Five ways Citation Legal supports the health and aged care industry

The health and aged care industry in Australia is undergoing tremendous growth, driven by both an ageing population and rapid advances in clinical treatment options. While this presents opportunities, the industry still faces a range of disruptions such as frequent regulatory and funding changes, ongoing skills shortages and the development of new models of care.  Citation Legal is committed to supporting organisations through their highs and lows, and in this article, we’ll share the five ways we do that.

1. Recruitment and hiring

• When stakes are high, it’s essential to hire the right people for the job. Health workers need to be competent, caring, trustworthy, tolerant and resilient. We help you hire the right staff by: designing robust, non-discriminatory job descriptions and recruitment systems.
• Obtaining visas for overseas-trained workers through our migration business, Citation Migration.
• Conducting pre-employment psychological testing and assisting with or advising on induction and onboarding processes.
• Implementing and automating appropriate contracting and employment documentation.

2. Organisational change and restructuring

Public policy, consumer demand, Consumer Directed Care, and funding pressures are just some factors within the industry that are driving organisational restructures, service consolidation and job redesign. We can provide support with:

• Restructuring, redeployment and retrenchment strategies and support, including designing appropriate hiring/contracting models.
• Workforce outsourcing/insourcing processes and strategies, including privatisation of services.
• Assisting with mergers and acquisitions, and transfer of employment,
• Compliant and effective workforce consultation, transition and engagement strategies during periods of change.

3. Management of ill and injured workers

The healthcare workforce is ageing, stressed and selfless. The work they do is often physically and mentally demanding, and many tend to put others’ health needs before their own. At the same time, unfit employees can put the care of patients and residents at risk.  We assist in the management of ill and injured workers through:

• Coaching and supporting people managers through the complex legal framework, including discrimination and workers compensation laws.
• Developing robust systems for assessing fitness and mental health fairly and lawfully.
• Implementing proactive well-being and rehabilitation strategies.
• Supporting employers through disputes and litigation initiated by ill or injured workers.

4. Investigations and people management

One of the greatest investments in developing overall workforce capacity and productivity is ensuring that your organisation’s people managers have the skills, confidence and support they need to engage, trust, support and when needed, discipline their staff proactively and effectively. We help health and aged care employers to:

• Train managers in legal and practical people management strategies and skills.
• Conduct or outsource robust and, where appropriate, privileged investigations in response to safety and disciplinary issues.
• Adopt best-practice, legally compliant and practically risk-managed processes whenever coaching/assessing, counselling, disciplining or dismissing employees.
• Support managers through disputes and litigation initiated by disgruntled staff.

5. Enterprise agreements and bargaining

The health workforce is highly unionised, with most employers covered by enterprise agreements and/or union-side deals. We have particular expertise in assisting health and aged care employers to:

• Interpret and ensure compliance with complex and often limiting pattern instruments.
• Strategically assess and, if appropriate, apply to change their enterprise agreement coverage as part of business acquisition/outsourcing/insourcing projects.
• Conduct and manage enterprise bargaining, industrial action and union disputes.
• Plan and design bargaining strategies that focus on productivity and innovation improvements.

We know the industry like it’s our own

The five things mentioned in this article only scratch the surface of the ways we help organisations every day.  Our team of lawyers have been providing support to the industry for many years, with a number of our team having worked directly within care organisations and/or industry associations.

As a result, we know that the healthcare workforce is complex and poses a range of specific challenges for people managers. We understand that the constant changes place additional pressure on compliance, cultural and workforce development strategies.