What does workforce conditions mean?
Workforce conditions refer to the range of factors that influence the working environment and employment experience of individuals within an organisation or sector. They span both the daily workplace reality, such as safety and workload, and legal employment terms like compensation, work schedules, and leave entitlements. They also include access to training and development opportunities that support skills, confidence and competence to adapt and grow while working successfully within the aged care sector. [1]
How are workforce conditions barriers to rights-based care?
Chronic workforce staffing issues, task-based and risk-averse practices, system challenges and limited or inadequate training in human rights, dementia care, person-centred care and other relevant areas are key barriers in embedding a rights-based approach in aged care. [2-9]
Chronic understaffing, high staff turnover, high workload and time pressures continue to limit opportunities for delivering flexible care that upholds the rights of older people. [2] These conditions further reduce the capacity of staff to engage with residents, provide adequate explanations or support informed decision-making. [3, 5, 6]
Task-oriented care and high workloads lead staff to prioritise task completion and prioritisation of safety instead of older people’s preferences and needs. This diminishes dignity, autonomy, and opportunities for choice and control. [3, 4]
Fragmented systems, highly regulated practice, communication failures and poor accountability contribute to challenges that prioritise efficiency over quality of care. These compromise the protection and promotion of rights and reinforce reactive, incident-driven responses rather than proactive rights-based planning. [5, 6, 8]
Limited understanding and lack of training on human rights and rights-based care approaches, person-centred care, dementia care, supported decision-making and diverse populations weaken the ability of staff to uphold residents’ rights in practice. [4, 7-9]
How are workforce conditions enablers of rights-based care?
Improving workforce conditions in the following ways can help support the implementation of rights-based care. This includes stable staffing, adequate staffing ratios and targeted training in human rights principles, enhance the capacity of staff to support individuals’ preferences, decision-making and wellbeing. [10-17]
Understanding the needs of the workforce, the contextual factors affecting workforce retention and relevant strategies to retain staff are critical to improve retention and stability of the workforce. Improving employment in the aged care sector requires both system-wide and organisational-level action and governance that consider workers’ health and rights in the system. [11] A stable and healthy workforce will enhance the capacity of staff to support older people’s preferences, decision-making and wellbeing. [10, 11] Read more about workforce retention.
Embedding human rights principles within education and training frameworks in both system and organisational levels is critical to building awareness and competence among all aged care staff. This enables staff to recognise, respond to and prevent breaches of dignity, autonomy and informed consent, supporting more consistent delivery of rights-based care. [13, 16]
Workforce capacity building, including targeted training in dementia care, ethics and communication, enables staff to apply principles of dignity, empowerment, participation and privacy in care decision‑making. [14] This supports more holistic and inclusive approaches to care, ensuring that older people’s preferences and boundaries are respected in all aspects of care delivery. [15-17]
What can be done?
Improve workforce staffing levels and stability
Organisations and aged care leaders:
- Collect and review own data on workforce patterns. Identify patterns, needs, challenges and develop locally contextual retention strategies.
- Develop and implement policies that respect and protect workers’ rights.
The evidence:
- Detailed data, along with reports and summary datasets from sources collected focused on three key areas: resident care needs, nurse staffing levels, and residents’ rights and quality‑of‑care indicators. [5]
- It is important that the Government prioritises the health and safety rights of workers. An explicit policy focus is required to ensure alignment between aged care legislation and work health and safety frameworks, so that worker rights are consistently protected and upheld. [11]
Ensure staff are trained on human rights approaches and principles are applied in care delivery
Organisations and aged care leaders:
- Provide training on human rights approaches across all levels of care in the organisation. Develop organisational processes that translate rights‑based standards into guidance for everyday activities such as dementia care.
The evidence:
- Workforce training in human rights, communication and cultural competence enables the delivery of care that supports resident choice and autonomy. [10, 17]
Ensure tailored communication and supportive relationship practices
Care teams:
- Tailor communication approaches to individuals and provide information in accessible formats. This may include the use of images or any visual support with clear and simple explanations or materials in different languages.
- Focus on strengthening supportive, relationship-based practices by seeking training in relational care, that is, prioritising genuine engagement with older people rather than primarily focusing on task completion.
The evidence:
- Accessible communication and supportive relationships enable effective decision‑making in residential aged care. Tailored communication approaches improve understanding and allow residents to make informed choices. [2]
Want to learn more?
Learn more about the Australian aged care workforce here.
Read these documents about workforce stability and retention:
- Australia’s aged care workforce crisis: Challenges and what’s being done
- Who cares? Sustaining our aged care workforce
- Workforce planning and management with tips to improve workforce retention and stability.
Explore this suite of training and resources from the Australian Government and this training checklist for aged care workers and volunteers.
Explore ARIIA’s Workforce retention topic to learn about the factors and strategies for retention especially in the Australian context and check the short course on Retaining workers in aged care.
Check Dementia Australia’s professional development and training courses for organisations and workers.