App helps Peninsula Villages boost recruitment

A recently launched employee referral and reward program has allowed Peninsula Villages to achieve significantly improved recruitment outcomes.

Based on the Central Coast of New South Wales, the aged care and retirement living provider launched the program with Care Friends in May 2023.

The Care Friends app aims to help with addressing a worker shortage in the aged care industry, by making it easy for employees to refer their friends and family members for open positions.

Employees can earn up to $400 and micro rewards for each step in the recruitment process that their referred candidate successfully completes. This helps to motivate employees to refer their friends and family members. Since implementing the Care Friends app, Peninsula Villages has seen a 25% increase in applications, with 35% of new hires now coming from app referrals. The average time to fill a vacancy using the app is 35 days, with 24 new staff members hired through the app since May 2023 and no departures.

Nicola Burton, Executive Manager of Quality and Organisational Development at Peninsula Villages, said the Care Friends app has helped to address some of the key challenges that the organisation faced in recruiting staff, including finding candidates with the right qualifications who live locally.

“When we use online job boards or even our website, we get a lot of people applying who we can’t consider because they don’t have the correct qualifications or they live internationally,” Burton said.

“Care Friends has helped us to reduce this problem significantly. Our recruitment is now more targeted, and we love that we can work in partnership with our staff and reward them for being part of our recruitment process.”

The app allows Peninsula Villages to target its recruitment efforts more effectively by matching open positions with employees’ networks of friends and family members. This has helped to reduce the number of unqualified applicants and to ensure that Peninsula Villages is attracting candidates with the right skills and experience. While over a third of its starters have care or clinical qualifications and experience, Burton said Peninsula Villages has seen the most volume with using Care Friends to recruit for positions that don’t require a qualification, such as traineeships and housekeeping roles.

“Employees can invite their friends and family members without prior experience to apply for these roles,” she said.

In addition to helping Peninsula Villages recruit more quickly and efficiently, the Care Friends app has also helped the organisation improve its employer brand and build stronger relationships with its employees.

“By showing that the organisation is committed to rewarding its employees for referring their friends and family members, we can create a more positive and inclusive workplace culture,” Burton said.

“Additionally, by engaging with employees’ networks of friends and family members, we can create a more supportive and connected workplace.”

Image courtesy of Peninsula Villages.