The future care and support workforce

Confronting the Challenge

Attracting and retaining quality workers to meet increasing demand is the number one challenge facing the care and support sectors in Australia. There are many forces putting pressure on the workforce, and we need to act now to prepare for the future. The Human Services Skills Organisation (HSSO) invites you to participate in Confronting the Challenge: The future care and support workforce.

This half-day event, hosted by the HSSO brings together prominent speakers from Australia and the United Kingdom with industry leaders to discuss how we can attract and retain the right people with the right skills to meet current and future demand. We will use the latest data to identify key trends and discuss solutions.

Speakers include:

  • Simon Kuestenmacher, one of Australia’s leading social commentators who will outline what he thinks about the critical issues facing the care and support sector. What is driving the challenge? Where are the workers? What does the data tell us?
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  • Neil Eastwood, founder, and Chief Executive Officer of Care Friends who will provide insights from his experience with solutions implemented in the UK care and support sectors including worker registration, immigration, wage increases and recruitment initiatives.
    .
  • Jodi Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer, Human Services Skills Organisation who will provide the overview of what we already know about the challenges confronting the sector and will draw on her experiences in the skills and care sectors to identify and prioritise solutions with attendees.

Join us for this in-person event on 14 November 2022 in Adelaide.

Who should attend

Our event is designed for anyone with an interest in the success of the future care and support workforce:

  • Service providers / Employers
  • Unions
  • Peak bodies
  • Education and Training organisations.

Where and when

VENUE: Rydges South Park Adelaide, 1 South Tce, Adelaide SA 5000

WHEN: Monday, 14 November 2022. Arrival, tea, coffee and registration from 8:30am | Event 9:00am to 12:30pm | Networking lunch from 12:30pm.

COST: There is no cost to attend this event

Meet the Speakers

Simon Kuestenmacher
Director and Co-founder, The Demographics Group
Simon Kuestenmacher
Director and Co-founder, The Demographics Group

Simon Kuestenmacher is a Director and Co-founder of The Demographics Group based in Melbourne, Australia.  Simon holds degrees in geography from leading universities in Berlin and Melbourne and worked for several years as a business consultant with KPMG Australia.

In 2017 Simon, with Bernard Salt, co-founded The Demographics Group. The group provides specialist advice on demographic, consumer and social trends for business.

He presents on demographic and global trends that are shaping Australia today and into the future and his presentations and quirky observations are enjoyed by corporate, government and industry audiences alike.

Simon is a columnist at The New Daily newspaper and a regular contributor to The Australian newspaper; and he is also a media commentator on demographic and data matters.

Simon has amassed 300,000 global followers on social media, reaches over 25 million people every month and ranks as one of the world’s Top 10 influencers in data visualisation. If you can’t get enough of data that explains how the world works, make sure to follow him on Twitter or any of his other social channels.

Neil Eastwood
Founder, and Chief Executive Officer, Care Friends, Author, Saving Social Care
Neil Eastwood
Neil Eastwood
Founder, and Chief Executive Officer, Care Friends, Author, Saving Social Care

Neil Eastwood is an international speaker on care worker recruitment and retention and author of ‘Saving Social Care – How to find more of the best frontline care employees and keep the ones you have’.

He is also Founder and CEO of Care Friends, the employee referral app used by social care employers in the UK, Ireland and Australia and was previously a director for a leading homecare provider with 10,000 staff.

Jodi Schmidt
Chief Executive Officer, Human Services Skills Organisation
Jodi Schmidt
Chief Executive Officer, Human Services Skills Organisation

Jodi Schmidt has extensive experience in the vocational, education and training sector includes work within TAFE institutes and state government, and consulting to a range of sectors including human services.

She served as the Deputy Director-General, Training and Employment with the Queensland Government, and then as the inaugural chief executive officer of TAFE Queensland, leading the reform and amalgamation of Queensland’s TAFE institutes to create a consolidated commercial entity.

Jodi also served as the Chair of the National Education and Foundation Skills – Industry Reference Committee (IRC) and has been a member of several national review boards and expert panels.

Join us in Adelaide!

Register now to attend this event and networking lunch hosted by the Human Services Skills Organisation.

Jodi Schmidt
Chief Executive Officer, Human Services Skills Organisation

Jodi Schmidt has extensive experience in the vocational, education and training sector includes work within TAFE institutes and state government, and consulting to a range of sectors including human services.

She served as the Deputy Director-General, Training and Employment with the Queensland Government, and then as the inaugural chief executive officer of TAFE Queensland, leading the reform and amalgamation of Queensland’s TAFE institutes to create a consolidated commercial entity.

Jodi also served as the Chair of the National Education and Foundation Skills – Industry Reference Committee (IRC) and has been a member of several national review boards and expert panels.

We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we work. We pay our respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders past, present and emerging.

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