Why are we so hesitant to be financially successful in the disability sector?

Frontline workers providing services through NDIS are paid $29.12 per hour on average. This is approximately 86c more than a worker at ALDI. It’s important to remember that frontline workers within the Disability sector provide services that most people in our community can only imagine.??

I have seen shifts where 4 staff spend 2 hours cleaning after an adult client smeared their own naked body and entire room with their own faeces. I have seen staff have to physically restrain an adult for an entire 8-hour shift. The participant, otherwise, would have eaten her remaining fingers, those that she had not already eaten, swallowed and digested. And I have seen staff having to wear full protective head and body armor for their entire 12 hours shift, as they will constantly be assaulted by the adult they are supporting. Sorting through the tomatoes at Aldi – doesn't seem like a bad gig.?

In 2021, 100 Top Australians not-for-profit organisations surveyed found that the labor shortage was their most significant barrier to growth, not funding. However, I believe that it is not a labor shortage that is the problem; it is how we recruit, employ and reward our frontline workers. Furthermore, it is the mindset that workers within the community sector are "called" or have a "mission" to do this work. It is the mindset that frontline workers should not be financially successful, which robs our excellent staff and instead leads to high staff turnover, low levels of experienced staff, and subsequent poor outcomes for our participants.

Part of my role as Principal Consultant and Managing Director of Family and Child Consultants has been to liaise with government and non-government individuals and organisations regarding how they recruit and engage staff to provide NDIS services. All Australians know that the labor market, for the first time in many years, is tough, but tough for employers! The skill shortage, the great resignation, and the increased regulation have seen a shift in how frontline workers work, but not how companies recruit and reward their employees. We need to change the way we recruit, employ and reward frontline workers for this to change.

We need to accept that rewarding frontline workers greatly for the support they provide the most vulnerable members of our society will increase the standard of care we provide for our participants. When you pay peanuts – you get monkies. In 2021 the NDIA reported that the disability workforce grew by 11.1% per year. However, 52% of disability support workers are casual employees. We know that a casual workforce is linked to a high turnover of staff – which disrupts the continuity of care, lowers employee engagement, and leaves participants less satisfied with the quality of service. The 11-quarter average turnover rate for casual staff in Australia is 8.5%, for the disability sector is 11.8%. If we pay a??wage that reflects frontline disability work as a career, workers will stay in this work, strengthen the industry, and shift the thinking that frontline work is a stepping stone to a career. Instead, frontline disability work will become a career of choice for our best qualified, high quality, and most experienced community services staff.

The only way for this to occur in a way that is financially sustainable is through the provision of NDIS services by Sole Providers. Today, 450,000 NDIS participants receive support from over 11,600 NDIS providers. These providers employ around 270,000 workers across 20 occupations. By024, approximately 500,000 participants will require support from almost 353,000 workers. 66% of these will be home-based support workers. The??NDIS must attract around 83,000 additional workers by 2024, the equivalent of a 31% increase in the workforce size. This growth will be across all States and territories and NDIS occupations, mainly support workers, nurses, and allied health professionals. As the NDIS grows, attracting suitable workers will be essential. This means attracting workers with the right skills, values, attributes, and diversity of experience to match the diverse range of participants. This will focus on attracting culturally and linguistically diverse workers and aboriginal Torres Strait Islanders to the sector to meet participant needs. An NDIS sole provider can earn up to $124 an hour. By encouraging NDIS providers to work as their own boss, to work as their own sole provider, they can dramatically increase their earning potential, increase their likelihood of staying in the sector, and improve the outcomes for our participants.

My view on the need for NDIS care providers to become sole providers of NDIS services is not one without criticism. Interestingly, much of the criticism I received is from providers of care themselves. Some providers of care believe that by increasing the reward available to frontline workers, we will directly encourage greedy and unscrupulous people to join the industry. I think it's the opposite. By increasing the reward available for frontline workers, we will increase the capacity, retention, and standard of care that we have in the industry.

Our ability to provide care for the most vulnerable members of our community is the true test of the humanity of our community. While we continue to reward frontline workers who provide complex, dangerous, and difficult care to the most vulnerable members of our community for the pittance and pay that organisations currently do, we will continue to struggle to have high-quality workers provide support for these members our community. Instead, let us change the mindset and accept that it's OK to be financially successful and rewarded for outstanding work within the disability and community sector.

Niki Gent is the Principal Consultant and Managing Director of Family and Child Consultants and specialises in working with families through Significant Incidents like those mentioned above. Niki prides herself on an honest and no thrills approach to working with families who don't know where to begin when things go wrong. Niki has a degree in Criminal Justice (Honours), a Master of Social Work, and an MBA. Nikki has over 17 years of experience working nationally and internationally in criminal justice, family law, and child protection.