Essential workers in caring professions such as nursing, aged care and early childhood education are burning out across Australia, but researchers say there could be an inventive way to fix the system.
Ignored for too long, the picture on the frontline of caring professions is bleak.
In aged care, burnout has been worsened in 2022 by staff unable to work due to COVID-19 infections. On February 4th this year, the Federal Government reported that 15,478 staff were currently associated with an active COVID-19 case.
Rather than addressing the issues that are causing staff shortages in aged care facilities, Prime Minister Morrison has called on volunteering Australia to initially deploy 2000 volunteers scaling up to 18000 along with 1700 Australian Defence Force staff to fill shortages.
Nurses and midwives in NSW hospitals reported they were understaffed before the pandemic, but described many wards as ‘warzones’ with the additional challenges of Omicron.
In early childhood education, many services have closed from staff leaving the profession.
These staff shortages in health, aged care and education are disrupting the care and education of our most vulnerable.
While some of this has been fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, there are many reasons why this is happening. Much of it is about gender in these female-dominated professions, because Australia is ranked lowest in pay parity. This means we have the largest wage gap between men and women in the world.
Our essential workers in female-dominated caring professions were underpaid, undervalued and ignored long before the pandemic and many now plan to leave. It is clear we need to rehaul the system so that the risks of emotional burnout and the skills involved in emotional caring are recognised for essential workers.
A new scoping study has revealed research that proposed an inventive way to fix the system. The studies proposed six main strategies to reduce burnout and improve wellbeing.
1. Give status to the emotional skills required in the profession
A list of the emotional skills in job descriptions and job advertisements for caring professions might include:
- the ability to care for all people,
- warm and caring
- positive, enthusiastic, and
- responsive caregiving
Some may say these are skills we all demonstrate in our families. However, being able to provide this to all the people, regardless of race, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, lifestyle choices and behaviour requires a very high level of professionalism.
2. Pay for these emotional skills
The Fair Work Commission needs to recognise these skills in their pay scales. They recognise other skills in professions, such as knowledge and ability to perform certain tasks. So, why don’t they recognise the emotional skills of caring?
It’s all about gender. Nursing, and caring for young children and the elderly has traditionally been done by women and mothers. These professions require skills that come from empathy and compassion. Although it may be argued that these attributes are innate human qualities, recent research demonstrates that they are part of the highly developed skill set required for working in caring roles.
Women and mothers have traditionally developed these skills to do these tasks for free or for very little financial reward. The government doesn’t recognise these emotional skills as worthy of the type of pay given to workers in male dominated professions.
However, the government’s attitude has consequences. In a 2021 study of 4000 educators, 70% said they were ‘always’ or ‘often’ worried about their finances. Alarmingly, less than half would recommend the profession to others and 81% of directors said they had trouble attracting and keeping staff.
3. Recognise the emotional toll on workers
Workers experience work-family conflict when they need to complete paperwork beyond work hours. Chronic stress can occur when educators are working with children with additional needs and children with challenging behaviour. Sometimes they do not have enough support or training in this field.
In education, more children are presenting with challenging needs, including those who have experienced trauma. Educators are also supporting families with increasingly complex needs.
Additionally, a poor work climate that includes a supervisor who is non-collegial or unsupportive increases the emotional toll. Managerial systems also increase stress, causing low staff morale.
4. Pay for risks to their own emotional well-being these workers face
In other industries, such as construction, workers are compensated for risks from exposure to weather and contaminants, and working in dangerous conditions, such as mine sites or construction sites. These risks can potentially cause harm to workers’ physical health.
However, mental health is just as important to maintain health. A survey of 288 senior staff in aged care facilities found that more than a third of staff (36%) reported feeling anxious and another 20% of staff said they were depressed.
A significant proportion of healthcare staff (27%) in rural areas said that they were planning to resign and find employment in another sector in the next 12 months. In the early childhood sector, a survey of 4000 educators in 2021 found that 73% planned to leave in the next 3 years, and 75% believed turnover negatively affects children’s education.
So, mental health risks should be compensated in our award wages.
5. Pay for the other risks associated with the job
Governments need to recognise these risks in pay scales set by the Fair Work Commission.
Those in caring professions (e.g. health and education) are at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 and passing it on to those they care for and family members. Other sectors pay for risk. In New Zealand, nurses reported that stigma is problematic during a pandemic because they feel socially isolated as community members may be reluctant to mix with them. Many feel guilty if they quarantine or take entitled leave because it impacts those they care for.
6. Provide support for the workers to avoid emotional exhaustion and burnout
Just as construction workers are provided with safety equipment and training, we need to provide workers in caring jobs with effective support. They need supportive organisational structures and a supportive work environment to protect workers from emotional exhaustion. Resources that promote recovery are sorely needed to prevent emotional exhaustion and burnout.
Where to from here?
While these ideas might seem radical, having all of our caring sectors in crisis is also radical. Historically, the idea that the transatlantic slave trade might end and that women might get to vote also seemed radical at the time, but the world is a better place for such changes.
It is also unbelievable that Australia has the world’s worst pay parity. For a sporting nation, coming dead last in the race might be an incentive to try something different.
We need a completely new way of respecting and rewarding these essential workers so we can retain them. Our most vulnerable depend on them, and those vulnerable people are each one of us when we need them most.