Professor Greg Marston, Dr Robert Arcidiacono and Dr Arianna Gatta from UQ’s Centre for Policy Futures collaborated with Anglicare Southern Queensland to investigate the factors turning potential employees away from community care jobs.
Project lead Professor Marston said the workforce, which includes aged care, disability support, youth work and family services employees, remains significantly undervalued, despite being one of the fastest growing employment sectors in Australia.
“We found many people had strong motivations to contribute to community well-being but pay levels and casual contracts were factors that prevented this” Professor Marston said.
Research fellow Dr Arianna Gatta found it surprising the community care industry’s funding model was so under-resourced, considering the integral role care workers play in society and the high level of responsibility and interpersonal skills required for the job.
“You would never imagine hospitals, for example, having casual doctors on staff, but that’s the norm for community care,” Dr Gatta said.
The report presents a suite of innovative workforce strategies aimed at improving diversity, attraction and retention in the workforce.
