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Queensland workforce activities

Workforce capacity is a very important issue for our sector. It is the most frequently raised area of concern by NDS members, and as such, NDS Queensland has engaged in a number of activities to address workforce capacity. These activities include:

• participating in the National Workforce Project;
• recruitment of a Workforce Development Officer for the Queensland Division of NDS;
• developting a Disability Trainers' Network; and
• the NDS/Rimfire benchmarking pilot (which involved Queensland members across all service types).

Career expos

There are a variety of career expo events coming up throughout 2009, which NDS members might want to consider getting involved with, including:

8 and 9 May 2009
National Careers and Employment Expo 2009
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre

22 and 23 May 2009
National Careers and Employment Expo 2009
Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre

10 June 2009
National Careers and Employment Expo 2009
Townsville Entertainment centre

18 and 19 July 2009
Tertiary Studies Expo 2009
Brisbane Showgrounds

21 July 2009
Sunshine Coast Careers Expo 2009
Tanawha – Kings Champions Centre

26 and 27 July 2009
Gold Coast Careers Expo 2009
Carrara Indoor Stadium

28 July 2009
Toowoomba Chronicle Careers Expo 2009
Clive Berghofer Centre

10 August 2009
Townsville Careers Expo 2009
Ignatius Park College

 

Disability Trainers' Network

NDS Queensland would like to invite Training Officers from Member Organisations to participate in a new Disability Trainers' Network. The Network met for the first time at the NDS office in Lutwyche on Tuesday, 12 February and will continue to meet on a monthly basis.

The first meeting was a great success bringing together full-time trainers from a range of organisations. At this stage, future meetings are scheduled to take place in Brisbane, but Training Officers from outside South-East Queensland may be involved by teleconference or may register their interest in receiving meeting minutes.

Two key issues to be addressed in the first half of 2008 will be:

We anticipate that by sharing resources and working together, we can avoid duplication of effort, increase the uptake of traineeships and increase the sector's access to public training funds.

For more information or to get involved contact Valmae Rose on (07) 3357 4188 or via his email (valmae.rose@nds.org.au).

 

Outcomes from the NDS/Rimfire benchmarking pilot 2007

During 2007, NDS Queensland commissioned an independent review of workforce capacity by Rimfire Resources. The review included data from forty Queensland disability services (employing more than 2,000 Queenslanders in total) and examined:

• workforce demographics;
• salary reviews;
• human resource management practices;
• benefi t/salary packaging information;
• recruitment practices; and
• retirement impacts.

A further twenty nine of the respondents provided data on:

• salary benchmark ranges;
• the numbers of employees; and
• their location and region.

Across both components of the review, respondents reflected on the full range of direct support service types (as per Commonwealth State and Territory Disability Agreement definitions) in both metropolitan and regional locations.

The review found that the majority of direct support staff were employed on a part-time or casual basis. This was driven primarily by client need and the fact that access to agency staff is limited, particularly in regional areas.

More than 67% of participating services indicated they would be increasing the size of their workforce. It is unclear whether the intent to employ more staff is a response to the increased demand for direct support, the need to find alternate income streams to supplement funding, or to build capacity to respond to the compliance and reporting obligations imposed by funding bodies.

The average turnover rate for participating services was 21%, with the majority of turnover being voluntary (83.4%). The average timeframe to replace staff is four to six weeks. However, this varies depending on the role and geographical location. For example, two organisations were unable to fill direct professional roles at all and a further seven organisations took more than eight weeks to fill these roles. 72% of organisations "often" or "always" have difficulty recruiting appropriately trained staff.

The skill level required for disability support is high with respondents reporting:

• 50.5% of their staff hold a Certificate III level qualification;
• 15.1% hold a Certificate level IV level qualification;
• 6.4% hold a Diploma level qualification;
• 15.5% hold a Degree level qualification; and
• 2.3% hold a post graduate qualification.

There was significant variance in budget allocated to training from respondents, with over 30% of organisations allocating less than 1% of revenue or income to staff training.

The base salaries in disability support reported from participant services averaged:

• $37,200 for general support staff;
• $42,231 for senior support staff;
• $46,971 for support service coordinators;
• $58,172 for service managers;
• $42,127 for job placement consultants;
• $45,527 for team leader job placement consultants; and
• $36,797 for administration officers.

NDS Queensland has since recommended that Queensland Government address workforce capacity issues by:

1. implementing funding arrangements that support the attraction and retention of appropriately skilled staff, with training and development, remuneration and working conditions that reflect relevant industry benchmarks and work value
2. initiate a joint task force on the removal of red tape and micro-management of funding arrangements

The full remuneration survey results, including a breakdown by industry group, metropolitan versus regional locations, revenue and number of employees are included in the NDS and Rimfire Workforce Capacity Review Report 2007.

More information is available to NDS Members. Contact the NDS Queensland State Manager, Valmae Rose via email (valmae.rose@nds.org.au) or phone (07) 3357 4188 for more information.

 

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Last updated: 6 April 2009