transforming aged care
If Australia is to meet the increasing demand for aged care, we need to focus on the people who deliver these critical services. Our Transforming Aged Care Report sheds new light on the future of the sector.
Read the reportre-imagining the aged care workforce of tomorrow
Almost a quarter of our members work in aged care. As partners in their future, we want to help drive meaningful change for the sector and the millions of Australians who’ll depend on it. That’s the HESTA impact.
Over the last two years, we've been researching aged care to find out how rapid change in the sector is impacting the people caring for Australia’s seniors.
Our data and research, drawn from more than 200,000 HESTA members working in aged care, aim to help the sector build, train and retain its future workforce.
We surveyed thousands of health and community service employees, including those working in aged care, to learn about their career plans.
here's what they told us
* Note: Respondents were able to give multiple reasons. So, results do not sum to 100%.
# Almost a quarter of the aged care workers who said they intended to move to jobs elsewhere in HACS cited 'other' reasons, including finishing studies, unhappiness with the aged care sector or unhappiness with how care workers and clients are treated.
potential shortfall of aged care workers
Our research showed that as many as 80,000 employees currently working in aged care may leave the sector over the next five years.
This potential future shortfall is a big challenge, as the sector needs to attract significantly more employees to keep up with growing demand. The Productivity Commission forecasts Australia may need as many as one million aged care workers by 2050 to meet the expected demand from baby boomers*.
* Productivity Commission (2011) Caring for Older Australian Final Report.
Source: 1. The Aged Care Workforce 2016, Australian Government Department of Health, March 2017. This is an estimate of all PAYG aged care workers, including those in residential facilities, home care and home support outlets. 2 2016 Census, Australian Bureau of Statistics. This is an estimate of Health Care and Social Assistance sector, minus the Aged Care workforce.
finding solutions
So, what could be done to attract more people to work in aged care and retain experienced, valuable employees?
While our research highlighted the issues, there were lots of positive solution-led suggestions from employers and employees.
Off the back of this report, we’re looking forward to partnering with the sector to explore ideas for practical solutions to some of aged care’s greatest challenges. Not only will this impact our members’ working experience, but also the quality of life in retirement for millions of Australians.