Northcott, a large disability service provider in metro and regional NSW, ACT and Queensland, faced significant difficulties finding skilled support staff to meet their diverse service demands. The move to a more casual workforce in the disability industry has increased competition among providers, making it hard for Northcott to secure staff and maintain continuity of care for their customers.
Kim Davis, General Manager of Operations, says, "When you compete with other organisations, it makes it difficult to cover last-minute shifts." She further explains, "If the pool of support workers is low, it also puts additional stress on our permanent staff; so overtime increases, and the staff start to get tired."
The Hireup partnership in motion
Joining Hireup for Providers has proven crucial in tackling these challenges for Northcott, including managing the rostering of support staff for extended shifts and sleepovers, and quickly filling last-minute shifts.
"The good thing with Hireup is that once the team has chosen their preferred staff, they can build that relationship and they can come in and fill the last-minute shifts," says Beverley Allen, Accommodation Manager at Northcott.
Kim says this is crucial, as “continuity of support” and “having familiar staff is very important to our customers, something we have been able to manage through the relationship with Hireup.”
Northcott's team has enthusiastically embraced the Hireup for Providers system, finding it "all very positive." They appreciate the simplicity of having a dedicated account manager at Hireup, streamlining processes for their service coordinators.
Cultivating a shared workforce and ethos
In a notable success story, Northcott hired a Hireup staff member on a permanent part-time basis after she accrued 350 hours with them. This transition has been smooth, with positive relationships established both with the customers and within the team.
"The customers and team have a good relationship with her which is great," says Kim.
Northcott feels that the Hireup support workers they use are “an extension of the Northcott team” and customers are responding well.
"We have another of our sites where the customers have been requesting a particular Hireup staff member and that’s been working well as he’s been willing to come in and pick up some short shifts which have been difficult to fill. He has a good relationship with customers, and they are always asking "can he come back tomorrow” which is extremely good."
The partnership between Northcott and Hireup has not only addressed critical staffing challenges but has also fostered a shared ethos focused on enhancing service delivery and ensuring continuity of care for customers.
"It helps to get similar people in ethos, morals, and ethics. I think the expectations Hireup place on its team are the same as Northcott, and you don’t often see that in other providers. So, that has been a real blessing." said Kim.
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Learn how registered NDIS and My Aged Care Providers around Australia use Hireup to grow their support workforce.
