.png){kind=small}
Aged Care
Australian aged care organisations are operating in a constrained and complex environment, balancing regulatory scrutiny under the Aged Care Quality Standards with the operational reality of workforce shortages, cultural misalignment, and HR compliance risk. For senior leaders, the question isn’t just about meeting minimum compliance obligations. It’s about embedding systems and structures that promote a sustainable, engaged, and quality-focused workforce, while staying within budget and regulatory guidelines.
At ANSON, we’ve worked across the aged care and community services sectors to provide recruitment and consulting services that do more than “fill roles” or “tick compliance boxes.” We help large providers reframe their workforce approach, integrating compliance, culture, and capability into their HR infrastructure from the ground up.
Compliance-First HR Systems: More Than Just Policies
A common area of risk we see is poorly integrated HR systems that treat compliance and culture as separate streams.
One large residential aged care provider approached ANSON after receiving a non-compliance notice during an audit. Although they had policies in place, there were no clear processes for performance reviews, onboarding, or incident response that aligned with their stated values or regulatory responsibilities under the Aged Care Quality Standards.
Implementation Steps:
-
We conducted a workforce capability assessment, identifying misalignments between job descriptions, actual tasks, and required competencies.
-
Updated their HR documentation (position descriptions, performance plans, and incident management protocols) to clearly map against the Aged Care Quality Standards.
-
Introduced a compliance-focused induction and supervisor-led onboarding process, with training tied to both practical care responsibilities and expected behaviours.
Strategic Recruitment Beyond ‘Warm Bodies’
Filling vacant roles under pressure can push organisations to prioritise “bums on seats” over long-term capability. But rushed hiring often results in increased turnover, reactive performance management, and poor alignment with care expectations.
Implementation Steps:
-
Shifted the focus from generic role requirements to values-based recruitment aligned with participant outcomes.
-
Aptitude assessments and structured interviews were standardised to shortlist candidates who aligned with cultural and behavioural expectations.
-
Site managers were trained to recognise soft-skill potential to support participants with complex behaviours, not just task completion.
Embedding a Culture of Accountability and Care
Even well-documented systems underperform if they aren’t genuinely lived — especially when cultural misalignment leads to tolerance of poor practice.
Implementation Steps:
-
Facilitated culture workshops with frontline and leader cohorts, co-designing a “service charter” grounded in dignity, responsibility, and teamwork.
-
Built KPIs for team leaders linked to both service outcomes and improvements in team engagement (e.g. staff NPS, peer feedback loops).
-
Provided management training in difficult conversations and performance boundary setting.
From Compliance to Capability
What we’ve seen time and again is this: Australian aged care providers who treat compliance, recruitment, and culture as one connected system perform stronger on every metric — regulatory, financial, and care quality.
Senior leaders don’t need flashy tech or expensive consultants to achieve this. They need practical frameworks that build capability while protecting their clients and organisation.
ANSON partners with aged care and disability providers to embed tailored, compliance-focused workforce systems that are fit-for-purpose in today’s regulatory climate. If you're rethinking your HR infrastructure and workforce strategy, we’re here to help.