Supporting Material

Workplace Communication - Case Studies

Case study written by DISTSS 2002

Case study 2

"Communication between staff members is not always clear. At the start of a shift, we need a process of deciding who will do what, so there is no confusion and it's not left to one person".

Residential Support Worker

Description of service

This Non-government service provides a range of flexible community based residential support programs in the Barwon South West region. There are four accommodation service locations:

  • House 1 which provides 24 hour specialist support for people with an acquired brain injury
  • House 2 provides 24 hour support for people with an intellectual disability focussing on independent living skills
  • House 3 provides respite for people with intellectual, physical and sensory disabilities and acquired brain injury
  • House 4 provides outreach support with a focus on independent living skills training.

The research

10 staff at this agency including the Executive Officer, Program Manager, House Supervisors and Support Workers were involved in this project to determine the workplace communication and literacy issues which exist within their organisation. A range of workplace documentation was collected and used for assessment within a guided self-assessment process. A sample of each participant's workplace writing was provided for assessment.

Findings of the project

Staff profile

Of the 10 staff interviewed which made up just under half of the total direct support staff at this service:

  • Their average employment is 3.4 years with a range of four months to 11 years
  • All staff are able to perform their workplace communication requirements
  • All are Australian born and have English as their first language
  • Nine have completed tertiary study. Of these, eight have completed TAFE studies and one has attended university
  • Seven have qualifications in Community Services
  • Five staff are upgrading their qualifications
  • One staff member is undertaking university studies in teaching and anthropology
  • Although House Staff do not have computer access, three regularly use computers at home and another one has access in their other part-time job.

Readability analysis of workplace documentation

Workplace documentation such as policies and procedures, guidelines and forms were analysed using predictive readability formulas. Of the workplace documentation analysed, all but the job descriptions fell within acceptable reading levels. The agency was advised to rewrite its job descriptions in plain English.

Workplace Communication issues

The following issues were raised by those interviewed:

  • Department of Human Services (DHS) communication. Issues here were about the volume and the amount of time taken up with administration rather than "hands on"

  • DSAS needs to be written in plain English and simplified to reduce repetition
    Completion of Incident Reports. Confusion about when an Incident Report should be completed and concern about varying quality
  • Completion of Service Needs Register (SNR). The Executive Officer is a member of the Priority Panel and is deeply concerned about the uneven quality of applications
  • Case Note completion. There is uncertainty about wording, protocols and terminology
  • Computers. In order to respond to on-line data collection, Housing Supervisors need access to computers. Some staff are fearful about using information technology
  • Staff meetings. There are not enough staff meetings, according to one staff member. There is also a call for a monthly house staff meeting
  • Allocation of work tasks. "What needs to be done and who's doing it" needs to be established in one of the houses, according to one staff member
  • Challenging behaviours is kept to a minimum as management take prompt action.
  • Public speaking is a difficulty for one House Supervisor who uses meetings with individuals as a strategy to manage this
  • Performance Review System. Issues raised here were the need for feedback between staff, from office staff to House Supervisors, a problem with the Performance Review System focussing on the individual and not the system, access to supervisors and ageist colleagues.

Action Plan

After consideration of workplace communication issues, the Executive Officer undertook to implement the following:

  • Incident Reports and Case notes -
    • Continue to provide ongoing guidance to staff in the completion of this documentation
    • Follow up their request that the training provider include workplace specific content in the delivery of Certificate IV, Disability Work
    • Direct staff to guidelines and examples of reports to assist staff and House Supervisors complete these tasks
  • Staff meetings - Circulate an agenda prior to meetings so that staff will be more likely to attend
  • Allocation of work tasks - The Executive Officer was already aware of this issue and a plan to resolve the situation has been implemented
  • Performance Review System - Continue to explore a Performance Review System.

Conclusion

This service in the Barwon south west region has a workforce that is Australian born, has English as its first language and is able to meet workplace communication requirements. The Executive Officer considered the 11 workplace communication issues raised and undertook to act on 5. The project officer will pass on concerns raised in 4 issues to the Department: DHS Communication, DSAS, SNR and Computers. No action needs to be taken about the remaining issues: Challenging Behaviour and Public Speaking.

"I'm not sure what wording to use for case notes. I'm not sure of the protocols - listing visitor names and the use of terminology".

Residential Support Worke