cleaner

registered nurse

maintenance person

care worker

community care worker

HenderCare

Residential care—particularly within the Hendercare houses—has become a deeply toxic and unsupportive work environment. Confidentiality is routinely breached, creating a culture of mistrust among staff. Bullying, intimidation, and blatant favoritism are widespread, with team leaders and supervisors often forming cliques that exclude and target certain workers. Staff who speak up are frequently singled out and made to feel as though they are the problem, with feedback delivered in a manipulative or gaslighting manner to avoid accountability.

The HR department is virtually non-functional. Genuine concerns and formal complaints are ignored, with emails left unanswered for weeks—if not indefinitely. There is no transparent process for resolving workplace issues, and staff are often discouraged from reporting problems due to fear of retaliation or being labeled as “difficult.” This has led to a culture where many employees suffer in silence, afraid to advocate for themselves.

Leadership often protects certain individuals regardless of their behavior or performance, promoting a “who you know” mentality rather than rewarding hard work or professionalism. Integrity, transparency, and fairness are sorely lacking.

The only redeeming quality of working at Hendercare is the flexibility to select your shifts. However, due to inconsistent hours and unreliable management, many employees are forced to work second jobs to survive. It’s a disappointing reality in a sector that should prioritise compassion, support, and ethical conduct.

For the wellbeing of staff and the young people in their care, serious structural and cultural changes are urgently needed.

This is probably one of the worst companies that I have worked for. They expect you to be available but give you your roster as late as Saturday for the following week. You don't know if they are going to give you two shifts or six shifts, or no shifts, it's impossible to plan. They often double book or get the day or time wrong. All the booking is done via the phone, they have no electronic rostering like similar companies do so it leads to mistakes a lot. When you ring the office some of the people are very abrupt and rude. There is very little support or back up in the field. The pay is less than similar companies too.They have lost a lot of contracts in recent years to better organised companies that treat their staff a lot better.

An extremely challenging but rewarding role caring for at-risk children and youth with a range of differing needs. 

I was given a lengthy induction which gave me a good understanding of my role and expectations, including the limitations of providing child-focused care.

The work can be difficult at times but the coordinators and managers are very supportive, being very clear and direct about providing high quality care to vulnerable clients. Having 24 hour support is also a great advantage when other places I've worked for have limited after-hours support.

I work with some amazing Care Workers who are just as passionate, making it an enjoyable experience most days. 

As much as the work is at times unpredictable, I feel supported and know that I'm doing an important job.

Recent policy changes are aimed at alienating staff, and will hinder future recruitment of good workers. Coordinators are for the most part good but there are some who require training in their rudeness towards carers. Hendercare have proved to me why this industry has a massive turn over of staff. Low wages, policies breach areas of Fair Work Act, management threaten staff to take away work under unfair policies. Compulsory training under fair work requires that staff be paid to for their hours HR refuse to come to the party or even converse. They will get away with it because imigrant workers will not stand up for themselves, recent changes to vehicle usage within policies are ridiculous and an over the top reaction to a recent DCSI memo.

Unfortunately Underpaid passive shift. Way Below rate. After long attempt to communicate with office management about this, no action was returned to compensate after several follow ups. 
When you write formal emails and courteous messages, they are Never returned by coordinators and managers. Leaves you feeling inconspicuous, insignificant!
Coordinators sometimes double booked the Carer’s shifts but on the other hand, almost always left with no one showing up to work even after informing the office, hours or days prior. 
Usually having to work overtime with No OT pay.

*HR personnel was amazing and professional though!


Very rarely will you see another staff member as you are texted your rostered day the night before. The text will tell where and when you have to be at a job. After completion of the job the client will need to sign your time sheet. At the end of the week you scan and send your timesheet to payroll.

Pros:
* working alone
* no hovering boss
* get to know clients

Cons:
* Only get the following day's roster less than 24 hours before hand (difficult to make plans)
* Not paid for travel time! If it takes you a 30 minute drive between client A and B you are not getting paid for it! 
* You pay for ALL your own petrol between clients.

I loved working with the kids that I had to care for, the staff where great to learn from, good team . I was on call 24/7 and got lots of shifts. I enjoyed all the training provided in the head office. Hendercare were a very supportive company and a pleasure to work for. I unfortunately had my time cut short for working, because I had accident that put me in hospital and in a wheel chair for 6 months while I waiting to have my back surgery on my spine and also surgery on my knee and i couldn't carry in working due to all the pain meditation i was on.

I am very proud to work in an organisation that supports so many clients to live their lives independantly in their chosen communities. I am proud to know staff who have worked for us for many many years and who are also passionate about caring for others. I work along side amazing people who I know will work with me to achieve sometimes, nearly impossible services but who will also laugh, share a joke and make day to day life in the office so enjoyable. Its been a life changing 16.5 years!

A typical day at work is unpredictable due to poor shift allocation. I’ve learned that management prioritises themselves over staff think their superior. Workplace culture is filled with favouritism and a lack of support when issues like bullying are reported. The hardest part of the job is not being valued or given fair shifts despite hard work. The most enjoyable part is working with clients and supporting them, but this is overshadowed by management’s failure to care for frontline staff.

Great place to work. Awesome management, fair and very understanding and supportive. They pay well for all positions and there's lots of room to grow and move up in the company.   Friendly staff. Incredibly fast paced work environment with high pressure constantly but very rewarding work.  Worked there quite a while ago so can't speak for what's going on these days but still friends with management there. The companies grown 10 fold since I was there.  Not sure what else I can say about it. I'm summary they're great to work for. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Cleaner 3 salaries reported	$30.82 per hour
Registered nurse 2 salaries reported	$65.50 per hour
Maintenance person 4 salaries reported	$35.08 per hour
Care worker 1 salary reported	$34.50 per hour
Community care worker 2 salaries reported	$34.00 per hour

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