23% of workers are planning to leave for jobs outside aged care or resign within one to five years, according to the study of over 2,000 Health and Community Services (HACS) workers by the Australian super giant.
Another 14% plans to move to a different job in HACS, while 56% plan to move into the hospital sector. Just 4,000 (9%) of workers intended to go into aged care.
Pay was not the main reason to leave either – only 22% said they were not being paid enough. Rather 49% said they wanted to develop new skills while 38% wanted to try something different.
Participants also listed a range of other concerns including:
- Time pressure and having to cope with too many residents;
- Dealing with the death of people
- Physical strain
- Under or incorrect payments of wages
- Poor management decisions
- Unsupportive work colleagues
- Excess red tape or reporting systems; and
- Lack of childcare options.
The survey also confirmed that the aged care workforce is ageing fast. 82% of workers are women with almost half (48%) aged over 50 years.
Two-thirds of jobs are also part-time or casual with aged care having the highest rate of part-timers (53%). Most were happy with these hours (74% said it was the ‘right amount’) but around 30% who wanted to leave cited not getting enough hours.
Unsurprisingly this also hit workers’ super balances. 60% of employees make less than $50,000 a year before tax and 40% say they had less than $50,000 in their super compared to 25% of hospital employees.
It all paints a backdrop of frustrated workers coping with heavy workloads and paperwork who are looking for more flexibility and support – will they find it elsewhere?
See the Better Caring story HERE.
You can read the full report HERE.
