Staff at the federal agency tasked with improving the quality and safety of NDIS services are being overworked and want to leave their employer, according to results from an employee survey.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
National Disability Insurance Scheme Quality and Safeguards Commission employees blasted the agency in the annual census gauging the views of public servants, saying their workloads were well above capacity.
The survey results show many want out, as nearly two-thirds of the staff said they were looking for another job outside the agency.
Nearly half of the staff surveyed said they were overworked, compared to 15 per cent who said their workloads were at the right level.
The Community and Public Sector Union said the survey, conducted in May and completed by 72 per cent of staff, confirmed workplace issues previously raised by union members, including employee burnout.
Ms Vincent Pietsch said agency staff believed strongly in the importance of their work, and that 93 per cent indicated this in the survey.
"Staff want the agency to function well so that it can fulfill its role in improving the delivery of the critically important National Disability Insurance Scheme and resolving concerns of participants and providers," she said.
"NDISQSC management needs to sit down and work with staff and the union to urgently address the issues raised and get the agency functioning well."
About a third of staff believed internal communication within the agency was effective, and that change was managed well.
Three-quarters of respondents reported their workgroup had the appropriate skills, capabilities and knowledge to perform well, but only a third said they were provided the tools and resources needed.
READ MORE:
A commission spokesperson said the agency took the health and wellbeing of staff seriously, and that it was already acting to address the concerns raised in the survey. The results were consistent with feedback the agency had already received internally, the spokesperson said.
"What the results do is provide us another point of reference and opportunity to focus in on key areas," they said.
An email to staff said executive level employees and senior leaders would meet aiming to prioritise areas for improvements over the next 12 months. The agency promised to share the results of the session with staff in coming weeks.
The commission spokesperson said it had held a working group that included employees from across the agency, which had run workshops on the issues raised in staff feedback.
The agency had made changes aiming to improve clarity on roles and responsibilities, and to simplify reporting lines, and was looking to ease workloads, the spokesperson said.
Ms Vincent-Pietsch on Thursday said CPSU members were pleased management was now looking seriously at addressing the impacts of high workloads and other issues with workers and their representatives.
"These issues, that stem from understaffing and under resourcing, have detrimental effects on the agency's ability to deliver important services to support the NDIS," she said.
"We look forward to working with NDISQSC management and Comcare to take action on the solutions our members have been proposing."