Parkhouse Bell has carried out two surveys to explore the reasons the Employment Services sector in Australia has such a high turnover rate of operational staff (over 40% compared with other sector averages of around 19%). The first survey we carried out was in 2020 during Covid and the follow up was in 2023. The same questions were asked as we wanted to compare apples with apples and analyse any significant changes over the three-year period.
One of the questions we asked of respondents was ‘How would you rate your Professional Development (PD) opportunities’with the response options being ‘Excellent’, ‘Average’ or ‘Poor’.
The graph below summarises the findings with a relatively unchanged percentage of people rating their PD opportunities as ‘Poor’ (circa 20%). Disappointingly, the percentage of people who rated their PD opportunities as ‘Excellent’ decreased from a promising 47% to 35%, with almost half of respondents now rating their PD as ‘Average’.
Does the decrease in excellent professional development matter?
We would argue that it does. High quality PD not only demonstrates the commitment of a company to improving the work of its people, but also contributes significantly to the organisation’s culture whereby employees feel a sense of loyalty, invested in and valued (less likely to leave). Critically, performance improves and as Employment Service caseloads become increasingly complex, the skills required to engage, coach and place participants in sustainable jobs have arguably never been as challenging or nuanced.
We would encourage all Employment Services providers to talk to their staff about what excellent PD looks like for them, in what areas they feel they need further development and whether PD opportunities would increase the likelihood of employees staying with the organisation they are working for. If PD is required, Parkhouse Bell would recommend talking to the people at Populi Solutions, Institute of Employability Professionals, National Employment Services Association, Disability Employment Australia, Bounce Consulting and Prospert as a starter.
If you would like any further information about the two surveys we carried out in 2020 and 2023, please reach out to Samantha.Smith@parkhousebell.com.au or call Samantha on 0405 248 406.
