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At the recent Budget 2022 announcement, Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg did not address the issue of aged care wages, leading powerful voices in the sector to call on the government to commit to funding the Fair Work Commission’s work value wages decision.
But the voices left out of this important conversation so central to aged care are the voices of the aged care workers themselves.
HelloCare has heard from more than 250 aged care workers about what they earn and how they feel about their remuneration, which is broadly accepted as being too low – a view shared by the royal commission.
The seed for this article was planted on HelloCare’s Aged Care Worker Support Group on Facebook, when a member asked how much her fellow aged care workers are paid.
Aged care
People are often reluctant to expose the terms of their employment. There is a stigma attached to talking about money, and sometimes it’s a condition of employment to keep the details confidential, but members of the support group did not hold back – more than 250 commented, making it one of HelloCare’s most commented-upon posts.
Though the responses show that pay rates vary in aged care, the consensus view is that the pay is too low. And aged care workers are angry about it – one referred to working in aged care as “slavery”.
Sad to think I have a second job as a cleaner and I get paid more,” revealed another.
The average hourly rate for the residential aged care workers who commented on the post was $25.70. The lowest rate was about $21 per hour, and the highest were in the high $30s.
Under the Award, full-time and part-time residential aged care workers are paid a minimum of $21.62 per hour. The highest rate under the Award is $26.26. Casuals are paid a minimum of $27.03 per hour, rising to $32.83 for the highest level casual worker.
Home care
For home care staff, the support group responders had an average hourly rate of $29.08, with an average petrol allowance of 78.5 cents per litre.
Under the Award, full and part-time home care employees are paid $21.88 per hour, going up to $28.78. Casual home care workers are paid $27.35 per hour, rising to $35.98 an hour.
By comparison, the average wage for a cleaner is $28.22 and baristas receive $29.23 per hour, according to indeed.com.
“Taking its toll”
Low rates of pay mean aged care staff work as many hours as they can simply to put food on the table.
As one member of the support group shared, “The stress of working in aged care where you are rushed off your feet and yet needed to support the mental wellbeing of the aged is taking its toll on me.”
She works every second Saturday and doesn’t take public holidays to make ends meet.
This is “time I should be spending with my loved ones,” she said.
It’s unsurprising her workplace has a staff turnover rate for the last six months of 70%. The aged care worker who wrote this comment said she herself is trying to return to her old career as a librarian, where she is paid double the rate she receives in aged care.
Switch to disability
‘Ridiculous’, ‘disgusting’ and ‘appalling’ were words aged care workers used to describe the sector’s pay.
Several recommended switching to the disability sector where the pay is better, and there were also suggestions that supermarket staff are paid more.
Staff shortages
The wages aged care providers can offer are constrained by government funding. About 60% of aged care providers are already operating at a loss, so despite the fact that finding and retaining appropriately skilled staff is among the biggest problems in the sector, providers can not afford to offer higher wages until the government commits to funding them.
But the government has remained tight-lipped about funding the Fair Work Commission’s (FWC) recommendation for wages when it completes its assessment of the value of aged care work in response to the unions’ claim for a 25% pay increase.
The Opposition has committed to supporting the FWC’s decision.
BaptistCare recently made a submission to the FWC case, stating the provider supports a “significant” pay increase for aged care workers that is fully funded by the government.
Staff shortages are a significant issue for BaptistCare – the operator has 300 positions vacant, mainly frontline care roles. The provider said residents’ care needs are increasing, meaning the work performed in aged care is more nuanced and has greater complexity. Turnover is a problem, too, they said. BaptistCare has seen its staff turnover increase from 20% in 2020 to 31% in 2021.
High turnover isn’t confined to a single provider – aged care workers are leaving the sector in droves. A recent survey by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) found that more than a third of aged care workers are planning to quit within the next five years. One in five are looking to leave in the next 12 months.
The problems aged care workers face go beyond low rates of pay – the work is complex, there is no career progression, jobs are often insecure, it’s common for staff to have to pay for their own training, short-staffing has become the norm and, in the last two years, there have been the considerable additional burdens of keeping residents safe during the pandemic.
These factors have placed a heavy strain on the aged care workforce, and while there are those who say they still love it and they do it for the residents, there are many deciding it’s simply not worth it. There is plenty of work elsewhere these days.
I don’t like what’s happening in the industry,” said one member of the support group on the wages post. She has decided to leave the sector after 14 years to become a funeral director.
An aged care kitchen staff member agreed. The pay is “low … for what we do and deal with, being essential workers, we are underpaid.”
With the sector projected to need about one million workers by 2050 to meet the care needs of the ageing population, the pay situation in aged care is unsustainable.