Aged Care Employee Day is a National Day of Significance for Australia’s aged and community care workforce held on 7 August each year, which this year falls on a Monday.
The creation of Aged Care Employee Day was in response to the growing awareness of the essential role that aged care workers play in the lives of the elderly and the broader community. These caregivers provide vital services and support to the aging population, often working tirelessly to ensure the well-being and dignity of their residents.
The day celebrates the more than 427,000 residential care, home care and retirement living staff who care for over 1.5 million older Australians. ACCPA’s annual #ThanksforCaring campaign recognises all the varied roles involved the aged care workforce – from nurses to personal care workers, allied health professionals to lifestyle coordinators, hospitality teams, drivers, cooks cleaners, administration staff and so many more.
In addition to celebrating the incredible work of individuals and teams, Aged Care Employee Day is also an opportunity to highlight the great initiatives being led by aged care organisations and good news happening across the country in aged and community care, retirement living and seniors housing.
Video: The Hon Anika Wells speaks to employees on Aged Care Employee Day.
On this Aged Care Employee Day, find some time in your day to extend gratitude to these remarkable individuals who brighten the lives of our residents and elderly Australians in general.
#ThanksForCaring
For more information on how you can participate, click here.
Have you ever had a manager who was good at giving you feedback? Even when it came to the not so good feedback?
Unfortunately for some of us, it is the opposite. We have had a manager who isn’t the best at giving feedback, or we don’t get any at all.
Following last edition’s article on performance reviews, we had a number of managers reach out about tips and techniques for giving feedback, in general.
Giving feedback, whether positive or negative, is an inevitable part of effective management. We all have moments where we need to discuss performance issues or offer developmental insights to team members or, in some instances, residents.
No matter who you go to for advice, it will always start the same way – be prepared. But what does prepared look like when it comes to giving feedback?
The STAR Method
The STAR method provides a clear structure for delivering feedback or sharing experiences. By organising feedback or responses into these four components, you ensure that your points are well-defined and easy to understand.
Example 1: You notice a staff member helping a resident after hours
Example 2: You need to give feedback to a staff member for regularly turning up late to meetings.
This method helps you provide specific examples that demonstrate the individual’s skills, achievements, and areas for improvement. Whether you’re conducting performance evaluations, interviews, or giving feedback in various situations, the STAR method can be a valuable tool to convey information effectively.
One more tip, consider your mindset.
Quite often we go into these conversations with the mindset that we must give negative feedback – which is a difficult process. Straight away our mindset is on ‘negative’ and ‘difficult’.
Try the 5:1 method. Get yourself in the habit of regularly providing positive feedback, five times to every one piece of negative feedback you give. As a manager, this will elevate your relationship with the person you are meeting with and help to make it feel like an everyday conversation.
That positive mindset sets you up to have a constructive conversation about development rather than always focusing on the negative.
And remember, it doesn’t always need to be perfect. But giving some feedback, either positive or negative, is better than giving no feedback at all.
When a dispute arises in your retirement village it’s essential to take a step back and as Douglas Adams once wrote, ‘don’t panic’.
Retirement villages have an undeniable allure, offering independence, a sense of connection, and a supportive community atmosphere. That said, the reality may not always match residents’ expectations, leading to conflicts between management and residents or among residents themselves.
When confronted with a dispute from a resident, it’s crucial to maintain composure. Equally, addressing disputes between residents is a challenge that requires a balanced approach.
How these conflicts are managed can significantly impact their duration and severity.
This is why understanding the potential outcomes can greatly influence the way you approach the situation – as well as understanding the stakeholders in the dispute.
There are essentially five possible scenarios to consider, and by identifying your desired outcome from the start, achieving that target becomes much easier:
Someone wins, someone loses: This is the competitive outcome, where one party prevails while the other suffers a loss.
Both parties win: This is the win/win outcome, where a resolution is reached that satisfies both parties’ needs and interests.
Someone gives, someone takes: This is the compromise outcome, where both parties make concessions to find middle ground.
One or both parties run away: This is the flight response outcome, where one or both parties disengage from the dispute without resolution.
You take on extra demands: This is the accommodation response, where you, as the Village Manager, might shoulder additional responsibilities to keep the peace.
It’s easy to see how any of these outcomes could occur if you don’t clearly identify which one you want to achieve and direct your attention and language to that goal.
Importantly, the dispute only escalates where the communication is missing. It is this escalation that can impact on the wider community and be costly to your business.
Nobody moves into a village expecting or wanting a dispute – it arises because someone’s expectations do not align with the reality of the situation.
Photo (L-R): Senior Living Mediation Directors, Danielle Lim, Gillian Moore, Aileen Stewart
DCM Institute is pleased to announce Senior Living Mediation as sector partners in the space of dispute resolution and mediation.
With combined 50 years industry experience, Senior Living Mediation’s provide a specialised mediation service for Retirement Villages, Manufactured Home Parks and Aged Care Facilities and will be lending their practical mediation solutions to DCM Institute’s Professional Development Days during the month of August, and into September.
The DCM Institute survey on Village Managers revealed the average salary is $96,639.
Yet, it also revealed the average salary in Melbourne was considerably higher.
The traditional Village Manager staff model is an administrative assistant and a maintenance worker.
Ryman Healthcare’s Deborah Cheetham Retirement Village is anything but traditional. The village offers a mix of independent retirement living, assisted living in serviced apartments, and a 120-bed aged care centre, so requires a broad range of skills and experience now it’s fully operational.
This is also not your traditional co-located retirement village, where the management of the independent living and aged care is separated. At Deborah Cheetham, Village Manager Charisse Spence has a team of 66 staff under her watch – and growing.
Charisse has an Association for Clinical Research Practitioners Certification, Post Graduate Qualifications in Critical Care Nursing (Cardiac Care Stream) and a Bachelor of Nursing (Distinction).
Charisse has also just conducted a major recruitment drive, here we meet three of Charisse’s new team:
Sharon Solomon, Baker/Café Assistant
What interests you about the role? “I love to bake. I get to make cakes and slices, muffins, which are all the things I love. It’s what I’m excited about. I’ve always wanted to work in a little café, so it’s perfect. I live locally, only 1km away.”
Background: “I’ve worked in kitchens in different capacities for the past five years. I started out as a kitchenhand in my daughter’s daycare, and I’ve got a Certificate in Commercial Cookery. I went back to school and completed that when my children were born. I worked at The Geelong College in the catering department, basically just volume cooking. Now I am here in a very different role. It’s different because I’m not cooking large volumes which is a bit of an adjustment because I am used to cooking 120 serves, but now I’m making more fun and localised things. I get to play, see what the residents like and go from there.”
Biggest asset: “The fact that I love the kitchen, it is my playground. When I am told you need to make paninis or sandwiches or whatever, to me it’s not making a panini, for me it’s about the flavors and making food attractive because we eat with our eyes.”
Best advice from Charisse: “To feel empowered to come up with solutions. Charisse is a very solution orientated person and I appreciate working with people who have that approach because they are open to listening to you. For her to trust me to come up with solutions makes me feel respected and valued.”
Margaret Taylor, Food Service Assistant
What interests you about the role? “I’ve done previous hospitality work and I was looking for something part-time and I just thought the village looked so fabulous as I drove past, ‘I’ll throw my hat in the ring’, and I only live five minutes away.”
Background: “When I first came to town I worked at the military college in the Officer’s mess. I met some high-ranking people, so it was a good training ground and a lot of fun. At 25 I had my first baby and I thought ‘I’m never going to work again’ and that wasn’t to be. I worked at Barwon Heads Golf Club in hospitality for around 25 years, and then I went into their office and worked as a receptionist. My father hadn’t been well, so I thought I’d take a year off and now I’m getting back into it. I didn’t want to go back and sit at a desk; I love moving around and meeting lots of people.”
Biggest asset: “Kindness. People say I’m too kind, but I don’t want to be any other way. I’m just a very nice person I think.”
Best advice from Charisse: “To remember that everything we do has to be good enough for your mum or your dad. I’ve had two parents in care, one is still there, one is gone, and it’s nothing as nice as this.”
Russell Duffield, Personal Care Worker
What interests you about the role? “I was an engineer to start with and when I got retrenched, my neighbour was an elderly lady and I used to help her out by cutting her grass and doing odd jobs around the house for her, when I got retrenched, she said ‘why don’t you work in aged care?’. I love it, it’s like having your nan and your pop back.”
Background: “I’ve worked in aged care for 7, nearly 8 years. I previously worked in Grovedale and Belmont.”
Biggest asset: “Just being happy and friendly with the residents because sometimes all they want is someone to listen and hear what they have to say. I like to hear what they have to say and have a discussion with them, so they feel validated. It’s so rewarding listening to their stories. It’s a priceless thing.”
Best advice from Charisse: “To ‘calm down’. When we first started with training the first two weeks were quite overwhelming, and I thought ‘geez, how am I going to remember all of this?’ but when I did a buddy shift all of the things I had learned just seemed to make sense and I remember Charisse saying ‘just calm down’. That was great advice, just relax and trust yourself because that confidence was one of the things I lacked when I started here because I second guessed everything I was doing, and just the words ‘calm down’ really helped.”
The loss of a Village Manager or any staff member can be catastrophic for an operator.
A Village Manager leaving can have a drastic effect on both the team and residents’ morale, and result in a domino effect that leads to poor performance and productivity. In addition, it is expensive for the operator, and not just because of lost talent. It takes at least 24 days to fill a job, costing employers up to $4,000 per hire — maybe more, depending on your industry.
The DCM Institute survey of 186 retirement village and community managers across Australia revealed 18% are currently seeking roles outside of the retirement living sector, with 24% indicating they will not be in the role in 12 months’ time, and 42% indicating they will not be in the role in three years’ time.
Eligible staff are invited to a lunch with their manager, executives and board members in recognition of their service. Once a staff member achieves 30 years’ of service, they are invited to the Staff Appreciation Awards every year, as a member of the “30+ club”. There are currently 18 members of the “30+ club” with Lesley Wimbles the longest serving with 46 years’ service.
To illustrate, the success of recognising its workforce Resthaven has eight staff members who have reached their 40-year milestones, with one staff member having worked 45 years.
Currently, Resthaven’s top 10 longest-serving staff have accrued 381 years between them. In the 2022-23 year, 119 staff were eligible for an award. Collectively, they represented 1,640 years of service.
It is the end of the Financial Year, and for many of us this means one thing – annual performance reviews.
For many, these meetings can be something to dread and cause unnecessary anxiety.
Depending on how you approach them, you can manage your own anxiety and turn annual performance reviews into something useful. They can become an opportunity for growth and improve your value to your business and open career opportunities.
In this article, we will provide tips to help you prepare for a review that showcases your achievements and sets you up for success in the year ahead.
Understand the Process
Like retirement villages, every organisation is different and so too is the annual performance review process.
That said, information should be provided in advance from your line manager or via the Human Resources team. Take a moment to understand the process, and your part in that process – as it can vary the level the preparation you will need to take.
Reflect on your achievements
Before the meeting takes place, take time to reflect on your achievements throughout the past year. Where possible, relate them to the goals you set in the previous year and how you have performed against specific key performance indicators the business has set you.
Tip: If you have been sharing status reports with your boss regularly, you may go back to them to pull significant items from.
You should be focused on your part in these achievements. Your contribution to improving resident and staff satisfaction, financial performance, and process improvement. You should also reflect on how you represent and uphold the values of the company.
Show how you tried to improve yourself
This is often a hard one. Many consider the idea of self-improvement to come from a place of negativity, but this is not the case. Improvement can be in the form of your own professional development – and how that relates to your role and improved business outcomes. New skills may qualify you for new opportunities. You could use the review to discuss taking on new responsibilities or partaking in projects outside of your daily responsibilities.
Consider your boss or line-manager
Take a moment to reflect on what their pressure points have been this past year, and what their own KPIs are. Bringing your achievements back to their own goals demonstrates your value to their own success.
Gather your notes
Typically, a performance review will be documented on a prescribed form. If that is the case, great. You can transcribe your notes onto that form to make following the structure of the conversation easier.
Think about areas of improvement
The part of the performance review most people struggle with is when the questioning turns to how you think you can improve yourself or your performance in the year ahead. This part of the review is tough for a reason. Your manager wants to know you are thinking of how to not just improve yourself, but the business outcomes as well. If you genuinely struggle with this, don’t be afraid to ask your manager for help.
Finally, be honest with yourself
When you meet with your manager, don’t approach the meeting feeling like you need to defend yourself or make excuses. You should be listening and taking in feedback that might seem negative at times. Ask questions to understand the feedback and take a consultative approach with your manager to understand what they’d like to see in the future to understand clear expectations leading into the year ahead.
Remember, not everyone has the same style when providing feedback. Some managers are very good at it, while others can be as anxious about this process as you are. Over time, you should understand how you need to flex your communication style to have effective meetings with your manager (and your direct reports.)
These tips are designed to help you prepare, which will help you to enter the meeting with confidence.
Dr Jane Barratt, Secretary General of the International Federation of Ageing, believes the retirement sector in Australia needs to change its focus to wellness.
She told the National Retirement Living Summit in the Gold Coast that the sector is at the “nexus” of what the next generation of the retirement industry will look like in the future.
“What we should be doing as providers or providers of facilities is trying to understand what is going to make the difference in someone’s functional ability, because a dependency model doesn’t work,” said Dr Barrett.
“In Hong Kong, the incentivisation is: if an older person can maintain their function, the provider of services is incentivised. But in most countries, and Australia is the same, it’s the other way around, greater dependency, greater money, and that needs to change,” Dr Barratt said.
“I challenge (the industry) to talk about services. We don’t want to be cared for, but we want to have services that enable us, services that enable function, enable me to do what I want to do.
“Creating dependency is not going to be a strong profit margin. So, what we have to do is flip it on its head. And we really have to think about how is the environment you’re creating – both people wise and architectural wise – going to further the health and wellbeing?”
She said governments had to invest in the sector for it to change.
“Aged care is not the retirement industry… and what we need to be doing here is thinking about how can you create the environment of healthy living for as long as possible, which is not the job of the aged care industry.”
The SOURCE: a number of operators are investing in wellness, notably in SA with ECH, ACH and Southern Cross Care each having dedicated gyms and allied health services. Private operator Keyton is launching 23 staff nationally to design and implement wellness programs. Five Good Friends is offering its Concierge service to village operators.
Diabetes is one of the biggest challenges confronting Australia’s health system with almost 1.5 million people (about 5.5% of the population) living with this condition.
What is concerning reading these statistics is that Diabetes Australia predicts about half-a-million of these people are living with diabetes in silent, that is undiagnosed type-2 diabetes.
New modelling from Diabetes Australia, based on US research, found that the cost impact of people in Australia living with type 2 diabetes not receiving recommended care was around AU$3,564 per person per annum.
An estimated 50% of Australians living with type 2 diabetes are not accessing a range of recommended diabetes health checks that help to prevent and manage diabetes-related complications including checks for diabetes management, cholesterol, eyes, kidneys, feet and others.
Diabetes Australia Group CEO Justine Cain said the modelling highlighted the importance of supporting Australians living with all types of diabetes to receive the best possible healthcare.
“Diabetes is complex and can lead to a range of debilitating and costly complications, many that can be prevented or delayed by ensuring people receive timely and appropriate medical care,” Ms Cain said.
“One of the challenges with Australia’s healthcare system is that it has been orientated towards treating people when they are sick and unwell, rather than preventing issues before they develop.“
Understanding diabetes and its seriousness is important.
If you are living with any type of diabetes, you need to learn how to manage your diabetes
If you have a family member or friend with diabetes, you can learn how to support them
If you are a teacher or employer, you have a duty of care to provide a safe environment
If you are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, you can take steps to prevent, slow down its progression or even put your type 2 diabetes into remission.
From 9 through 15 July is National Diabetes week, which looks to start a conversation about the impact diabetes has on this country in order to drive change and create hope for the future.
Ms Cain said this National Diabetes Week, Diabetes Australia was launching the nation’s biggest ever conversation about diabetes to hear from people living with the condition about improving the quality of healthcare they receive and inform its submission to the Australian Government’s Parliamentary Inquiry into Diabetes.
“We’re hoping to amplify the voice of people with diabetes who understand the reality of living with diabetes better than anyone to ensure this inquiry focusses on the priorities that will change the future,” she said.
Over the course of the week, Diabetes Australia hosted a series of five thought-provoking Great Debatesover five days. These debates featuring people living with diabetes alongside experts discussing the big topics relevant to the future of diabetes in Australia.
The Australian Government recently announced an Inquiry into Diabetes in Australia. It is time to amplify the voice of the diabetes community to ensure this Inquiry focusses on the priorities that will change the numbers, change the future, and change lives.
Is the willingness of retirement village residents to volunteer on the decline?
Recent conversations with members of the Residents Associations from across the country have raised this very concern.
It is also a concern that has been raised by Village Managers across the country this year. The DCM Institute has been contacted regularly throughout the year to help Village Managers navigate dissolving a resident’s committee, and what to do when one does not exist.
While this trend is being observed in retirement villages, is there any information to confirm this is more widespread?
In 2016, more than 20 per cent of Australians took time out of their busy lives to volunteer. By 2021, this number fell to 15 per cent – a record low.
Table: Census-based estimate of volunteering rates, 2006 to 2021 (%)
Speaking at the recent Retirement Living Summit, Simon Kuestenmacher, ‘The Stats Guy’, commented that compared to their peers in the wider community, retirement village residents are more likely to volunteer.
Simon presented statistics from the 2021 ABS Census that confirmed 20% of 75–84-year-olds living retirement village residents are likely to volunteer, compared to just 17% in the wider community.
While this is encouraging as it speaks to our residents being more likely to volunteer than the wider population of people over 75 years of age, the 2021 Census also shows an overall decline in willingness of the 75-84 age group which is down to 16.58% from 19% in 2016.
Research shows that older adults who engage in volunteering are associated with more positive self-perceptions of ageing, which in turn predicted fewer symptoms of depression (Huo et al 2021).
What then can we do about this decline in our retirement villages?
One of the suggestions when this question was posed to Judy Mayfield from the ARQRV was, “to give them a project.”
Judy noted how residents are more likely to volunteer their time on a project that has a specific ‘end’ or ‘goal’ in instances when they are less likely to give their time to being members of Committees.
Sometimes the simplest insights are the most invaluable. If your retirement village is struggling to find volunteers, consider this approach. Find them a project.
Not just any project for the sake of ticking a box. Rather, a project which speaks to residents’ interests and can give or elevate their own persona purpose.
The concept of purpose is not foreign to DCM Institute participants. We explored it in detail at last year’s Village Summit with Phil Preston.
The numbers might suggest that the number of residents volunteering is declining. As Village Managers, we do have the ability to motivate and inspire. We just need to take the time to understand our residents. Understand their interests and their purpose. And find something that speaks to this which will benefit a wider group of people.
