With the significant growth of the Aged and Disability Care sector, there is an increasing demand for care workers. There is however a reluctance to take on permanent staff. Deterred by training and onboarding costs, the inconsistencies in qualification requirements of new hires and the possibility of legal complications if the wrong person is hired, the industry has become reliant on temporary staffing and is transferring ever-growing workloads onto existing employees. This is having a negative impact on the level of care across the sector.

The Bridging the Gap model was created to support the industry and address these growing challenges. In partnership with service-providers, we identified opportunities for improvements across these sectors that ease the stress of overburdened departments, add value to the business and improve care levels. The program supports the recruitment drives and takes much of the uncertainty out of the recruitment process.

By encouraging South Australia’s Aged and Disabled care providers to take a more long-term view on employment and expand their permanent workforce, we provide them with the resources needed to face the diverse and dynamic challenges in the growth years ahead.

Our program has been developed to upskill and place skilled workers in newly created positions with a view to high retention and increase quality of care in the Aged and Disability sectors.

• Industry Support: The program has the support from some of the industry’s largest service providers in South Australia who between them have indicated intentions to work with us on the creation of more than 500 positions over the coming years through the program.
• Track record: Our recruitment model had a 90% and 98% success. These programs have given us a reputation in the industry as a trusted and professional advisor.
• Strong, experienced management team: Our professional team has more than 20 years’ experience in the Aged and Disability Sector in people placement.
• A core focus on care sector: Our business is built on working with Aged and Disability Care Providers. We have strong relationships with Registered Training Organisations, Job Active and local and state government which will ensure the success of this program.

Gratis is taking a long-term view to employment strategies with a model which South Australia can be proud of. Our model has the potential to be used across other fast-growing sectors particularly industries where service quality is suffering because of an excessive reliance on the support of casual temping agencies.

The model we have created is supported by the service providers within the industry as a solution to a very serious and growing problem in our state.

Our supply model simplifies and takes the risk out of hiring, encouraging service providers to change their employment strategy, opening up new positions.

Within the industry many employers are reluctant to take on permanent staff, deterred by training and onboarding costs and the possibility of legal complications if the wrong person is hired. They have become reliant on temporary staffing and transfer ever-growing workloads onto existing employees. We work with those employers to identify new position opportunities to increase the level of care to their clients.

By matching job-seekers to specific roles, providing additional training where necessary and mentoring them through the first six months of their new role, we take much of the risk out of the hiring process. But Bridging the Gap goes further.

In spite of our name, we are not a traditional recruitment company focused on pure placement of personnel for existing jobs. Our focus is on working with our industry service providers to identify opportunities for employment and training to ensure long-term solutions to their organisational challenges. In particularly we work with the expanding Aged and Disability care sector to identify opportunities for new positions and employment models to best meet the needs of their growing requirements and deliver sustainable employment solutions to best care for their clientele. There is a significant gap in the services we provide to the industry and we are committed to significantly improving standards of care by providing role-specific training and promoting a professional identity among care personnel.

Gratis recognises that availability is not a skill, and hiring someone because they are accessible is a band-aid solution to an organisation’s staffing dilemma. By encouraging Aged and Disability care providers to take a more long-term view in their employment strategy and expand their permanent workforce, we provide them with the resources needed to face the diverse and dynamic challenges in the growth years ahead.