Join us in Brisbane!
Register now to attend this event and networking lunch hosted by the Human Services Skills Organisation.
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:
- Bernard Salt AM, 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?
. - 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 4 November 2022 in Brisbane.
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: The Brisbane Marriott, 515 Queen St, Brisbane City QLD 4000
WHEN: Friday, 4 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
Bernard Salt AM
Futurist, Demographer, The Demographics Group
Bernard Salt AM
Futurist, Demographer, The Demographics Group
Bernard Salt is widely regarded as one of Australia’s leading social commentators by business, the media and the broader community.
Bernard heads The Demographics Group which provides advice on demographic, consumer and social trends for business. Prior to that Bernard founded KPMG Demographics.
He writes two weekly columns for The Australian newspaper and was an adjunct professor at Curtin University Business School between 2010 and 2020.
He is well known to the wider community for his penchant for identifying and tagging new tribes and social behaviours such as the ‘Seachange Shift’, the ‘Man Drought’, ‘PUMCINS’ (pronounced pumkins) and the ‘Goats Cheese Curtain’. He is perhaps best known for popularising the phrase “smashed avocado” globally.
Bernard was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2017 Australia Day honours.
Neil Eastwood
Founder, and Chief Executive Officer, Care Friends, Author, Saving Social Care
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.
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.