A private aged care organisation is offering staff who work extra shifts the chance to win a share of a $10,000 lottery as the industry continues to grapple with worker shortages.
The tickets were being offered as an extra incentive by MyHomecare Group, which offers in-home care packages across Australia and services about 6,000 clients in Victoria.
Chief executive Stuart Miller told ABC Radio Melbourne a "perfect storm" had affected the industry, with some clients' houses unable to be cleaned as jobs went unfilled.
"The reality is these people are feeling fed up and [are] leaving the sector in droves, and it's a real problem for us," Mr Miller said.
Entry to the nationwide lottery preferenced those who had been with the company the longest.
"If you've taken on an extra hour, you'll get three tickets, if you've been there a year, it's four tickets," Mr Miller said.
"If you do more hours than you did on average in the previous fortnight or month, we'll give you a ticket into our raffle."
Mr Miller said the initiative started in August and would run until Christmas.
Mr Miller said the lottery tickets were in addition to receiving overtime pay, rather than in lieu of payment.
When asked why staff members were not instead paid a higher wage as an incentive to work more hours, Mr Miller said "not everyone wanted to do more".
The company has also distributed fuel vouchers on three occasions to staff members required to use their own vehicles for their job.
Worse yet to come
Mr Miller said about 30 per cent of his workforce were migrant workers.
"Obviously in the past two years we've had none of that and the reality is, even though we are turning back on the immigration pipeline, it's a lesser number," he said.
"They don't come with the same training required, so we have to invest in that training."
Training took between nine and12 months, Mr Miller said.
"Just to keep up with the demand for our services, we're having to put on 40 staff members every single month," he said.
Move criticised by union
While Mr Miller said the strategy had been successful and had received positive feedback from staff and clients, the lottery was slammed by the Health Services Union.
National secretary Lloyd Williams said the move offered no real solution.
"There would be no need for an employer to get creative to attract and retain workers if they were offering well-paid, secure jobs," he said.
"Aged care workers are overworked, underpaid and burnt out.
"It is wrong to take advantage of these workers with short-term incentives. Just pay them more."
In August, the federal government confirmed it would fund a potential aged care worker pay increase in a submission to the Fair Work Commission by unions seeking a 25 per cent pay rise for home care and residential workers.
A Department of Health and Aged Care spokesperson said while the government "encourages aged care providers to think innovatively about strategies to attract and retain workers, the emphasis is on improved wages and conditions".
