We know workload in the kitchen at Umina Park has increased by a lot in recent years, but the number of workers hasn’t gone up at the same rate. When we met with Umina Park kitchen staff recently that was definitely the consensus amongst workers.

Many people also told us that they often start early or finish late to keep up with the work – and the optional extras menu for residents and the dishwasher breakdown on one of the wards have only increased the pressure.

We took all these workload issues up with management and suggested that perhaps additional hours are needed to cover all the additional work (for example, there could be a “floater” shift from 7am to 11am to help wherever needed).

OneCare’s CEO Peter Williams wrote to us and said:

“Action taken to address our staff concern is currently underway. As an immediate step, we are reviewing the functions of the kitchen staff to streamline the busy periods and finding alternative ways to support them. We will work with our staff during this process and ensure any minor modifications in their role are agreed upon and understood. We will certainly consider the need for additional hours, but feel in the first instance, a slight adjustment to the required activities will result in improved outcomes for our staff.

It is never our intent or expectation to have staff work outside their rostered hours in order to complete their required duties etc.”

Remember, if you start early or finish late to get all the work done, management will tend to believe that everything is being done in the time allowed. You should also keep in mind that you may not be covered if you injure yourself when you’re working outside of your shift.

If you feel that management’s “adjustments” aren’t helping with the workload in the kitchen, feel free to give HACSUassist a call to talk more about the issues.