They won’t leave tomorrow

Aged Care Australia Association’s chief executive, Rod Young, highly doubts three out of four aged care workers will leave the sector tomorrow if the federal government does not address the wages gap.

Mr Young tells DPS News people need to be “careful” when interpreting surveys similar to Australian Nursing Federation’s (ANF) online survey, released last week.

“It is not in our experience that three out of four aged care workers will leave tomorrow or next year if they don’t get higher wages. I would be hesitant in accepting that as the intention of staff,” he says, adding it “may certainly be the intention” if reform is not made in the long term.

The survey’s main finding reveals 77% of respondents will leave the sector unless the wages gap is addressed.

The ANF launched the survey as part of its national ‘Because We Care’ campaign, aimed at fixing Australia’s under-resourced aged care sector.

While hundreds of aged care nursing and care staff are reportedly continuing to respond to the survey, last week’s results show a majority of the respondents claim they will leave the sector if their pay is not increased, 12% are unsure if they would leave and 10% claim they would not leave the sector.

“How can the sector possibly expect to recruit the 20,000 extra nursing staff needed to meet the growing demand of Australia’s ageing population if aged care nursing and care staff are being paid significantly less than what they would earn in other health settings?” ANF federal secretary, Lee Thomas, asks.

Mr Young adds there is “no doubt additional dollars would help” as people begin to recognise that, particularly in healthcare, employment numbers will need to treble in years to come.

According to Mr Young, given the pressures on the sector to find additional workers over the next 30 years, the government needs to recognise that the industry is under “considerable pressure”.

“The government needs to ensure those pressures on the provider are repaired. Employers need to feel more comfortable to committing to additional rises in pay,” he says.

Mr Young attempts to take a practical approach to the wage disparity issue surrounding aged care.

“There is no point in employers agreeing to a wage rise if the government is not going to step in.

“The reality is, even if we wanted to pay additional wages to staff, we have to be able to realistically look at the balance sheet; the profit and loss, and say ‘yes’ we can afford to pay our staff more. That’s reality,” he says.

Are you one of the 77% of aged care workers who claim they will leave the aged care sector if the wages gap is not addressed? Share your thoughts on this issue by commenting in the box below.