older workers
Draft 3
Engaging and Retaining older workers in Rural Community Aged Care
The scope of this paper is to look at effective ways to engage and retain older workers to deliver quality community Aged care services in rural Australia. The ageing population has resulted in a necessity to recruit older workers to fill positions in all industries including the aged care sector. "We are in the midst of the most significant demographic shift in modern human history where populations across the globe are ageing” (Safework SA 2013, Age Friendly Workplace p2). For Uniting Care agencies in rural communities there are difficulties associated with employing and retaining Nurses. The average age of a Blue Care staff member within Queensland is forty-eight years old with the average age of Registered Nurses within the North Burnett is fifty-eight years. It may be a good thing that our workforce is older because it could place Uniting Care in a marketing advantage to better cater for the needs of older people. Personal experience indicates that older people like older people to care for them as they relate to them better. Some staff have not taken early retirement due to the global financial crisis and personal choice to continue to work for social reasons. People are living longer and if they retire early they may run out of money. There are some challenges associated with older employees for example information technology skills, keeping healthy and the need for flexible working arrangements. However, the value that older people bring to a community Aged Care service cannot be overlooked. We need to plan for the future to deliver quality Aged care in a persons’ place of choice.
In Australia the age for compulsory retirement was lifted in 2001 and then the Antidiscrimination Act was expanded to include age discrimination in 2004. Despite this fact there are many Australians continuing to retire early. Fiona Marsden’s storey Growth Industry: Releasing Mature Potential
Engaging and Retaining older workers in Rural Community Aged Care
The scope of this paper is to look at effective ways to engage and retain older workers to deliver quality community Aged care services in rural Australia. The ageing population has resulted in a necessity to recruit older workers to fill positions in all industries including the aged care sector. "We are in the midst of the most significant demographic shift in modern human history where populations across the globe are ageing” (Safework SA 2013, Age Friendly Workplace p2). For Uniting Care agencies in rural communities there are difficulties associated with employing and retaining Nurses. The average age of a Blue Care staff member within Queensland is forty-eight years old with the average age of Registered Nurses within the North Burnett is fifty-eight years. It may be a good thing that our workforce is older because it could place Uniting Care in a marketing advantage to better cater for the needs of older people. Personal experience indicates that older people like older people to care for them as they relate to them better. Some staff have not taken early retirement due to the global financial crisis and personal choice to continue to work for social reasons. People are living longer and if they retire early they may run out of money. There are some challenges associated with older employees for example information technology skills, keeping healthy and the need for flexible working arrangements. However, the value that older people bring to a community Aged Care service cannot be overlooked. We need to plan for the future to deliver quality Aged care in a persons’ place of choice.
In Australia the age for compulsory retirement was lifted in 2001 and then the Antidiscrimination Act was expanded to include age discrimination in 2004. Despite this fact there are many Australians continuing to retire early. Fiona Marsden’s storey Growth Industry: Releasing Mature Potential