Aged Care Workforce

Tuesday TalkAbout is Returning

Andrew C Wood Aged Care Workforce, Employment Agents, Employment Law, Employment Services, Governance, Health Workforce, Independent Contracting, Labour Hire Licensing, Privacy 11 Comments

Hooray! The veil has been lifted on the keenly anticipated autumn collection of Tuesday TalkAbout, which features four webinars on essential topics for recruitment and staffing professionals.

New Inclusions for Extended Discussion

We’ve updated the engagement design to include an extended Q&A session, when you can ask the questions that you’ve been wanting to ask and we’ll see if we can put you on the right path to getting the information you need.

We’ll also be providing prep materials to registrants on the Friday before the webinar so that you can join in, already having a basic understanding of the topic we’re discussing and so that you can formulate questions specifically tailored to your interests.

You can even join in discussion, before or after the webinar, via one of our two moderated LinkedIn forums so that you can follow through on questions that are of particular interest to you.

Finally, for webinar attendees, we’re including a post-webinar 15 minute complimentary phone chat, when you can raise those “quick questions” that you weren’t able to raise in the public session. Appointments do need to be made via the WorkAccord website, and the booking “window” will be open only in the week of the webinar (Mon to Fri) whilst appointments are available.

Autumn Collection:

Independent Contracting On-Hire: Where to from here? (29 March 2022)

The Australian High Court’s recent decisions in CFMMEU v Personnel Contracting and ZG Operations Australia Pty Ltd v Jamsek have certainly NOT made life easier for on-hire agencies who, overnight, may have discovered that workers whom they thought were their contractors are, in fact, their employees.

So, what can you do about that? You plan your service model restructure – that’s what you do. But there are plenty of questions to be answered as you set about doing that.

You can find out more about the webinar and register via the Eventbrite portal here.

Labour Hire Licensing Five Years On: What we know and still need to know. (26 April 2022)

Since 2017, we’ve been learning to live with four separate licensing schemes. What have we learnt and what do we still need to know?

Join us as we examine the performance of the four state and territory schemes and examine some of their more difficult aspects – taking a closer look at difference at the difference between labour providers who need a licence and mere “intermediaries” who don’t.

We’ll talk about:

  • the Victorian extensions
  • the worker exemptions
  • the data on licence conditions, refusals and cancellations
  • the prosecution cases so far – who is getting prosecuted and why
  • the challenges of regulatory over-reach in a federal system

We’ll talk about avoidance; how you might detect it; and what you need to do about it.

You can find out more about the webinar and register via the Eventbrite portal here.

Talking Privacy: What recruiters need to know (3 May 2022)

It’s Privacy Awareness Week. So what better time to schedule a privacy refresher for recruiters, whose day-to-day work involves the handling of large amounts of personal information ?

In this session we’ll be looking at the different privacy frameworks that apply to recruitment operations – especially those using cloud-based technologies, artificial intelligence, and offshore processing or sourcing.

We’ll talk about:

  • what is really “necessary” and how necessity operates to limit the type of information you can collect, use or disclose
  • ID scanning
  • data breach notification
  • what case determinations are telling us
  • responsibilities as a contracted service provider to government agencies
  • privacy impact assessments – when and why you need to conduct them

You can find out more about the webinar and register via the Eventbrite portal here.

Care & Support Sector Workforce & Governance Reform: What it means for recruitment & staffing agencies (31 May 2022)

The Care & Support Sector (Aged Care, NDIS & Veterans Support) is undergoing significant workforce and governance reform. What is going on and what does it mean for recruitment & staffing agencies? Will it be business as usual, or will the changes affect the way you need to operate?

In this webinar, we’ll be reporting on the state of the reforms and examining the role of recruitment & staffing agencies as “facilitators of care”.

We’ll ask whether there still scope for “all care, no responsibility” service models, and start to explore the changes you may need to be making to your agency’s operations and networks.

You can find out more about the webinar and register via the Eventbrite portal here.

Aged Care Royal Commission: Recommendation 89 – “heartening”!

Andrew C Wood Aged Care Workforce Leave a comment

Working my way through the recently released Aged Care Royal Commission’s Final Report into Aged Care Quality & Safety, It was encouraging to read the recommendations for a rights-based approach to safe and quality aged care for people receiving or seeking care and for informal care-givers.

A rights-based approach recognises an entitlement to safe and quality care, placing the care recipient at the centre – as more than a passive subject, who might be expected to be grateful if they receive care, and agreeably accepting if they don’t. It is empowering and, whilst still recognising that we might be dependent on others for our care needs, lifts us out of the sort of relational dependency that can, too often, erode hope and lead to despondency. So that was good.

What I was also hoping to find, was any recommendation for greater recognition of aged care workers’ rights to sustainable employability, balancing the well-being and job requirements of aged care workforce members,* including rights to skills and career development, support, continuity, communication, reasonable staffing ratios, and a right to be respected and valued as a member of a vital and caring workforce.

Maybe these rights are taken as givens – so obvious that they don’t need to be mentioned. But I’m not so sure.

It seems to me that there may be appreciative and relational aspects to aged care workforce development which may be difficult to grasp because they are not always easy to articulate, and even less easy to measure. There is a need for aged care workforce assessment and development that doesn’t always start with, “The problem with the workforce is that…” . The problems may be real; but the solutions might sometimes be found in a different framing.

I was therefore heartened to read Commissioner Brigg’s recommendation (rec. 89) of a requirement for aged care providers’ governing bodies to adopt and implement a plan to manage and support staff training, professional development and continuous learning, staff feedback and engagement, and team building. And to see that it gets done quickly, the Commissioner proposed a July 2021 deadline.

I’m looking forward to reading the Government’s response. I hope they take it up. It’s a fair starting point. I’d like to see it elevated into an aged care workforce “right”. It’s one that would benefit everobody.

Andrew C. Wood

  • See BSI Standards PD ISO/TR 30406:2017.

WorkAccord’s Autumn “Tuesday TalkAbout” Programme: Healthcare Workforce Recruitment & Staffing Focus

Andrew C Wood Aged Care Workforce, Bigger Pictures, Collaborative Practice, Employment Agents, Employment Services, Health Workforce, Locum, Procurement, Recruitment, Webinar Leave a comment

Autumn TT promoIn WorkAccord’s Summer series of Tuesday TalkAbouts, we introduced the concept of “waypoints” as those points on a journey where we can pause, take stock, and choose the direction we will follow for the next stage. As the COVID-19 pandemic response has rapidly escalated, it seems that we might have rushed through several of those waypoints and might now be asking, “What comes next?”

Many within the healthcare recruitment and staffing sector are experiencing a sense of considerable uncertainty, which may become costly. For some, it has been a case of having been so busy that there has not been time to reflect on what has happened. For others, things have gone unnervingly quiet.

In our Autumn series of Tuesday TalkAbouts, we will be looking at points of continuity and change for healthcare recruitment & staffing professionals and asking, “What does it now take to be Leaders in the World of Work?”

We will also be working throughout this series to develop the Tuesday TalkAbout format to provide participants with an enhanced range of on-line/off-line and synchronous/asynchronous learning opportunities and resources. We’ll be keeping the free on-demand webinars while developing the live sessions to provide more interaction and opportunity for discussion.

I’m delighted, therefore, to extend to all a warm invitation to participate in this exciting collaborative project.

Our Autumn programme of seven free webinars is outlined below.

1. Platforms (21/04/2020)

Our first Tuesday TalkAbout presents an “under the hood” look at Recruitment Platforms for Recruitment & Staffing Professionals.

What are they? Where do they fit in the classification of recruitment & staffing services? How do we “read” them? What are some of the opportunities and risks associated with their use?

2. A Healthcare Workforce that Nobody “Owns” (28/04/2020)

A healthcare workforce is a complex, multi-actor (multi-nodal) system that possibly nobody “owns”.

What are its governance challenges? What do these challenges mean for stakeholders, including Recruitment & Staffing Professionals aspiring to be Leaders in the World of Work? How can they engage more effectively with the workforce to enhance the value of the contribution they make?

3. Healthcare Worker Engagement Models (5/05/2020)

Healthcare worker engagement models come in many different forms.

What models of healthcare worker engagement are most relevant for Recruitment & Staffing Professionals? How can they distinguish between different models to choose the ones that are the most suitable? What challenges do procurement approaches pose to the successful engagement of health workers with their workforce? How can Recruitment & Staffing Professionals meet those challenges?

4. Aged Care Workforce Update (12/05/2020)

The Royal Commission Into Aged Care Quality & Safety has been running since October 2018.

What progress has been made so far? Who making submissions? What themes are emerging that will be significant for Recruitment & Staffing Professionals working in the Aged Care sector? What will happen next? And how can we make a submission?

5. Telemedicine & Recruitment (19/05/2020)

Social distancing measures under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic presented many challenges to the way we have traditionally thought healthcare and health workforce recruitment should be practised.

What are the consequences for healthcare workforce recruitment and for Recruitment & Staffing Professionals working in the healthcare sector? In this Tuesday TalkAbout we will review some of the current literature and take a look at some recent practice developments in the field of Telemedicine.

6. Collaborative Supply Models: Concept (26/05/2020)

Collaborative Supply Models or “Networks” may provide useful answers to many of the challenges presently facing healthcare workforce structure and governance.

What form could they take? What role might Recruitment & Staffing Professionals working in the healthcare sector play in their development? In this Tuesday TalkAbout, we’ll look at some of the collaborative supply or network models that have been developed and deployed in Australia and overseas. We will begin to explore how they might evolve to create new opportunities for Recruitment & Staffing Professionals responding to a disrupted workforce environment.

7. Collaborative Supply Models: Topical Challenges (2/06/2020)

In this Tuesday TalkAbout, we’ll build on the concept of a Collaborative Supply Model which we developed In the previous session for Recruitment & Staffing Professionals working in the healthcare sector. We’ll focus on four topical challenges:

  • Candidate connection & protection
  • Competition
  • Risk & liability
  • Governance

You can register for this webinar here.

Let’s talk again soon!

Andrew C. Wood

 

 

 

 

Tuesday TalkAbout Returns with a Health Workforce Staffing & Recruitment Focus

Andrew C Wood Aged Care Workforce, Employment Agents, Health Workforce, Recruitment, Webinar Leave a comment

Slide1

Over the past couple of months we’ve all been affected by social isolation and lockdown. We’ve been learning new ways of working and new methods of getting things done. There have been signs that it’s been coming for a while, with recent Health Service tenders calling for submisisons on platforms, networks, and technologies to facilitate the process of assembling and managing a Health Workforce.

So, our first Tuesday TalkAbout in WorkAccord;s Autumn  2020 series will kick off with an “under the hood” look at Recruitment Platforms for Health WorkForce Staffing Professionals. What are they? Where do they fit in the classification of recruitment & staffing services? What are some of the opportunities and risks associated with their use?

I hope you’ll join us for our free ZOOM webinar at 8:30 am AEST on Tuesday 21 April 2020 when we’ll commence our 7 week discussion of Health Workforce topics.

And for those who are unable to make it, don’t worry. The webinar will be recorded and made available free and on demand for up to two weeks following the presentation.

You can register here or copy thand paste the link below in your browser https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_IaYSqLjeR1C9Zm6a_iuOpQ

Let’s talk again soon.

 

Andrew C. Wood

Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality & Safety seeking submissions. Might the recruitment & staffing sector bring something fresh to the table?

Andrew C Wood Aged Care Workforce, Employment Agents, Employment Services, Health Workforce, Procurement, Recruitment 1 Comment

Aged Care CommissionThe Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality & Safety continues to seek submissions to its December 2019 Consultation Paper.  Submissions can now be made until the end of April 2020.

The  January closing date, as originally proposed, was awful, with many people distracted by holidays, bushfires, storms, floods and return to schol.  But the Royal Commission has recently indicated that it will accept submisisons until the end of April. So, there might still be time to engage!

It would be marvellous to hear what contribution the recruitment and staffing sector could make to the design of a more effective aged care workforce.

That’s because one of the key questions on which submisisons are being sought is:

How could the aged care and health systems work together to deliver care which better meets the complex health needs of older people, including dementia care as well as palliative and end of life care? What are the best models for these forms of care?

It’s an important question. Sadly, the Consultation Paper puts it in the context of numerous system deficiencies.

[The current system] struggles to attract and retain sufficient numbers of skilled, knowledgeable and competent staff (p.3).

…low levels of clinical staff and personal carers in residential care and poor interfaces with the health system mean that some people may not receive the level of nursing, allied health and personal care services they need and would otherwise have had access to within the community or from the health system. (p.13).

The majority of staff are personal care workers rather than nurses or allied health professionals.  (p.14).

The delivery of services to rural and remote geographical regions in Australia is complex and differs for every community. It is impacted by multiple socioeconomic factors and the physical environment, such as the high cost of goods, utilities, transport, fuel, food and vehicles. There is often limited access to most government services and a shortage of staff to support those services. (p.18).

I reckon it would make a huge difference to address the challenge of designing a better aged care workforce from the perspective of appreciating the resources we do have. And in that context, it would be marvellous to hear about the solutions that innovative and resourceful staffing & recruitment professionals could suggest!

So, I’d like urge the recruitment and staffing sector to engage with the questions that are being asked and see if there’s something fresh that can be brought to the table – befitting “Leaders in the World of Work”.

How about it?

 

Andrew C. Wood