Staff retention

Community Care (Northern Beaches) case study

Community Care (Northern Beaches) (CCNB) is a not-for-profit community organisation providing services in the community to the frail aged, people with disabilities, people with dementia and their carers.

The organisation provides 18 community care projects, including case management, respite, dementia care and support, information and advisory services, specific CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) and Aboriginal services, and a range of other home and community care services.

This case study provides insights into how CCNB, a small organisation, focused on innovation and strategic thinking to achieve big results.

The challenge

Community Care (Northern Beaches) started in 1990 with three Full Time employees, four Part Time employees and a pool of casual labour. They had a small budget and were located in a small, inaccessible first floor office.

The organisation recognised that their staff were the backbone of their organisation. If they could get their staff to become engaged, committed, inspired, challenged, and trained, then their loyalty and trust would be assured. Once an organisation has loyal and trustworthy staff, growth and opportunities would come naturally. But how could they gain the loyalty and trust of their staff?

The strategy

In 2006 the organisation embarked on an ambitious project to construct a performance management system and role competency frameworks, as part of the strategy to facilitate their commitment to staff.

They also developed a 5 year Employee Collective Agreement to replace the Social and Community Services (State) Award. This agreement was fully consulted and 100% of staff voted for its implementation.

The conditions contained in the agreement include:

  • Salaries linked to the role competency frameworks
  • Annual indexation according to the average of two objective criteria
  • Fortnightly rostered days off for full time staff
  • Long service leave after 8 years
  • Nine weeks paid maternity leave

The role competency frameworks identified clear requirements to understand the organisational mission, vision and values, and also reflected the importance of supervision. An investment in supervision provided staff with:

  • Regular opportunities to reflect on work‐related issues
  • Regular time for individual coaching and mentoring
  • A confidential space for the exploration of good ideas to contribute to a best practice model of service provision

The results

The staff retention rate is phenomenal at over 90% in the last 3 years, and recruitment presents few problems. The CCNB team work from an accessible suite of offices and meeting rooms in a modern building. They currently have a total of 40 staff, 25 of whom work full time, and have grown their budget by over 1,300%.

The organisation is committed to involving staff at every level in the strategic planning process. They also conduct annual organisational culture surveys to ensure that, as the organisation expands, management staff remain in touch with the ideas, attitudes and concerns of all staff.

Further information

For more information about CCNB's annual staff survey read our case study, Measuring organisational change and growth, and for additional information on staff retention contact our Talent Advisors.