Aged Care Workforce Crisis in New Zealand: What HR Leaders Must Do Now

For most industries, this is unsettling. For aged care, it’s a direct threat to workforce stability and the continuity of care. What was already a shortage is quickly turning into a workforce drought, and HR leaders in aged care need to adapt quickly to protect care quality, compliance, and staff wellbeing.

This isn’t the familiar story of younger Kiwis heading offshore for adventure. Families, experienced care workers, and skilled professionals are leaving too. And with migrant arrivals down 30% and departures up 15%, the pipeline that usually replenishes aged care talent is narrowing just as demand increases. 

Regional New Zealand feels this most acutely. When population declines, so does the pool of potential caregivers, putting providers under pressure to maintain safe staffing, meet Health & Disability Services Standards, and deliver person-centred care.

Why does this matter for the aged care workforce?

Aged care doesn’t have the luxury of riding out a talent shortage. Providers need consistent staffing to meet care standards, maintain accreditation, and deliver safe care. Yet the sector is already:

• Navigating high turnover and burnout
• Operating with an ageing workforce heading toward retirement  
• Competing with Te Whatu Ora  and better-resourced health settings 
• Increasing scrutiny around care standards
• Growing expectations around cultural competency, safety, and Te Tiriti align

Add New Zealand’s mass departures on top of this, and the result is a labour market where skilled care workers are scarce and becoming scarcer. The challenge isn’t only finding the best talent, it’s being able to hire them fast, onboard them safely, and retain them long enough to stabilise care delivery.

What’s driving NZ talent loss and why does HR need to pay attention?

Economic pressures remain front and centre. Median rents, mortgages, and daily costs continue to outpace wages. According to ELMO’s 2025 Employee Sentiment Index:

• 37% of Kiwi employees say their income is not quite sufficient
• 15% state they’re ‘nowhere near’ meeting their household’s financial needs.
• 38% report feeling burnt out

Those pressures push people to look elsewhere (often across the Tasman) for a better wage-to-living ratio. Even when staff aren’t actively job-hunting, the motivations to leave are there: financial strain, limited progression, fatigue, and competing employer offers.

In aged care, where workforces are deeply local and highly relationship-based, the impact is magnified.

How can HR respond to a shrinking talent pool?

1) Recruitment needs to be fast and precise

When the talent pool is already small, and shrinking by the day, speed and accuracy are everything.  Manual processes and fragmented systems slow you down, and in a candidate’s market, delays cost you good people.

With ELMO Recruitment, aged care providers can:

• Reduce time spent managing applicants through automated workflows
• Use embedded AI to generate job ads and publish to multiple boards in one click
• Screen and shortlist candidates consistently
• Move candidates from offer to onboarding without duplication
• Improve the experience at every touchpoint, which matters when candidates have choices

Faster time-to-hire doesn’t just fill roles; it reduces pressure on your roster and your people, relieving burnout and flight risk.

2) Strengthen onboarding so staff are safe, confident and compliant

Onboarding in aged care isn’t just orientation, it’s essential for safe, high quality care. New staff need to feel competent and confident before they’re on the floor. You also need them to be compliant and dependable.

ELMO Onboarding helps you:

• Digitise paperwork and credential collection
• Capture required checks (e.g., police vetting, visa documentation, qualifications)
• Connect onboarding directly to mandatory training
• Give managers visibility over what’s complete and what’s outstanding
• Create consistent and repeatable onboarding across all sites

This directly supports NZ’s Health & Disability Services Standards and pay-equity transparency documentation, while significantly reducing probation churn.

3) Use data to identify flight risk early

The same forces pushing Kiwis overseas can push aged care workers to look elsewhere within New Zealand. HR needs clear visibility into turnover patterns, engagement signals, and workload pressures.

With ELMO HR Core, ELMO Survey and ELMO Analytics, you can:

• Surface early signs of burnout or disengagement
• Understand which roles or locations are at highest risk
• Track trends in short-tenure turnover
• Use real time data to intervene before resignation letters appear

Early action builds stability and reduces the cost of re-recruiting.

4) Invest in upskilling and development to retain staff

Retention isn’t just about pay. Many aged care workers want development, stability, and a role that feels sustainable long-term. Personal growth and clear development pathways truly matter.

ELMO Learning supports this by giving employees:

• Accessible training that fits around shifts
• Clear pathways for upskilling and progression
• Compliance and refresher training required for audits
• Culturally safe and NZ-specific training aligned with Te Tiriti expectations

A strong learning environment reduces turnover and strengthens loyalty.

5) Support migrant workers with structured, consistent processes

Migration remains a vital workforce source for New Zealand aged care.

ELMO’s connected HR platform helps ensure international hires:

• Complete all checks and documentation accurately
• Receive consistent onboarding, no matter the site
• Mandatory NZ-specific training (e.g., cultural safety, H&D Standards)
• Feel supported and integrated from day one

ELMO standardises this journey from pre-arrival through to full competency, increasing the likelihood that new migrant staff stay long-termAged care HR needs tools that support speed, safety, and stability

New Zealand’s workforce drought isn’t easing anytime soon. Providers need systems that reduce manual work, lift compliance confidence, and give HR real visibility over risk and opportunity.

ELMO’s platform is built for ANZ complexity, designed to support NZ workforce compliance, and backed by dedicated expertise.

ELMO helps aged care HR leaders:

• Stabilise staffing
• Reduce burnout
• Strengthen quality of care
• Improve audit readiness
• Build a sustainable workforce

Want to stabilise your workforce and strengthen care quality?

Speak to our local ELMO team about how connected HR technology can support safer onboarding, faster hiring, and better workforce visibility across your aged care sites.

Talk to our team