Attracting and retaining Australia’s aged care workers: developing policy and organisational responses

Abstract

By the year 2060 Australians aged 65 and over will account for one quarter of the population, one in six Australians will be aged 75 or more, and the ‘very old’ (over 80 years of age) will also become more numerous. These statistics indicate that there will be increased demands on the residential aged care workforce in the future and associated labour shortages given the consequent increases in demand for personal care worker services. Moreover, personal care workers (PCWs) are reportedly older than the average age of workers in other fields, further exacerbating these problems. Consequently, this study focuses on both the policy and human resource changes required in the residential aged care sector related to both current and future challenges experienced in attracting and retaining Australia’s ageing aged care workforce. Proposed changes include far-reaching policy development required to underpin improved employment conditions, salaries, training and career pathways as an imperative to care for elderly Australian citizens.

Keywords:

• ageing population
• aged care workforce
• labour shortages
• workforce planning

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alan Montague

Alan Montague is a lecturer in Business Management at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University. Alan’s particular research and publication areas include skill/vocational shortages, government policies relating to the links between education and industry, employment/education programme policy development, and management and workforce planning.

John Burgess

John Burgess is a Professor of HRM at Curtin Business School, Curtin University, Australia. His particular areas of interest about which he has published extensively include: work, workplaces and labour market policy, particularly in relation to contingent labour. John has been the recipient of numerous grants on related topics and is on the editorial board of five human resource management/industrial relations journals.

Julia Connell

Julia Connell is Director, Researcher Development at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), and an Adjunct Professor of Management, Curtin Business School, Curtin University, Australia. Julia has published over 80 refereed journal articles/book chapters and co-edited five books on topics related to employment, change and organisational effectiveness.