Steering a course in turbulent waters RCLDS initiated Victorian Residential Care Workforce Census ACWA Conference August 2012 Presented by: Glenys Bristow (Reference Group Member), Steven Smith (Centre for Excellence) & Edith Loch (DHS). Residential Care Learning & Development Strategy

Membership: Representatives from the 23 CSO’s in Victoria who provide residential care. Department of Human Services – Placement and Support Centre for Excellence in Child & Family Welfare Mix of rural and metropolitan, small, medium and large organisations and Aboriginal CSO representation RESIDENTIAL CARE LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY (RCLDS)

Aim: The development of a competent and appropriately trained residential care workforce that is supported to provide a high standard of care and to improve outcomes and life opportunities for children and young people in out of home care. Goals: The ongoing development & maintenance of a skilled and stable workforce Provision of high quality training, supervision and support to workers Development of appropriate pre-service and in-service qualifications relevant to the field Commitment to and development of a lifelong learning culture in the workplace

2001/2002 Victorian State Budget: $7.5 million of additional resources were allocated to improve residential care services for children & young people From this, $430,000 recurrent funding (now indexed to approx $520,000) was set aside to develop a training strategy to strengthen residential care services in recognition of the link between staff competency and client outcomes Management of the RCLDS strategy was contracted to the Centre for Excellence in Funding to the Centre allows for the employment of a full time RCLDS project leader and admin support RCLDS Funding

Professional Development in Therapeutic Care, Effective Conflict Management, Youth Mental Health First Aid, Sexualised Behaviours, Working with Aboriginal Communities, Supervision Skills and Autism training Supporting development of a skilled workforce through scholarships, completion bonds and funding to attend international speakers and conferences such as ACWA Delivering a state wide forum Resi ROCKS, held annually, attracting 300 residential care workers Residential care awards for excellence in the provision of residential care and leadership in the field Three year training plan which includes:

Measuring the impact of the RCLDS strategy on the skills of the Residential Care workforce Need to accurately record the profile and qualifications of the workforce Recent reviews of the Residential Care sector have highlighted issues of skills of the workforce Outcomes of this census may influence policy decisions and debate. Residential care workforce analysis

The Victorian Residential Care Workforce Census

A census methodology which aimed to collect data across all residential programs using an on-line survey Full participation All community service organisations who provide residential care programs participated in the study Each organisation provided responses for each region in which it delivers services A total of 34 responses to the census capturing data from organisations who provide residential care in multiple regions 8 Census Method

The online survey collected data on: workforce demographics workforce qualifications unit structure staff turnover and retention rate and use of agency relief staff The Census was completed by HR managers or program managers 9 Data Collection

Profile of the Victorian Residential Care Workforce

68% of workers are female 32% are male 11 Gender profile Proportion of Female and Male workers N=1665

60% of workers are aged years 49% of workers are under 35 years of age 46% are 35 to 54 years The age spread is similar for both genders In the main, workers are female, aged years 12 Age Spread Age distribution of residential care workers

Respondents were asked to provide information about three types of employees, defined as: Fulltime workforce a worker on a permanent contract, guaranteed 38 hours per week of employment and entitled to sick leave and leave loading Part-time workforce a worker with a guaranteed minimum hours, may range between 5 to 38 hours, entitled to sick leave and leave loading Flexible workforce a worker with no guarantee of ongoing employment where each contract is effectively short and fixed. (This included workers who are employed consistently over an ongoing period of time but who work varying hours per week as needed) Workforce Definitions

Total residential care workforce of 1665 positions delivering front line care. 26% of all workers are full time (n= 437) 19% are part time (n= 314) 55% are employed as flexible workers (n= 913) No marked differences across agencies of different size or in different regions 14 Workforce profile Contribution of Full time, Part time and Flexible workers N=1665

Use of Agency staff 62% of services use agency staff 38% do not ever use agency staff 18% of all services use agency workers more than 20 times a month that is, 34% of those services who use agency staff at all 15 Use of Agency Staff per Unit per Region 62% use Agency staff N=34

Qualifications of Victorian Residential Care Workforce

49% of full time staff currently hold the industry based qualification - Cert IV in Child Youth and Family Intervention The Industry Based Qualification Full time, Part time 51% are not Cert IV qualified 17 N=437 Full Time Industry Based Qualifications 45% of part time staff currently hold the industry based qualification - Cert IV in Child Youth and Family Intervention 45% are industry based qualified 54% are not Cert IV qualified Part Time Industry Based Qualifications N=314

Relevant Qualification Profile – Full Time 18 N=437 68% currently hold a relevant qualification 38% have a Cert IV only 30% hold relevant tertiary qualifications 19% Tertiary alone 11% Tertiary Plus Cert IV 8% are currently qualifying Only 24% do not hold an industry relevant qualification Relevant Qualifications – Full Time Workers 68% Qualified N=437

Relevant Qualification Profile – Part Time 19 N=437 57% currently hold a relevant qualification 33% have a Cert IV only 24% hold relevant tertiary qualifications 12% Tertiary alone 12% Tertiary plus Cert IV 7% are currently qualifying Only 36% do not hold an industry relevant qualification Relevant Qualifications – Part Time Workers 57% Qualified

20 N=437 76% of Full time staff hold or are obtaining relevant qualifications Relevant Qualifications – Full time staff 64% of Part time staff hold or are obtaining relevant qualifications Total Qualified N=314 Relevant Qualifications – Part time staff

Training for Qualification Full time and Part time staff Most of the full and part time workforce are employed already holding their qualifications About one quarter gain their qualifications after starting employment 24% - Full time staff train after employment 21% - Part time staff train after employment Qualified at Employment Qualified after being employed

Snapshot of the Full time and Part time workforce No marked difference in this profile between small, medium and large organisations or across DHS regions

Profiling the ‘Flexible’ Victorian Residential Care Workforce

24 The Industry Based Qualification Flexible workforce Less likely to hold the industry based qualification 32% of the Flexible workforce currently hold an industry based qualification - Cert IV in Child, Youth and family Intervention 68% do not hold or are not known to hold industry based qualifications N=913 Flexible staff qualifications 32% With industry based qualification 68% without industry based qualification

25 Further Research on Flexible workforce For almost half (30% of total) of those, their qualifications are not known to their employer Further research is required to understand the full qualification levels of the flexible workforce N=913 30% Qualification unknown 38% Not industry qualified Flexible Industry based qualifications

Workforce retention and longevity

27 Less than 20% turnover in full time and part time staff Around 15% of full time staff resigned Around 17% of part time staff resigned 76% of the workforce have been employed for less than 3 years Full Time staff turnover Part Time staff turnover

28 Flexible staff turnover

Way Forward

RCLDS established in 2002, at that time…….. The residential care sector had a reputation of the staff being poorly qualified and having a low commitment towards training or professional development No consistent approach to developing the skills and qualifications of the workforce Agency based training Little recognition of the specialised skill set required of the residential care worker Limited data about the demographics, skills and qualifications of the workforce High turn over of staff 30 Residential care workforce…the journey

Residential care specific qualification developed 65% of the fulltime and part time workforce have a relevant qualification Census finding: turn over of 15% in full time and 17% in part time and 27% in casual 870 residential care staff attended RCLDS training in 2011/12 Cross agency and sector training in Victoria Development of a learning culture in residential care sector 31 Resi workforce now…..

Developing individual reports to CSO’s and overall sector report Further research and analysis required to understand the nature of the flexible workforce and their use to manage demand and funding issues Analysis of the workforce survey data collected from individual residential workers at the 2012 Resi ROCKS forum 32 Next steps for workforce analysis

Workforce planning – individual CSO level and sector wide Recruitment and retention strategy Social marketing strategy RCLDS workforce training delivery Strategy for the flexible workforce Agency staff training strategy Integrate outcomes into 3 year RCLDS training strategy 33 How this may inform future planning

Thank you – Questions For more information about RCLDS visit the Centre’s website