“I’m passionate about standing up for our participants and really advocating for everyone we support.”
Our people
We greatly appreciate our committed and
hardworking staff who go above and
beyond to support people with disability
live the life they choose.
Staff stories
“When you see those little
sparkles in a person’s eyes…
it’s really satisfying.”
Our workforce
Northcott’s workforce is a diverse community, all of whom are committed to supporting people with disability and building an inclusive society. We ensure our people at all levels have the skills, knowledge and resources they need to support our customers to achieve their goals and live the life they choose.
2,598
staff members
Full-time equivalents
- 2021-22 1,527
Employment status
- Full-time 32%
- Part-time 40.6%
- Casual 27.4%
Leadership team
- Female 5
- Male 3
Gender composition – all staff
- Female 68.6%
- Male 31.3%
Job roles
- Operations* 90.2%
- Corporate Services 9.8%
*(Support, Therapy roles)
Location
- Metropolitan 69%
- Regional 31%
Respectful is Northcott’s most recognised
value, followed by Innovative and Brave.
Highlights
Supporting staff
Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic saw us continue to be adaptable and as flexible as possible to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of our staff and customers. As a disability service provider and essential service where most of our staff (90.2%) provide direct support to customers, we have continued to provide services and supports, while adhering to government regulations and guidance.
Our staff attrition rate for the 12 months ending June 2022 is 19.15%, a significant increase on the previous year (15.33%). Specific Northcott issues, such as the approval of the new Enterprise Agreement (EA) which saw former employees of the Department of Family and Community Services move under the Northcott EA for the first time, has contributed to this increase.
More generally, this increased rate is indicative of external factors affecting employers in Australia, where the impact of working in a COVID environment has seen many people change their employment. However, despite this rise, our attrition rate remains below the industry benchmark of 22.7%, as reported by the Aon Hewitt Survey for Non Government Organisations.
We continued to offer flexible work practices and other employee benefits to attract and retain staff. We also provided access to learning and development programs so our team members could develop and nurture their professional skills.
Staff survey
90% of staff believe in our values.
91% believe it is important to attend Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural awareness training.
90% feel they know the COVID safety measures to follow.
Every year we survey our staff to understand what we are doing well and where we can improve.
Our 2022 employee engagement survey was completed by 820 people and revealed that most of our workforce (80%) have high satisfaction with direct managers.
We also learnt that staff would like to see improvements in technology, recruitment and career opportunities.
Better staff conditions
New Enterprise Agreement.
The new Northcott Enterprise Agreement (EA) came into effect in mid-July 2021. It brings all Northcott staff together under the one agreement, and includes:
- new rates of pay
- rostering rules, and
- other new conditions of employment.
The process to develop the new EA was highly consultative, with staff from all areas and levels engaged with.
Inclusion and diversity
Access and Inclusion Action Plan launched.
Networking group formed for employees with disability.
Northcott has a workforce that is incredibly diverse and includes employees with disability.
Our goal is to create a workplace where employees feel safe to bring their whole selves to work and be encouraged to reach their full potential. A workplace where employees feel welcome, included, valued, respected and know they will be supported.
To support our work in this area, Northcott is a member of the Australian Network on Disability (AND), a national membership based for-purpose organisation that supports organisations to advance the inclusion of people with disability in all aspects of business. We have made considerable progress to date towards becoming an accessible and inclusive workplace.
A formal Disability Access and Inclusion Action Plan has been developed, demonstrating our commitment to accessibility and inclusivity.
We have developed an Access and Inclusion induction training module to educate and raise awareness on supporting and working alongside employees with disability. This training module is completed by new employees when they begin their role with Northcott.
We have begun developing accessible recruitment and selection practices with a review of our recruitment and selection process to ensure we are attracting a diversity of people from the entire talent pool and providing a barrier free approach to recruitment, positioning Northcott as an employer of choice for people with disability.
We have developed an ongoing disability awareness campaign with employee stories, workplace adjustment stories, information on common disabilities, recognition of disability awareness days and information on mental health conditions, regularly published on our internal mediums to continue to raise awareness of disability.
Northcott’s first employee networking group for employees with disability – Vibrant Individuals Valuing Inclusion and Diversity (VIVID) – has been established. VIVID provides an inclusive and supportive environment to share ideas, develop initiatives and promote the importance of inclusion and diversity across the organisation. VIVID members will provide input to develop organisational systems, policies and procedures for employees with disability, as well as share specialist disability insights to improve supports for employees.
Specialist accessibility training has been completed by key employees including the Marketing, Communications and IT teams. This has included upskilling our
Marketing and Communications teams in creating and designing accessible digital platforms, content and customer and employee communications
Additionally, the IT Helpdesk has been trained in accessibility of systems and software, and awareness of accessibility standards, so they have the skills and knowledge to assist employees with any accessibility needs.
A review of our systems, technologies, equipment and procurement processes has been conducted to ensure we are following industry accessibility standards and are WCAG 2.1 AA compliant.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program
Northcott Tamworth customers and staff
The Northcott Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group has worked hard to ensure that previous and new action items in our current Stretch RAP have been implemented and embedded throughout Northcott.
At Northcott, there is a genuine commitment by our Executive and Working Group to make lasting changes that will see positive outcomes and a greater cultural understanding for everyone.
The number of employees who identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander continues to increase. This growth has been attributed to our recruitment process and engagement with Aboriginal communities, as well as the creation of new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identified positions. The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff in senior leadership roles is also increasing.
Our Yarrabee Staff Network group has also expanded and continues to be a way for our First Nations staff to network, connect, consult, support and share ideas with each other.
We have continued to honour First Nations peoples at every significant occasion and meeting, with appropriate and heartfelt Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country presentations.
We also provide opportunities for all staff to participate in significant days for Aboriginal communities and provide our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff with a day of leave to celebrate NAIDOC Week.
We have continued to make significant efforts to tap into the unique skills, competencies and opportunities that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees bring to Northcott.
Learning and development
More training opportunities.
Improved onboarding experience.
New orientation program.
Our goal is to support Northcott staff to be compliant with mandatory training requirements, while also excelling at their jobs, ultimately resulting in quality customer care.
Some key learning and development achievements in FY2022 included:
- Offering more options to attend training either face-to-face or online to better suit the needs of the learner and to ensure our employees could continue participating in training during periods of lockdown.
- Developing an improved onboarding experience for our new employees to help them settle and develop in their role more effectively.
- Creating a new orientation program to ensure all new employees have a consistent experience when commencing employment at Northcott.
Work Health and Safety
32% drop in the number of Lost Time Incidents (LTIs): 59 to 40
64% drop in the number of days taken off work after being injured: 2,392 to 846
26% drop in the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR): 21.39 to 15.77
32% drop in the number of Medically Treated Incidents (MTIs): 78 to 53
92% more incidents reported involving staff: 456 to 880
This year, our Work Health and Safety team focused on further developing the skills of frontline managers in the areas of minimising the risk of injury, early intervention and incident reporting.
Some highlights in FY22 included:
- Successfully transitioning from a conventional workers compensation premium model to the Loss Prevention and Recoveries Scheme (LPR), where the better we perform as an organisation in our return-to-work rates, the lower our premium will be each year.
- Seeing an increase in the number of incidents being reported, as a result of more awareness of the importance of incident reporting across the business. This also shows a positive safety culture beginning to form across Northcott.
- Evidence of a reduction in the number of days lost once a worker had been injured – as a result of improvements to our early intervention and injury management systems and processes.
Employee and Volunteer of the Year
Liz Forysth, CEO, Sarah Khalid (Employee of the Year) and Michael Briggs, Chair
At the Annual General Meeting in November 2021, we recognised two outstanding contributors to Northcott: Employee of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Sarah Khalid, originally an In-home and Community Support Worker with Northcott who has transitioned to a Behaviour Support Practitioner, was recognised as Employee of the Year for her great work ethic and displaying Northcott’s values in her day-to-day work.
Nova Franklin, Principal at Meld Studios, was awarded Volunteer of the Year, for her long-term volunteering commitment to Northcott, which most recently includes sharing her expertise and knowledge with Northcott Innovation’s Supported Living Lab. The Lab works to improve the quality of accommodation supports and services that are provided to Northcott’s customers.
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