The demand for aged care workers is set to double in the next 20 years as Australia’s ageing population grows and increasingly requires support and care in their own home, in the community, or in residential care.
The Aged & Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA) is working on solutions to attract and retain workers in aged care. With the second intake of the Aged Care Nursing Transition to Practice Program commencing in May, ACCPA has now launched a new campaign aimed at attracting new workers into aged care and keeping those already in the sector.
To highlight the essential workforce requirements to care for older Australians, ACCPA’s Discovering Aged Care Careers (DACC) campaign aims to address the gap in the workforce by drawing people to a career in the aged care sector through a series of short videos.
ACCPA CEO Tom Symondson said the DACC campaign addresses some of the ‘big questions’ about working in aged care and attempts to bust some myths about the industry.
The videos focus on three aged care professionals, all of whom are successful in their own careers. They answer some of these questions in their interviews.
“There is a critical shortage of RNs in aged care, something which has been well documented since before the pandemic, so every chance we get we want to encourage new entrants,” Mr Symondson says.
“With the number of people requiring aged care set to double by 2050, we as a sector need to encourage more workers to take that step and explore a career in aged care.
“We want to show through the DACC campaign that aged care can be an enormously rewarding career with many opportunities to work in different settings. ACCPA, along with aged care providers, is working to make the aged care sector an employer of choice.”
The videos highlight the employment opportunities and the range of career pathways on offer in aged care. Their personal and professional stories of have been told to demonstrate the opportunities for career longevity and upskilling.
With a broad national audience in mind, the goal of the DACC campaign is to encourage current and prospective workers to learn about employment opportunities and career pathways, irrespective of gender, age, employment status or locality.
The DACC marketing campaign will be supported by social media marketing in the form of Facebook and YouTube advertisements and will be further supported by Google Advertisements.
Further details on the DACC campaign including a supporter toolkit, is available on ACCPA’s Workforce Hub, a platform dedicated to the development of the sector’s workforce. The Workforce Hub provides information on career options, training and education and a library of resources.
This campaign is a major step in the promotion of aged care careers and is in line with ACCPA’s overall workforce attraction and retention strategies to attract future workforce by increasing awareness and understanding.
The DACC campaign is breaking down barriers and stereotypes associated with jobs and careers within the aged care sector, offering all Australians the opportunity to build a meaningful career while making a positive impact on the lives of others.
