Effective workforce management: Tackling challenges for NDIS-registered providers

As an NDIS registered provider, you know precisely how challenging it can be to find and retain a qualified workforce of support workers. It’s time-consuming and often expensive. 

Our latest research highlights a critical issue: 51% of providers cite balancing financial sustainability with the development of a quality workforce as the main hurdle to growing their operations.

This challenge is further amplified by the makeup of the workforce in the aged care and disability support sectors, where casual employees constitute 22% of the staff. Managing a varied team of casual, part-time, and full-time employees brings unique challenges that demand innovative approaches.

In this article, you’ll discover:

• An in-depth look at the common challenges faced by providers.
• Actionable insights into effective workforce management.
• A comprehensive checklist to help you assess and refine your support worker management and workforce planning strategies.

Recruitment and administration

NDIS-registered providers are highly dependent on the expertise of their workforce to deliver high-quality service to NDIS participants. Our latest survey found that recruitment, training, and retention are barriers to growth and long-term sustainability for many providers. 

Finding high-quality, consistent support staff for your participants is a challenging feat. It starts with identifying suitable candidates with the skills, qualifications and experience to support your participants, and the challenges go on: 

• Identifying candidates with the requisite skills, qualifications, and experience.
• Conducting thorough background checks and verifying qualifications.
• Providing essential training.
• Managing often high turnover rates.
• Offering competitive pay and benefits to attract and retain top talent.
• Onboarding new staff to ensure compliance with NDIS policies and procedures, while also familiarising them with specific participant needs.

These administrative processes involved in managing a casual pool of workers are significant, taking up valuable time and money. 

Hireup for Providers offers a comprehensive solution to these challenges. Our platform serves as a shared workforce management tool, providing access to pre-vetted employees — not contractors. We handle the heavy lifting, so all you need to do is post a job and fill a shift. Support workers are paid directly by Hireup at a competitive rate. We manage payroll, super, tax, and workers' compensation insurance for you. There’s no need for lengthy onboarding processes or to verify documents and qualifications; Hireup does it for you. 

Scheduling and rostering

Support work is not like stacking shelves at the grocery store; when a support worker cancels a shift at the last minute, a participant is left without the support and care they rely on. Every day we speak with providers who are struggling to access workers with the skills they need when they need them. 

Our latest report found that 41% of care providers have difficulty managing shift scheduling, last-minute changes, and addressing cancellations and no-shows, and it’s no wonder. The nature of short-term contracts and casual employment contributes to a transient workforce, where over half of support workers hold multiple jobs, leading to frequent conflicts in scheduling.

Matching support workers with participants

Successfully matching support workers with participants involves more than just aligning schedules; it requires a careful balance of skills and personal preferences. 

Participants with complex needs require workers who are not only skilled but have received specific training to handle those needs with care, diligence, and dignity. Furthermore, cultural and personal preferences play a significant role in ensuring participants feel comfortable with their assigned workers.

Maintaining coverage 

Over a third of NDIS-registered providers report utilising overtime to manage resourcing issues. While it’s a short-term solution, it has long-term drawbacks, impacting job satisfaction and risking burnout. Unfortunately, it’s a common issue, with more than half of disability care providers reporting difficulty maintaining consistent staffing levels. 

According to a 2023 report by National Disability Services (NDS), 82% of disability organisations received requests for support they could not fulfil. Solving these problems effectively is crucial not only for maintaining quality but also for growing your services. By improving workforce management and ensuring reliable support, providers can enhance their reliability, strengthen their reputation, and achieve greater financial stability.

Training and specialised skills

For disability providers, ensuring that support workers are well-trained is crucial but can be a complex and time-consuming challenge. It requires not only foundational knowledge but also specialised skills to meet complex participant needs effectively.

At Hireup, we address these training challenges head-on by partnering with industry experts to develop a suite of tailored, interactive modules. 

Our training program includes:

• Foundational Modules: Five essential courses that every active Hireup support worker completes, covering everything from working safely to preventing abuse and neglect.
• Specialised Modules: Advanced training for workers providing specialised support, including health and medication management, complex daily support tasks, and behaviour management.

Additionally, all workers at Hireup for Providers are pre-verified as having completed the NDIS Worker Orientation Module by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, along with the foundational and specialised modules. This ensures they meet the NDIS Code of Conduct requirements from the outset, significantly easing a major compliance burden for providers.

Retention and turnover

The disability sector attracts workers who seek meaningful impact and career opportunities, but retaining them is challenging. 

Research, including studies by the Workforce Innovation and Development Institute (WIDI) and the Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government (BETA), highlights a concerning trend: approximately one in four disability workers leave their jobs annually, resulting in a turnover rate roughly three times higher than the overall Australian workforce. This high turnover, which includes a significant portion of the NDIS workforce, underscores a pressing need for more stable employment conditions in the sector.

Key factors contributing to this high turnover rate include the lack of permanent positions, superior working conditions in other sectors, and prevalent staff burnout. BETA's findings specifically point to heavy workloads as a primary driver of low retention, with 43% of workers feeling burnt out frequently. 

Effective supervision and support are critical in addressing these issues, as they provide workers with clear feedback and recognition, enhancing job satisfaction and reducing turnover. By improving these areas, providers can offer greater job continuity, which not only benefits the workers but also ensures higher quality care for participants and more stable operational costs for providers.

Incidents, health, and safety

NDIS-registered providers are diligent about many things, but none more than compliance and safety. As a provider, you’re committed to ensuring the safety of both your support workers and participants. To do this, you likely regularly undertake risk assessments, implement appropriate safety measures and manage ongoing training on infection control, emergency procedures, and manual handling. 

All active Hireup workers have completed five Hireup training modules to ensure they can safely and confidently provide the support your participants require.

Casual workforces like those common in the aged care and disability support space come with more complex administrative processes than most. Managing work-related injuries, ensuring compliance with workplace health and safety (WHS) regulations and addressing safety concerns become more complicated when a workforce is transient. 

Hireup for Providers eases the administrative burden by: 

• Providing you access to a workforce made up of employees, not contractors 
• Managing workers’ compensation insurance 
• Managing payroll for support workers 
• Making it easy to list the specific support requirements of a shift 

You’ll quickly find the right worker for your participants using Hireup for Providers. We provide all the information you need to determine if a worker and participant will be a good match. Each worker’s profile lists the following information: 

• COVID vaccination status
• Location and willingness to travel 
• Support offered 
• Complex and specialised support offered 
• Community feedback 
• Support preferences 
• Qualifications 
• Modules completed through Hireup 

Before you book a new worker for a shift, you’ll be able to have a 15-minute introductory call or meeting, either on the phone, via video call, or face-to-face, to assess their suitability. 

Communication 

At Hireup, we understand the importance of clear communication in delivering quality care. Managing a diverse workforce of support workers comes with challenges, particularly when it involves privacy, quick communication, and cultural and linguistic diversity. Delays and language barriers can prevent support workers and providers from delivering the best care.

Our Hireup for Providers platform addresses these challenges effectively. It features a secure chat tool that allows quick and safe communication. This tool allows providers and support workers to connect easily and efficiently, ensuring that information is exchanged promptly and securely.

Bringing down language barriers

Speaking the same language not only breaks down language barriers and minimises miscommunication but can also provide an additional level of choice and control to your participants. Hireup for Providers workers have their languages listed in their profiles, making it simple to match workers and participants who speak the same language. 

What is Hireup for Providers?

Hireup for Providers is a unique workforce solution that makes accessing the workforce you need to keep your business running smoothly easy. Our platform allows you to post a job, find candidates, assess their suitability, and book a shift.