WorkUP Queensland Workforce Survey 2025 Overview
A compelling story of a capable and courageous workforce
WorkUP recently undertook it’s fourth workforce survey to provide a continued evidence-based understanding of the characteristics, challenges and needs of our workforce in Queensland.
This survey serves three critical purposes:
- Provides insight into the characteristics of the workforce and highlights the strengths and unique ways of working.
- Identifies the challenges that impact attraction and retention and signposts where greater care, investment, or structural change is needed.
- Provides continued direction to WorkUP to inform and shape activities and strategies to strengthen and grow the workforce.
Throughout the report a range of WorkUP initiatives to grow, strengthen and sustain the workforce are showcased aligning with emerging survey themes.
What did we learn?
The survey data tells a compelling story: the workforce is values and purpose driven and the sector has the elements required to sustain its workforce.
The results highlight the hard work the sector has done to create exceptional workplaces that are deeply engaged, where teams work well together and workers are resilient.
Leaders emerge as a clear strength, who play a vital role in creating and sustaining wellbeing and employee engagement; and supporting and protecting their teams in challenging conditions. This underscores the skill of leaders in understanding the risks of psychosocial hazards and being proactive to mitigate the risks to their workers.
The workforce is growing, and while this growth is necessary, it impacts workplaces and workers in terms of onboarding time, workload, response times, waitlists, and overall workplace stability and relationships. This continued growth will require ongoing support to strengthen pathways into the sector.
Within the data there is also caution – the workforce is experiencing exhaustion and reports workload and time pressure, understaffing and a high administrative burden. This is compounded by increasing complexity and demand, ongoing challenges related to recruiting key roles and ensuring the right experience and skills. Workers signpost that they feel their wellbeing would likely be worse off in 12 months’ time.
The story is one of courage and capability which should be recognised, resourced and celebrated. We must also listen when stress is signalled and focus our collective efforts on responding to these challenges, building on the clear strengths of the sector.
What’s next
The survey highlights pain points for further discussion, planning and action at the sector and workplace level, some of these include:
- Opportunities for career advancement and promotion appear limited which risks stalling the progression of future leaders.
- The workforce profile is diverse but requires tailored approaches at the sector and workplace level to ensure environments where all workers can thrive.
- Supervision is critical for practitioners and leaders in the work they do and needs to be accessible for all workers.
- The continued growth of the workforce impacts workplaces and existing workers and requires an ongoing focus to strengthen pathways into the sector.
- Leaders are critical to the wellbeing and performance of workers and ongoing and targeted strategies are needed to continue to support and nurture their development.
- The safety and wellbeing of workers is critical, data indicates workers are witnessing or experiencing harassment or bullying in the workplace.
To explore these challenges together and shape practical strategies and actions to continue to grow, develop and support the workforce please join us at our upcoming strategic workforce planning workshops.
Get involved. Lead the change. Let’s shape the future of our workforce together.
We thank the Queensland Domestic and Family Violence, Sexual Violence and Women’s Health and Wellbeing specialist workforce for participating in this survey and sharing their thoughtful and detailed perspectives and pay thanks to the WorkUP reference group for their generous support and insights.
Access the 2025 Workforce Survey report here.