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Burnout is the driving factor behind aged care workers walking away from a provider, not pay, new data from Mirus Australia shows.
The poll of 170 people across 123 aged care organisations, conducted ahead of Mirus Australia’s recruitment and retention webinar, shows 52 per cent of respondents had lost a staff member in the last 12 months that they believe they could have kept.
Nearly half of the 123 participating organisations (46 per cent) have lost more than one employee.
Meanwhile, 34 per cent of respondents were unsure and 14 per cent could confidently say they have not.
Burnout and workload were the number one reasons behind workers leaving (21 per cent), ahead of pay and conditions (16 per cent), feelings of being undervalued or unheard (15 per cent) and poor leadership or management (12 per cent).
Burnout impacting workforce retention is not a new concept for the sector, with ethyx Global founder and chief behavioural scientist Dr Darren Coppin discussing the different types of burnout and how to better support workers at this month’s Ageing Australia NSW/ACT conference.
Dr Michelle Olaithe also discussed the importance of timely mental health support for Australian Ageing Agenda’s Leadership Talk 2026 series, while earlier this year, Ageing Australia chief executive officer Tom Sydmonson told a Senate inquiry hearing into the Commonwealth Home Support Program that the sector is exhausted and even CEOs are leaving due to burnout.
Mirus Australia’s poll also found nearly a third of respondents (32 per cent) were unsure why their staff leave at all and just 36 per cent formally measure staff morale regularly – 34 per cent indicated they measure it occasionally.
Mirus Australia general manager of product Ben Sturzaker said that for years, the conversation about aged care turnover has started and ended with pay, but that times have changed.
“What providers are telling us now matches what workers told the government’s own workforce survey: burnout, workload and feeling unsupported have moved to the front of the queue. In some ways that is encouraging, because those are things within a provider’s reach,” he said.
“The finding we keep coming back to is that almost a third of respondents are not sure why their people leave, and only a third measure staff morale regularly. That is not a criticism, it reflects how stretched teams are, but it does suggest the first step in retention is getting visibility of the pattern.”
Of the 123 providers polled, just 19 per cent considered themselves in a good position when it came to workforce.
Meanwhile, 42 per cent said they were finding attracting and retaining staff equally hard. The remaining respondents were split between attraction and retention.
Mirus Australia head of data and insights Tyler Fisher said this indicates that workforce retention is largely a visibility problem.
“Workload, burnout and feeling undervalued all show up in the roster long before they show up in a resignation letter,” Mr Fisher said.
“Unfilled shifts, repeat overtime, the same people carrying the load week after week. Providers who can see those patterns can fix the workload before it costs them the person. Looking after the people already with you is the strongest workforce strategy available.”
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