Villages can raise capital and build suites, but without culture, career paths and tech, care delivery will fail. The future will be won – or lost – on people.

The next great challenge for Australia’s retirement village sector isn’t bricks and mortar. It’s people.

Operators can raise money, secure approvals, and build care suites. But the single biggest variable in private aged care success is the workforce. It’s who you hire, how you train them – and whether they stay.

Scaling the team

The numbers show just how people-heavy private aged care is.

• Odyssey Robina: Around 200 residents to 75 staff including 7 Registered Nurses.
• LDK The Landings: 290 residents to 95 staff.
• LDK Greenway: 400 residents to 220 staff, with a mix of one-third full-time, one-third part-time, one-third casual.

That’s hospital-level intensity in a retirement setting. But scale pays off: LDK Seniors’ Living reports staff turnover is around 40% lower than sector averages, proving investment in culture and infrastructure changes the dynamic.

Culture before compliance

At the DCM Group’s recent Ask the Visionaries breakfast series, leaders from LDK Seniors’ Living, Odyssey Lifestyle Care Communities and Anglicare were unanimous: what makes the model work is culture.

You can’t outsource culture to an agency. Agency staff aren’t embedded in the community and don’t live the values that residents buy into.

At LDK, culture is codified through the ‘LDK Way’ – daily meetings, retreats, even residents mentoring staff. Turnover falls when people feel part of something bigger.

“Care isn’t set-and-forget,” CEO Byron Cannon told SATURDAY. “It demands discipline, alignment across the whole business, and an ongoing commitment to deliver what you promise.”

The “mum test”

Odyssey applies the “mum test”: if a candidate’s care isn’t good enough for founder Phil Usher’s mother, they don’t get hired.

“Outsourcing care might look easier, but it doesn’t work,” said CEO Aaron Lavell. “As residents age in place, acuity rises – and unless you fully commit, recruit the right cultural fit, and own the model, you can’t deliver it properly.”

The message is clear: an in-house team is non-negotiable. Workforce is not an add-on – it is the model.

Recruitment reimagined

Money matters – Odyssey pays above award rates – but it’s not enough. Staff want clear pathways.

At LDK, carers can progress into ICT, management or clinical specialties. Odyssey offers rotations and mentoring across sites, building a consulting-style environment where talent attracts talent.

Recognition also counts: peer awards, training academies and leadership coaching keep staff engaged.

Residents notice the difference. Many switch from external providers to in-house teams because of 24/7 onsite staff: no travel time, shorter increments, and constant presence. In other words, better care per dollar of labour.

Tech as a workforce multiplier

Culture keeps staff, but technology frees their time.

Caroline Lee, Founder and CEO of software platform Leecare, stressed at the breakfasts that enterprise systems can guide inexperienced staff, automate reporting, and support a diverse, multilingual workforce (Leecare’s app suite now spans 80 languages).

Case in point: Leecare recently acquired Tell Touch, which automatically updates resident, client and representative details across both systems, reducing the administrative load on staff.

“It’s not just residents and families we’re surveying, but staff as well – so we can correlate the experiences and make sure what we’re providing is truly a quality service,” she explains.

The platform also offers dashboards that give managers line-of-sight over rostering, credentialing and KPIs.

Less paperwork, more care

Leecare’s Platinum6 software frees staff from admin so they can focus on residents. Automated reporting, clinical alerts and medication management are integrated into one system across retirement, home and aged care. Even new staff can follow guided assessments, ensuring safe, consistent care. Operators gain real-time oversight, staff gain confidence, and residents get better outcomes.

Find out more at leecare.com.au

David Waldie, CEO of care monitoring platform eevi, agrees that technology is key to solving the workforce equation. His system equips carers with real-time resident profiles – “you’re going to see Tom, he has early stage dementia and likes Bach” – enabling staff to personalise their approach.

Sensor platforms now generate digital phenotypes – sleep, toileting, and movement patterns – that flag decline before it becomes a crisis. Crucially, alerts are filtered to suppress noise and surface only what matters, protecting carers from alarm fatigue.

“The data is now available, and the systems are there to let you rely on it for care delivery – whether it’s flagging agitation, guiding medication management with GPs, or communicating clearly with families,” David said.

Smart tech that supports care

eevi’s platform helps staff respond faster and smarter. Calls are triaged in real time, with carers receiving resident details before they arrive – saving steps and stress. All alerts, notes and data feed into a single app, reducing paperwork and boosting compliance. For operators, it means safer systems; for staff, more time to deliver meaningful care.

Discover more at eevi.life

Put simply: software guides, sensors anticipate, AI filters the noise – leaving people free to care.

Rethinking the footprint

Workforce efficiency is also shaped by design. Broadacre villages waste staff time. Vertical models, care suites and integrated campuses allow the same team to cover more residents effectively.

New Zealand’s care suites – one-bed or studio apartments built to 9C standards – bundle higher care with dedicated teams, bridging the gap between home care and RAC.

Grandton’s Applecross project shows the appeal: private care suites embedded in luxury strata apartments drew residents back from aged care homes into village living.

Customers are calling the shots

Ultimately, residents decide whether care belongs in villages. As DCM Group CEO Chris Baynes put it: “I’m in my village home and I’m not leaving.”

Consumers will pay for certainty. LDK homes sell 30-35% above comparable residential properties because membership fees underwrite lifetime care, capped weekly fees, and a promise residents never have to move again.

That certainty funds staff stability. At LDK, 25% of membership and capital gain is reinvested annually into care and hospitality, giving staff time to connect with residents instead of sprinting between tasks.

Workforce is the bottleneck

Infrastructure can be built. Capital can be raised. But by 2030, Australia will be short one in three care staff needed. That is the real choke point – see the slide below from Regis’ latest investor presentation that underlines the challenge facing the sector.

External home care providers can’t be relied on: with a limited workforce, many will prioritise full-fee clients over capped Packages. The near-term hope? AI will see a new labour pool of retrenched knowledge workers pivoting into local care roles over the next three years. Migration will still be needed, but culture, pay and career pathways will decide who stays.

Private aged care isn’t a property play. It’s a workforce play. Operators who solve the people puzzle will shape the sector’s future.