The Aged Care Leadership Crisis: Why Good Managers Are Leaving and Why They’re So Difficult to Replace
Daniel Harris
It’s no secret that Aged Care providers are under pressure to recruit. But increasingly, the bigger challenge may be keeping the experienced leaders they already have.
Across the sector, workforce turnover remains high, while demand for skilled and experienced people continues to grow. The latest Productivity Commission data shows that 7% of service managers stopped working at their residential aged care service during the final quarter of 2024–25, compared with 4.9% of the overall residential aged care workforce.
When an experienced manager leaves, replacing them isn't as simple as filling a vacancy. Their knowledge of the service, their team and their residents go with them. And when those leaders are difficult to replace, the pressure then falls on the people who remain and pick up the work, leading to the risk of further turnover.
Breaking that cycle means looking beyond attraction and begins with retention.
Why are good managers leaving?
When an experienced manager resigns, the immediate focus is usually on replacing them. The role goes to market, recruitment starts and everyone hopes the right person comes along quickly. But if good managers are leaving regularly, there is a bigger question worth asking: why?
It is easy to assume that people leave because they have been offered more money elsewhere. And while that’s sometimes true, the decision is rarely that simple and clear-cut for experienced Aged Care leaders.
They are also looking at what their working life actually looks like. Is the workload manageable? Do they have enough people around them to run the service properly? Do they feel supported by senior leadership? Do they have the autonomy to make decisions and lead their service effectively, without having to constantly work around bigger organisational problems?
And perhaps most crucially: do they feel that their work is valued?
These things can be difficult to measure, but they have a very real impact on retention. Someone may accept a slightly higher salary, but if the role comes with an unsustainable workload and little support, it may not take long before they start wondering whether the move was worth it.
The reverse is also true. A manager who feels trusted, supported and listened to has a big reason to stay, even when the job itself is demanding.
Pay matters, but it isn't the whole retention strategy
Aged Care wages have improved significantly in recent times, which is an important step forward for the sector, but providers are not just competing with each other; they are also competing for experienced people with disability, health and community services employers too, many of whom are looking for professionals with the same leadership, clinical and operational skills.
That makes competing on salary alone difficult. If one provider increases its offer, another employer can do the same. There will always be someone who can potentially pay more.
The things that are harder to replicate are often the ones that make people want to stay, such as:
- A fair and manageable roster
- A manager who feels heard
- Senior leaders who step in when things get difficult, rather than simply asking the team to do more
- A genuine opportunity to progress
These things may not appear on a job advertisement, but candidates notice them. And increasingly, they are part of the conversation when experienced professionals are deciding whether to stay where they are or look elsewhere.
Regional and remote providers have even less room for error
For providers sitting outside metropolitan areas, the challenge can be even greater as the experienced talent pool is significantly smaller.
In fact, the Australian Government's recent review of aged care in regional, rural and remote areas found that more than 50% of survey respondents identified attracting and retaining clinical staff as the biggest factor affecting their ability to deliver sustainable, quality and safe care. For non-clinical staff, the figure was 48%.
This creates a very different recruitment environment. You can't necessarily fix a leadership vacancy by offering more money and waiting for the right person to appear as there may not be another person waiting.
Hence why retention becomes particularly important for regional and remote Aged Care providers. When there are fewer people to recruit from, keeping the good people you already have becomes one of the strongest workforce strategies available. And what keeps someone in a regional community isn't always a bigger salary.
It might be flexibility around their working arrangements, a fairer roster, greater autonomy over how they run their home, or simply knowing that if they raise a concern, someone will actually listen. For an experienced Facility Manager, having the trust and authority to make appropriate operational decisions can be a significant part of whether a role feels sustainable.
It could also be seeing a genuine opportunity to progress without having to leave the community to find it.
For providers, that means thinking about retention before a resignation lands on the desk.
The next leader might already be right in front you
One of the most overlooked ways to strengthen the leadership pipeline is to look internally.
There may already be people within the organisation who have the experience, capability and ambition to step into a more senior role. For example, an experienced Registered Nurse who has started taking on more responsibility or a Care Manager ready to broaden their operational experience.
The challenge is making that pathway visible.
People are more likely to see a future with an organisation when they can see what that future could actually look like. That might mean mentoring, greater exposure to different areas of the service, additional responsibility or simply having a senior leader take the time to develop someone properly.
Temporary management support can also play a role here. An experienced temporary manager can provide stability while a permanent appointment is being made, but they can also help support and upskill existing employees who may have the potential to step into a more senior position longer term.
Rather than placing additional pressure on an emerging leader before they are ready, temporary management support can create breathing room, provide hands-on guidance and help build capability within the existing team.
For regional and remote providers in particular, developing that talent internally can be a practical way to reduce reliance on an already limited external talent pool. It also gives people a reason to stay.
Recruitment shouldn't start when someone resigns
By the time a good manager hands in their notice, the recruitment problem has already arrived.
The better time to think about it is much earlier. Questions you should ask yourself are:
- Who are the people who could step up?
- Where are the biggest gaps in the current leadership team?
- Which managers are carrying too much?
- And where might there be a risk of losing someone who would be difficult to replace?
These conversations don't need to be complicated. They are about understanding where the organisation could be vulnerable and doing something about it before a vacancy exposes the gap.
That might mean identifying emerging leaders, reviewing development plans, looking at succession for key roles or simply having more honest conversations with managers about what they need to stay.
And where a leadership gap does arise unexpectedly, temporary management can provide continuity while the organisation takes the time to find the right permanent person, rather than feeling pressured into making a rushed appointment.
Recruitment shouldn't start when someone resigns
Recruitment will always be part of the answer. Aged Care providers need to attract new talent and, in many cases, bring experienced leaders in from outside the organisation. But recruitment can't fix a retention problem on its own.
If experienced managers are leaving faster than organisations can replace them, the focus needs to shift. Not away from recruitment, but towards understanding what is happening to the people already inside the organisation. The strongest leadership pipeline isn't necessarily the one with the biggest pool of external candidates but one where good people can see a future, feel supported in their current role and have solid reasons to stay.
Looking for a healthcare recruitment partner that understands the importance of getting the right people in the right roles? Get in touch with Curamoir.













