workforce
Manufactured solution
One provider’s successful strategy to retrain
manufacturing workers for the aged care sector.
By Dallas Bastian
S
alisbury Downs resident Lan Tran has made the type of
career change that may become increasingly common
in Australia as the manufacturing workforce continues to
contract and the demand for aged care workers rises.
Having worked at Clipsal for 22 years, the South Australian
lost her job when the company closed its Nuriootpa factory
in 2009, and after retraining in aged care, she started her new
career in 2010 as a carer at ACH Group’s Highercombe facility
in Hope Valley.
Tran said she was anxious about the future when she found
out the Nuriootpa factory was closing.
“I was lucky because ACH Group came to me and offered me
a job and training before I left Clipsal, but I was scared about
trying a new job because it was very different and I didn’t know
if I could do it.”
Still, Tran said she was thankful for the training and the
opportunity for work.
“I said, ‘I will try it and see how it goes.’ After a year I was still
happy and it was better than my old job.”
Owen McClymont has a similar story. After a 25-year career
as a welder making farm machinery and armoured vehicles
for BAE, he retrained as a care worker and in 2014 joined ACH
Group’s ViTA facility in Daw Park.
30 agedcareinsite.com.au
McClymont said while a caring role was a huge change after
working in manufacturing for 25 years, he’s not looking back.
“I enjoy getting to know people and I find it really rewarding,”
he said. “It’s worked out really well for me.”
A CSIRO report, titled Tomorrow’s Digitally Enabled
Workforce, says there has been a steady decline in agriculture
and manufacturing jobs over the last 20 years, while service
industries such as healthcare and professional services have
shown strong growth.
Released last year, the report says a change in mindset,
accompanied with training, may see more people who are
working in manufacturing move into caring professions
experiencing workforce growth, such as aged care and nursing.
In an interview with Aged Care Insite following the report’s
release, CSIRO economist Dr Andrew Reeson said across
Australia there has been a steady decline in manufacturing and
that’s likely to continue.
“It still remains a very large employer, it’s still very important
to the economy, and it’s likely to continue to be so, but we’re
certainly seeing a steady trickle of people essentially being
displaced from this industry as factories, whether large or small,
close down,” Reeson said.
“Aged care is probably the single fastest-growing occupation
in Australia in recent years and again that’s likely to continue, so
there are big opportunities there, particularly because aged care
is so distributed around the country.”
ACH Group is hoping more manufacturing workers consider
a career in the aged care sector.