Mrs Andriel McKay1, Dr Abby Foster1,2,3, Ms Danielle Ryan1
1Monash Health, Australia, 2La Trobe University, Australia, 3Monash University, Australia
Abstract:
Background:
Career advancement opportunities and clinical supervision, have an impact on the recruitment and retention of allied health professionals. Senior allied health leaders must identify and target interventions to drive improvements in these domains to ensure a sustainable workforce and positive workplace experience. Facing challenges in recruitment, a large metropolitan community health team completed a workforce restructuring intervention in early 2024, transitioning from a predominantly Grade 2 workforce to a tiered allied health staffing model. This restructuring aimed to support clinicians in providing safe, high-quality care through increased access to clinical supervision, while also creating opportunities for local career progression, ultimately enhancing staff wellbeing and retention. A 12-month post-implementation evaluation sought to assess the impact of this structural change and inform workforce initiatives in other settings
Method:
A pre- and post-intervention design was employed to gather baseline data on recruitment and retention rates, access to supervision, and employee wellbeing and burnout to enable evaluation of the impact of the new structure. Post-intervention data was collected from staff members across the service through repeat surveys as well as focus groups, which were used to provide rich, in-depth qualitative information. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the quantitative data, while thematic analysis was applied to the focus group transcripts.
Outcomes:
The implementation of a tiered workforce model has led to improvements in recruitment and retention, as well as enhanced wellbeing and reduced burnout rates for employees. Given its success, workforce restructuring may be useful in other settings to address workforce issues.