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The Challenge: When "Hit and Miss" Is an Understatement

Before Ausmed Perform, Maroba's performance management system wasn't just broken - it barely existed.

With 220+ employees across their residential aged care facility, the organisation theoretically needed around 220 annual performance reviews. They were completing approximately 15 per year.

Rachel Hollis, General Manager of People and Culture, describes the reality: "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, so it relied on people going back and checking deadlines to chase it up. It was hit and miss at best - and I reckon if we took that over an annual period, we'd be way lower than 5% completion."

The consequences rippled across four critical areas:

Performance Appraisals: Paper forms disappeared into email threads. No coordination, no tracking, no accountability. "If we were questioned during our Moving On audits about reflection and planning, we could not answer with a yes," Rachel admits. "We wouldn't be able to demonstrate compliance if audited by the commission."

Probation & Onboarding: Three-week check-ins and eight-week "First Impressions" surveys existed in theory. In practice, they were "completely hit and miss - pieces of paper that sat in personnel files if we were lucky."

Performance Documentation: Feedback conversations lived in Rachel's notebook or buried in email. "Good luck if there was a repeat issue. I'd have all that documentation for terminations or final warnings, but the everyday discussions - three times a day, probably - were in my notebook, relying on memory."

Recognition & Feedback: When staff received their annual People's Choice Awards, the team would type up votes into individual letters. Beautiful gesture, zero system. Family compliments were copied into emails. Nothing was centralized or connected to the employee record.

Rachel reflects on what this meant for staff:

"If you're not making time to invest in people to understand what's working well and what's not, how can we ever change or enhance what they do well?"

But beyond the human cost, there was a practical one: "From a compliance perspective, we had a disjointed system that wasn't functional."

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The Solution: Four Features, One Integrated System

Maroba implemented Ausmed Perform across four key areas, transforming how they support, recognise, and develop their workforce.

1. Performance Appraisals: From 15 Per Year to 20+ Per Month

Every employee now enters an automated annual reflection cycle. Self-assessments paired with manager feedback. Reminders built in. Progress tracked from a central dashboard.

The transformation was immediate: Maroba went from completing approximately 15 reviews per year to over 20 per month - a 1,500% increase in completion rates. "Every employee that commences at Maroba is loaded into two different Perform programs automatically," Rachel explains. "They move through their probation cycle, then into annual reviews. I can monitor all of that from my dashboard."

The shift wasn't just about completion rates - it was about removing recency bias. "If you've got that data in there, it gives you the full picture of the year. I'm even backdating some emails just to get them in, so if I leave, it's not dependent on my records. It's a system that stands alone."

2. Probation: From Ritual to Retention Tool

Maroba reframed probation as a rite of passage, not a risk management exercise.

New employees now move through structured touchpoints:

• Week 3: New Employee Check-In (troubleshooting rosters, uniforms, payroll access)
• Week 8: First Impressions (deeper reflection on their entry into Maroba)
• Month 6: Probation Review (self-assessment + supervisor feedback)

"We've got a legislative piece where you could inhumanely cease employment before probation ends without legal repercussions," Rachel notes. "But if we went the humane route - which we do - this is about making sure people fit in their place, understand expectations, and get the support they need."

The impact?

"New hire turnover is really high at the moment in aged care. You do a probation process well, you're working out your support pieces to keep them rather than lose them. We're doing this for retention purposes, not retrenchment purposes."

3. Perform Notes: From Notebooks to Institutional Memory

Performance conversations - both constructive and developmental - now have a permanent home.

"If we've got an email raising a concern about someone's practice, we copy from the email and create a Perform note," Rachel explains. "The L&D team does the same thing. Anything constructive about an employee is in the system."

This creates continuity when conducting appraisals. "When we go into performance reviews, we can see what's in Perform notes. If it's something worth re-addressing, we've got that reminder at the touch of a button."

The system also eliminates recency bias: "Someone might perform really well over the last two months because they know their review is coming up. This gives the full picture of the year."

4. Feedback: From Letters to Real-Time Recognition

Positive feedback shifted from admin-heavy letters to instant, visible recognition.

The breakthrough moment came during People's Choice Awards. Previously, the team would type votes into individual letters - weeks of work, no system capture. Now? "We just cut and paste it straight into feedback in Perform," Rachel says.

The response from staff was immediate:

"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 - they know how to use it - but now they're getting this beautiful piece that's not just learning, but also valuing."

Family compliments, peer recognition, manager praise - all of it now flows into one place, visible to the employee and captured forever.

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The Unexpected Win: Training Shaped by Staff Voice

One outcome surprised even Rachel: employee-driven training needs analysis.

"We usually review reflection and planning responses as they come in, copying training needs to the L&D team manually," Rachel explains. "Then one day I thought, 'I need to ask Robbie about this' - and then I realised: I can just run the report."

The system now surfaces what staff identify they need: "It's probably not an intended outcome, but it's an absolute winner. We've created input into training needs analysis that's driven by the employee, with comments from the manager."

This shifts capability planning from assumptions to evidence. Staff aren't just being told what to learn - they're asking for it.

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The Results: Compliance Meets Culture Change

Rachel reflects on the transformation:

"The biggest change is coordination - and the relief of having a system that not only works from a compliance perspective, but gives me confidence that people are having an opportunity to speak, and for us to speak back to them."

She continues: "Often in organisations, you hear people say, 'Nobody ever listens to me, I never get a chance.' At least I know now that there's a system where, at minimum, once a year people get a chance to make comments. I like that confidence - that it's rigorous, that it's good."

The compliance angle hasn't been forgotten: "When we do our Moving On audits and they ask about performance appraisals, we can answer yes with confidence. If we're audited by the commission, we can demonstrate it."

But Rachel is clear about what matters most:

"It's not just compliance. It's the value that people are having an opportunity to speak - and knowing that's happening gives me confidence."

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Why Maroba Recommends Ausmed Perform

When asked what she'd tell another organisation considering Perform, Rachel doesn't hesitate:

"If you're using a manual system, Perform is well worth looking at. But it's not just about getting a performance appraisal system that gives you compliance and the human piece. You're also getting the added benefit of tracking positive and constructive feedback to employees in one place."

She adds: "Linking performance appraisal to an existing learning and growth system makes a lot of sense. You're looking at an employee's growth and development holistically."

The enthusiasm is genuine. Rachel admits she's become something of an evangelist: "I speak to every Ausmed person and sing Robbie's praises in terms of collaboration. If everybody's doing it the same way, you build really strong products."

Her closing pitch is simple:

"If you're just looking at learning, you need to spread it out and definitely look at Perform. It's a holistic approach to growth for employees."

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The Bottom Line

Maroba didn't just implement software - they rebuilt how they invest in their workforce. Performance management went from a compliance risk to a cultural asset. Probation became about retention, not risk. Recognition became immediate, not administrative. And training became shaped by staff voice, not assumptions.

Rachel sums it up:

"I just think the time... the relief... yeah. It's just easy. That's probably it. It's just easy."

Easy to use. Easy to prove. Easy to trust that every employee is seen, heard, and supported.

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