Transform HR overhead into workforce advantage

The Challenge: A System That Wasn't a System

Maroba, a residential aged care provider with 220+ employees, was struggling with performance management that barely existed. Their "system" was a patchwork of email reminders, paper forms, and good intentions.

Rachel Hollis, General Manager, People and Culture, describes the chaos: "We tried putting deadlines in our rostering system, reminders in our payroll system. We'd send emails with forms attached, but there was no real reminder on that. It relied on people going back and checking deadlines to chase it up." The forms would disappear into the ether - either completed and never collected, or lost entirely in the administrative shuffle.

The stark reality: Less than 10% of required appraisals were completed annually. Managers received forms via email with no follow-up. Positive feedback disappeared into the ether. Critical performance discussions were buried in notebooks.

The probation process was equally broken. Three-week check-ins and eight-week "First Impressions" surveys existed on paper but were rarely completed. When they were, the forms sat in personnel files with no analysis possible. "If you wanted to do any analysis, you were pulling together pieces of paper from wherever they sat, then typing into a system. In actual fact, we weren't doing any of that," Rachel admits.

"If we were audited, we couldn't say yes to having a performance appraisal system."

- Rachel Hollis, General Manager, People and Culture

The Transformation with Ausmed Perform

Maroba implemented structured programs that run themselves:

• Automated probation programme: 3-week check-in → 8-week survey → 6-month review
• Annual reviews: Self-assessments paired with manager feedback
• Real-time documentation: Performance notes and recognition captured as they happen
• Smart automation: The system schedules, reminds, and tracks - no manual chasing

Rachel explains the shift in accountability: "Every employee that commences at Maroba is loaded into two different Perform programs automatically. They're assigned to People and Culture until they complete their new employee check-in and First Impressions. Once they get to probationary level, we move it across to their organisational manager."

The transformation extended beyond automation. Performance discussions that previously lived in Rachel's email inbox or notebook now had a home. "If we've got an email raising a concern about somebody's practice, we copy from the email and create a Perform note. Everything's in there - anything constructive in Perform notes, anything positive in feedback because we want that to be forward-facing."

The Impact: From <10% to 100% Coverage

The People's Choice Awards exemplify the change. Previously, votes were typed into letters and sent to employees - never captured systematically. Now, Rachel reports: "We just cut and paste it straight into feedback. As we were walking around Maroba, people were saying 'Oh my gosh, my feedback just popped up!' Because Ausmed is a system they're comfortable with, but now they're getting this beautiful piece that's not just learning, but also valuing."

Perhaps most importantly, the system now feeds directly into training needs analysis. "We've created input into a training needs analysis that is driven by the employee with comments from the manager. Probably not an intended outcome, but an absolute winner," Rachel notes.

"The biggest change is coordination - and the relief of knowing there's a system in place. Staff now have confidence they'll be listened to. It's not just compliance - it's value."

- Rachel Hollis

The Challenge: Doubling in Size, Drowning in Admin

Cooinda's workforce doubled from 75 to 150 staff in just a few years. Their Operations Manager was spending 10-15 hours weekly just chasing appraisals. Staff surveys revealed a critical issue: employees didn't feel recognised despite management's efforts.

Naomi Taylor, Operations Manager, paints the picture: "I was spending 10-15 hours a week just chasing appraisals, scheduling them, sending out forms for people to complete, scanning them all in." The administrative burden was crushing - managing spreadsheets, scheduling meetings, following up with staff for pre-work, chasing supervisors for availability, rescheduling when meetings fell through, scanning paper forms, extracting action items into yet another spreadsheet.

The quality and capability coordinator, Dana, had her own nightmare: "No one screws up your filters," she says of their Excel-based performance log. "If you spell the first or last name wrong, then your filters don't work. You've got two Katies spelled differently. When I'm looking at someone's performance, I need confidence that everything's there."

The breaking point came when year-end appraisals collided with staff leave, creating a compliance nightmare tracked in broken spreadsheets.

The Solution: Shifting from Chasing to Coaching

Cooinda deployed Ausmed Perform with a clear strategy:

• Manager ownership: Team leaders took responsibility for their direct reports' reviews
• "Feedback blitz": Launched recognition tools with an organisation-wide campaign
• Data-driven training: Self-assessments revealed demand for palliative care training, leading to new policies
• Centralised records: Replaced spreadsheets with auditable performance notes

The implementation was strategic. Naomi explains: "We really did a blitz when we first got access to the system to make sure everyone felt recognised and knew the system was there." Every supervisor was trained to provide positive feedback through the system. The goal was simple: ensure every staff member received at least one piece of genuine, timely recognition.

The unexpected benefit came from the appraisal data itself. "We definitely looked at the training requirements and noticed a lot of people reaching out for palliative training, specifically care of the body after death. That prompted us to create our own internal policy and procedure," Naomi reveals.

The Results: 93% Time Savings, 100% Staff Coverage

The shift in manager capability was profound. As Dana explains: "It's now the facility managers overseeing those dates and timings, not the HR team. It's a shift in responsibility - it used to be us reporting to them and following up. Now facility managers can see that information clearly themselves."

Staff engagement transformed too. "People are eager for feedback. If it's automated and they see it coming through, they really want that self-reflection. People really want to give that feedback and hear from their supervisors," Naomi observes. The system even surprised them with its user-friendliness: "Staff completed their self-reflection who we thought would need help, and we were shocked. That's how user-friendly it is."

"We gained time back while also creating purposeful conversations where staff feel recognised."

- Naomi Taylor, Operations Manager

The Challenge: Paper Forms Lost in Filing Cabinets

Twilight Aged Care's multi-facility operation was managing performance reviews with paper forms that often got lost. Their "catchups" (appraisals) were tick-box exercises filed away with no visibility, no analysis, and no connection to staff development.

Fiona, Organisational Development Manager, recalls the frustration: "Our catchups were all paper-based. Some would get lost and we really wouldn't understand where the actual staff member's education was up to. There was no follow-up, no analysis of the catchups at all." When asked for feedback from facility managers about staff reviews, the response was telling: "We've got bits of paper everywhere in files. To actually pull it all together would be a massive amount of work."

Madelyn Dupriez, HR Administrator, describes the manual process: "It was a physical form being completed by the facility manager, sent to myself, then recorded on our rostering system. That date wouldn't flag anywhere. There was no system where facility managers could see due dates, so they couldn't organise catchups themselves."

HR was chasing facility managers for overdue forms while career aspirations and training needs remained buried in filing cabinets.

The Digital Shift: From Filing to Fulfilling

Twilight rebranded appraisals as "catchups" and digitised everything:

• Electronic reviews: Accessible to both managers and staff anytime
• Live compliance checks: Training status visible during reviews
• Structured probation: 3-month and 6-month checkpoints for new starters
• Manager dashboards: Full visibility of team performance and due dates

The transformation was comprehensive. Madelyn explains: "Now it's all electronic. Managers can go in, see who's due, run the catchup, and everything's there in one place - including compliance and feedback." During catchups, managers can now see staff training compliance live, eliminating the tick-box guesswork that plagued the paper system.

Fiona emphasises the cultural shift: "It's building capacity in the leadership team, giving Facility Managers ownership of managing their teams, not just relying on HR." The feedback from facility managers has been overwhelmingly positive. "They absolutely love it. They find it so much easier. They're using it not just for scheduled catchups but for other discussions as well."

The Outcome: 90% Less Admin, 95% Staff Satisfaction

The impact on staff development has been transformative. Fiona shares a powerful example: "We have staff coming to us as volunteers initially. They find they like working with Twilight, might do an admin role. We ask about their interests, support them through training. We have a staff member who started in the kitchen, did cleaning, worked as a PCA, now they're an RN and have become a clinical care manager."

The system's impact on compliance has been equally dramatic. "It's about accountability and monitoring. Before, visibility was really hard. Now we can actually see it. Managers are really owning it and getting on top of their reviews. It's not reliance on HR reminding them," Fiona explains.

"Managers can go in, see who's due, run the catchup, and everything's there in one place - including compliance and feedback."

- Madelyn Dupriez, HR Administrator

"Staff are being heard and we're investing in their development. That flows onto resident care and safe, quality care."

- Fiona, Organisational Development Manager