Queensland home care provider targets retirees in recruitment drive

A Sunshine Coast-based home care provider is looking to recruit retirees and other older people as aged care workers. Coastal Home Care will be offering part-time roles to seniors over the next year with flexible hours, in order to address workforce shortages in the sector. Russell Mason, General Manager at Coastal Home Care, told the Sunshine Coast News that many older people want to work part-time or casually, but lack the opportunity.

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For a lot of the work we do with home care recipients, they are perfect. The reduced hours are not an issue and their ability to relate to elderly people is something we value highly. “It may be driving care recipients to medical appointments, assisting with cooking and cleaning, or perhaps just giving them a social outlet by having coffee with them. “A lot of these efforts would be things that people would enjoy and happily do to assist the community, but we are also offering payment. It gives people a continued purpose when they’re winding down work or retiring,” he said.

Over 55s have been a target area for expanding the aged care workforce, with the NT Government in October pouring $140,000 into efforts to attract older workers into the sector.