Juniper’s boost to aged care workforce
Western Australia aged care provider, Juniper, has been awarded for efforts to boost its workforce in response to a booming ageing population.
Vaughan Harding, Juniper chief executive, says the organisation will always be committed to supporting, developing and celebrating its workforce.
Juniper received the Aged and Community Services WA’s (ACSWA) Employer of Choice category at the 2015 Excellence in Care Awards, the peak body’s annual celebration of achievement among the state’s community benefit aged care providers.
The award highlights Juniper’s efforts to maximise the potential of its 1,600 strong workforce as well as its work to attract, train and retain skilled employees throughout Western Australia.
The organisation’s employee focused leadership and development programs were also highlighted as well as efforts to foster a strong, positive workplace culture.
Vaughan Harding, Juniper chief executive, says the organisation will always be committed to supporting, developing and celebrating its workforce.
“Our employees are our greatest asset and we have created new learning and development opportunities at Juniper to ensure the growth of effective, capable and fulfilled employees,” Mr Harding says.
“We are extremely proud to be recognised within the aged care sector as an Employer of Choice,” he adds.
Following successful negotiations last year, Juniper is now reportedly one of the highest paying aged care providers in the sector.
“This is another example of our commitment to acknowledge and reward our staff for their hard work and enables us to attract and retain the best people to care for our residents and clients,” Mr Harding says.
Juniper also received a high commendation for Innovation and Best Practice for two forward thinking projects that were designed to help develop a future aged care workforce to meet the challenges an ageing population.
The first project is an Inter-Professional Program taking place at Juniper Annesley residential care facility in Bentley. Here, real life clinical learning opportunities are created for Curtin University’s health science students, including future physiotherapists, speech pathologists and other allied health professionals who are supported by a growing team of mentors from among Juniper’s staff at the facility.
The Juniper Simulation Centre, also in Bentley, features the latest technology to simulate a home/residential care environment for students and care staff, bridging classroom learning and practical clinical scenarios; with Juniper’s retirement living residents donating their time to act as real life clients.
Scenarios carried out at the Centre can be recorded in real time and played back to classrooms to enable effective and reflective learning.
In 2014, Juniper achieved the State’s highest accolade for workplace health and safety, receiving WorkSafe’s Platinum Award.
The ACSWA Excellence in Care awards were presented at a gala event held at the Crown Entertainment Complex on 5 June 2015.
