What is driving attrition

 

• Workload and burnout. Nurses and clinicians report heavy caseloads, limited support, and weak trust in management. Nearly half of nurses in a 2024 survey pointed to culture and support gaps.
• Maldistribution. Roles cluster in cities while rural and outer-metro areas struggle to attract and keep staff.
• Career paths that stall. Limited supervision and unclear steps from graduate to advanced practice push people to move or exit.
• Reliance on short-term fixes. High use of locums and agency staff can raise cost and weaken team cohesion, which in turn reduces retention.
• System bottlenecks. Bed block and “stranded” patients amplify pressure on staff time and morale.

 

What works (practical moves you can implement now)

1) Set retention targets like operational KPIs

• Track 90-day, 1-year, and 2-year retention by site and manager.
• Tie manager goals to retention and unplanned vacancy days.
• Build a simple stay/leave dashboard that blends HRIS, rostering, and leave data.

2) Fix the work, not only the pay

• Rostering: Give clinicians roster certainty four weeks ahead; expand self-scheduling where safe.
• Supervision: Guarantee protected supervision time for early-career staff.
• Caseload: Cap new-grad loads and ramp them up with clear thresholds.
• Scope of practice: Use policy levers, such as registered-nurse prescribing pathways, to remove low-value bottlenecks and lift role satisfaction.

3) Make development visible and real

• Publish role ladders with criteria, pay steps, and learning attached to each step.
• Fund certificates that align to service need (for example, acute, peri-op, mental health, aged care).
• Pair every new hire with a trained preceptor for the first six months.

4) Reduce first-year exits

Look out for early-tenure risk and the value of selection and onboarding that screen for fit and give realistic previews. Translate this into healthcare by:

• Using scenario-based interviews about shift work, team handovers, and weekend coverage.
• Running structured, site-specific onboarding with day-30, day-60, and day-90 check-ins.

5) Build place-based offers for hard-to-staff locations

• Offer relocation, housing help, partner employment referrals, and paid travel home each quarter.
• Set up rural rotation programs and guarantee city rotations to keep skills current.
• Measure success by vacancy days avoided and 2-year retention by postcode.

6) Keep aged-care talent with role clarity and support

• Workers enter aged care to make a difference, yet report variable conditions and training access. Give clear duties, consistent shifts, and pathways to clinical specialisation.
• Track reasons for leaving at exit and close the loop with site-level actions.

7) Use stay interviews and rapid-response fixes

• Ask three questions quarterly: What keeps you here? What might pull you away? What small change would help next month?
• Fund quick wins within 30 days (for example, equipment, break coverage, handover time).

 

Policy settings to Watch

• National Medical Workforce Strategy: focus on distribution, supervision, generalism, and reduced reliance on locums and short-term fixes. Align local tactics to these settings to tap grants and partnerships.
• System capacity pressures: stranded patients and delayed discharge increase staff load; joint work with aged-care providers can reduce pressure and improve staff experience.

Conclusion

Retention isn’t only a people issue — it’s a core performance and service continuity measure. The most successful health and aged-care organisations now treat retention as part of their operating model, tracking it with the same focus as patient flow, quality, or cost.

If you would like to discuss staff retention strategies or explore how Predictus Search can help you secure and keep the right leaders for your organisation, contact us today.

Sources

• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Health workforce and Australia’s health 2024. AIHW+1
• Australian Department of Health and Aged Care, National Medical Workforce Strategy 2021–2031. Department of Health
• Department of Health and Aged Care, Aged Care Worker Survey 2024 and Aged Care Provider Workforce Survey 2023. Department of Health+1
• News reporting and policy updates that affect workforce design, including nurse-prescribing reforms and bed-block pressures. News.com.au+1
• Peer-reviewed research on allied-health recruitment and retention drivers. BioMed Central