Hear a live panel of NDIS experts share their take on insights from the report.
“Reliability, demonstrated delivery of what was promised, consistency over time, priority for the individual being cared for.”
“Fill all shifts in advance. Provides quality carers with the prerequisite skill needed to look after me. Importantly, they plan ahead so they are not unprepared if a carer goes on holiday or sick as they always have a backup plan.”
“I would get a one-line check in email from my Support Coordinator, to which I'd respond that I am running out of food and medication and have no support worker, but my reply wouldn't get further response. I looked at the invoices and it dawned on me that I had hundreds of dollars worth of those emails and no support. It was such a bad start, and my health went downhill because of it.”
"Poor communication, billing errors and overcharging regularly, staff not turning up or not staying the agreed time."
“Finding out who you can trust to be doing the right thing is nearly impossible.”
“The therapists and carers kept changing and there was no consistency which just heightened my son's anxiety.”
“If they cannot communicate then nothing else matters. If they cannot listen, cannot tell you what is occurring, cannot tell you of change of shifts then it does not matter."
"I keep getting told one thing and then that doesn’t happen. No one keeps us informed of the changes and we’re having to constantly ring the support coordinator."
"I’ve had so many experiences where support organisations just haven’t gotten back to me."
"I become anxious if I don't know what is happening or when, so being able to plan and verify appointments as soon as possible is very important to me."
“My team leader is very supportive with great communication.”
“The company ensures that there is a good culture — without this it would be difficult to do my job.”
“I am very well supported, appreciated and workload is monitored to avoid burnout.”
“From the CEO down, everyone is involved — sharing knowledge and support from the amazing teams.“
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The numbers suggest that there’s a lot more work to be done within disability support organisations to provide inclusive, flexible and accessible work options for people living with disability. Leaders within these organisations should assess whether enough is being done to both create and maintain suitable roles for team members that bring lived experience and unique understanding to their roles. The happiest workers are motivated by a desire to help others, so this should also be considered when attracting new team members. Skills can be taught, so looking outside the box to recruit people with a passion could help to open up your talent pool.
Employees who rated their company culture negatively were significantly more likely to have issues with communication and non-monetary recognition within their company. They are also more likely to be frontline support workers, with a gap between how they and senior leaders view their company culture.
The takeaway from this is that frontline support workers need to have a voice and see that what they care about has influence within the company’s culture. There’s more work to be done to ensure company culture is inclusive of all levels of staff and is celebrating the contributions of all team members.