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Australian Unity: CPSU NSW meets with your managers regarding work overload

Since Australian Unity (AU) has been in the process of a significant restructure of its business in supporting the elderly, members have advised of an increase in their workloads.

The CPSU NSW has raised workload concerns on each occasion it has met with AU management. AU management has advised it will complete a “Time and Motion Study”. The benefits of a time and motion study, a HR relic of the early 20th century, is debatable.

Time and motion studies are simply a snapshot in time of a role. As can be seen in the present restructure of service delivery at AU, processes are constantly evolving. This means that any time and motion study is unlikely to successfully capture and quantify the evolution of a role.

Need proof? Members talk about the inadequate time for:

• Emails Some emails are easy to deal with, others, far more complex. Some days few emails are received, other days, our inboxes get bombarded. How can a time a motion study factor in these variables to allocate appropriate time for email tasks?
• Travel time When performing field work with the clients you support, those in metro areas may face traffic queues, school zones, unexpected road works or traffic accidents, all of which can seriously impact travel time. Those in rural areas have longer distances to travel which they claim are mostly insufficient.
• Site visits Sometimes a visit becomes longer as the client health deteriorates, or hazards and risks are identified at their residence.
• Donesafe processing and actioning all Donesafe reports and corrective actions.
• Reports Daily actioning of all reports.

Further, as many of the tasks you perform often rely on human elements involving creativity, analysis, research, reasoning, and problem solving (particularly with more complex client needs), these are all factors which are unlikely to be successfully captured in any time and motion study.

If you are overloaded with work, fatigue will negatively impact on your performance the work output you can reasonably achieve. Members have also relayed that since the restructure was announced, their morale has tanked as their future employment at AU has left them uncertain.

Whether it be ad hoc one-off tasks (such as the Client Uplift project) or additional new work (including working with Clinical Care Partners and complex case conference outcomes and actions) members advise they are finding it increasingly hard to meet the unrealistic productivity expectations of AU.

Further, the union is advised by members that they feel compelled to work outside of their contracted hours – essentially working for free and donating their toil to AU – without any recompense.

When you are approached by your manager with a new task (job or report to action) if you already have a full load for the day, ask your manager what tasks you should deprioritise. Alternatively, review your task (current workload to include KPI’s) at hand and reprioritise your workload yourself. Advise your manager of what tasks you will be unable to complete during your contracted hours.

In 21st century Australia, workers should not be expected to work for free. If your workload requires you to work beyond your daily contracted hours, you should approach your manager and ask if AU is willing to pay overtime for you to complete your work. in the absence of some form of recompense (either paid overtime or time off in lieu), you should cease work and go home.

CPSU NSW workload survey

The CPSU NSW has developed the below short survey surrounding workload matters, which members are encouraged to complete.

The union will share de-identified information with AU management at the conclusion of the survey.

The survey is open now, for two weeks, and will close on 6 June 2025.

Please complete the survey here.