacts on wellbeing.
At Australian Unity, female employees comprise 88 per cent of our care workforce and therefore the solutions to Australia’s care workforce challenge must support women and address the issues that affect them.
Australian Unity has been actively addressing these issues in our workforce strategy through prioritising permanency (now above 80 per cent), regular rostering, flexible rostering and working arrangements, supportive managers, and career progression—factors that give workers a greater level of confidence, security and wellbeing.
At a sector level, Australian Unity was a foundation member of the Aged Care Workforce Industry Council—established following the release of A Matter of Care—and has advocated on key issues, including unique workforce considerations in remote and very remote communities and improved wage rates across the sector in line with work value.
Our efforts to meet the wellbeing needs of our aged care workforce is a strong theme in the story of how Australian Unity delivers community and social value to its members, customers, employers and the broader community.
However, when considered in the context of the aged sector, we are only one of many providers who, in their own way, are contributing to the nation’s wellbeing. It’s vital for the sector to capture and share these stories if we are serious about the A Matter of Care recommendations for improving the understanding of what our industry has to offer and improving its reputation as an employer.
