Despite the Fair Work Commission’s 15% wage rise for direct care workers in July, 30% of workers in residential care are still looking to leave within the next three years with 49% planning to leave within five years, according to the fourth annual Ideagen Aged Care Workforce Report released today.
The 39-page ‘Reality check: Workers’ views on the impossibilities of aged care’ report – which surveyed 707 mainly managers, carers and other clinical staff between July-August – found that almost one-third of all aged care workers are contemplating leaving the sector within the next three years, with stress cited as the main factor (81%) followed by excessive overtime/expectations (73%), too much paperwork (68%), and remuneration (49%).
Interestingly, this was an improvement on last year’s survey where 50% of workers said they intended to leave the industry within the next three years – suggesting the 15% wage rise for direct care workers in July this year has made some difference to turnover rates.
However, the research also highlights that many teams have seen a significant exodus of experience.
Over 32% of respondents said either the entire management team had been replaced or over half of the management team had left in the previous 12 months.
“The reality is – and this has been consistent for the last four years – is that people are being stressed out of the industry and that senior leaders are leaving or planning to leave the sector at a time when we need substantially more of people with their skills and qualifications in the sector,” Ideagen (formerly Complispace) Senior Vice President David Griffiths (pictured) told The Weekly SOURCE.
The Ideagen research also found 71% of aged care providers are struggling to recruit and retain enough RNs to meet the 24/7 RN and 200 direct care minute requirements.
53.8% of aged care providers said it is either ‘difficult to achieve’ or ‘moderately challenging’ to have a 24/7 RN on site and on duty at their facility. A further 12% said it was ‘impossible to achieve’.
You can download the full report here.
