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Executive Summary

Personal Support Workers (PSWs) provide care to some of society’s most vulnerable members – including the elderly, people living with disabilities, those recovering from illness or injury, or anyone needing assistive care – ensuring they can live safely, independently, and enjoy their lives.

A number of challenges, including difficult working conditions, lack of access to needed training, and low wages (particularly for those working in home and community care) are impacting the mental health of PSWs, their ability to perform their jobs confidently, and ultimately their willingness to work in the sector. These challenges also undermine the quality and availability of care for people who need it. Justifiable concerns have been raised regarding the fact that an increasingly burnt out, often poorly compensated, and unregulated workforce is responsible for most of the direct care provided to vulnerable Canadians with complex needs. This model is not sustainable in a society that is aging rapidly.

The social value of personal caregiving as a profession has largely been overlooked, the result of which is apparent in the challenges facing that workforce today. On a national level, issues such as low pay, heavy workloads, and health and safety hazards have been linked to lower recruitment and retention of care workers for decades. However, amid an aging population, a shortage of LTC beds, and the Covid- 19-accelerated staffing shortages in healthcare, these issues are becoming more difficult to ignore. There is now an urgent need to recognize the value of the work of PSWs in tangible ways to grow the number of workers, enhance the well-being of PSWs, and ensure the quality of care.

Informed by the views of PSWs themselves, this report sets out four policy pathways to help improve the working lives of PSWs and to increase recruitment and retention. These are:

• enhancing national coordination on PSW retention and recruitment;
• improving the working conditions of PSWs through adoption of standards;
• increasing wages, benefits, and job security across the workforce; and
• improving the quality of and access to education and training.