Mandatory training is a core aspect of an organisation's education, risk, and compliance strategy. This article supports education, learning, and development managers and teams to understand and implement effective and engaging mandatory training programs.
What is Mandatory Training?
Mandatory training refers to compulsory training programs that an organisation requires its employees or workforce to complete as a condition of their employment. A mandatory training program ensures that employees have the necessary knowledge and skills to perform their roles safely and effectively. Mandatory training aims to minimise risk to an organisation’s workforce and support organisations in providing person-centred, quality care and services.
Benefits of Mandatory Training
Implementing effective and engaging mandatory training programs benefits an organisation, the workforce, and the patients/consumers and residents receiving care from the provider.
| Benefits to an Organisation | Staff Benefits |
|---|---|
| Risk mitigation | Improved job performance |
| Compliance with regulatory and statutory requirements | Awareness of relevant regulations assists in avoiding potential non-compliance and legal consequences. |
| Standardisation through a consistent approach to training | Safety awareness reduces the risk of workplace accidents or injuries |
| Quality assurance | Understanding of organisational policies and procedures |
| Reduced risk of incidence | Continuing professional development |
*Mandatory workplace training may only be documented as formal CPD when a registered health professional can provide evidence that this training meets an identified learning need and contains new learning.
Need for Mandatory Training in Aged Care
Stringent regulatory requirements, such as the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards, mandate a skilled and competent workforce. The aged care sector mainly employs care workers without consistent qualifications, so mandatory training programs help standardise essential skills required to care for older people with complex needs.
Focus of Mandatory Training
Mandatory training in the aged care sector should primarily concentrate on providing quality care and risk avoidance. To achieve this, providers should:
- Align content with specific laws and compliance requirements, such as Health Acts, the Aged Care Act, and Work Health and Safety Legislation.
- Include relevant standards such as Strengthened Aged Care Quality and NDIS Practice Standards.
- Cover the organisation's clinical governance framework, internal policies, procedures, and industry expectations.
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Creating a Mandatory Training Program
Developing an effective mandatory training program requires following a best-practice cycle of planning, implementation, and evaluation.
Plan
The planning phase involves conducting a minimum annual assessment of training needs and aligning the training modules with the core regulatory standards the organisation must comply with. This incliudes the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards.
Where possible, actively assess the need for each module, using risk, quality, feedback and complaints data to determine whether a particular module should remain in the mandatory training plan.
Thorough data collection during this phase is critical to determining what training should be designated as mandatory, who needs to complete it, and when it should be assigned to staff.
Scheduling
Scheduling is also a critical aspect of the planning phase. The industry's best practice is to create a timeline that accommodates staggered learning rather than assigning all mandatory modules simultaneously. This approach maximises engagement and knowledge retention and avoids training burnout while ensuring timely completion.
Critically examine what modules should be designated as mandatory, who needs to complete them, which job roles require them, and how often the item should be assigned to staff.
Implement
The implementation phase involves delivering the training schedule through various modes, such as in-person sessions, online learning platforms like Ausmed, or blended learning approaches.
Evaluate
The evaluation phase is crucial, as mandatory training requires users to complete the training, contributing to the organisation's learning compliance. A Learning Management System (LMS) can help track and report on compliance requirements, known as compliance records. This allows organisations to report on critical aspects of mandatory training, such as the number of users who have completed the training by a due date.
Additional compliance and learning record data can also help assess the mandatory training plan's ongoing effectiveness and scheduling practicalities. Subsequent planning phases should utilise this data to identify what mandatory training is needed, for whom, and when, ensuring any items for improvement to a mandatory training program are added to your organisation's continuous improvement plan.
The evaluation phase ensures an ongoing practical and cost-effective training program.
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Finding Mandatory Training Resources
The Ausmed Library™ offers a range of modules to fulfil the mandatory training requirements in aged care. The mandatory training modules are frequently reviewed and updated to reflect changes to regulations and best practices.
What is a Mandatory Training Plan in Aged Care?
A training plan is one way to assign mandatory training to users through Ausmed’s LMS. The other is to assign it manually.
Sample Annual Mandatory Training Plan: Aged Care
Mandatory training items should vary depending on the job role, but the following modules commonly appear in annual mandatory training plans used by aged care providers in Australia:
| Training Module | Duration |
|---|---|
| Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards | 30 minutes |
| Infection Prevention and Control | 28 minutes |
| Work Health and Safety | 30 minutes |
| Manual Handling Safety | 14 minutes |
| Basic Life Support (BLS) | 32 minutes |
| Fire Safety in Residential Aged Care | 23 minutes |
| Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) | 40 minutes |
| Cultural Safety in Healthcare | 22 minutes |
| Charter of Aged Care Rights and Code of Conduct | 25 minutes |
| Open Disclosure and Apology | 22 minutes |
| Minimising Restrictive Practices in Aged Care | 25 minutes |
| Documentation in Aged Care | 25 minutes |
| Total | 319 minutes or 5.31 hours |
Are your staff suffering from training fatigue?
If you believe the annual mandatory training plans in your organisation may be excessive in duration, poorly scheduled and require a review, contact Ausmed for assistance.
Mandatory Training Plan Templates
Ausmed training plan templates help you quickly set up and assign learning to your organisation based on feedback from customers and educators.Remember, these templates are just guides. Adjust them to ensure they meet your organisation's specific training needs.
How Much Mandatory Training Do Organisations Need to Provide?
There is no magic number! Organisations must provide enough mandatory training based on legal requirements, industry standards, and workforce needs. Poorly designed programs can lead to disengagement, reduced productivity, and compliance issues. To avoid training fatigue and other challenges, it's crucial to regularly review your mandatory training plans and update training schedules to keep them relevant and effective.
Assigning Mandatory Training
Workplaces have differing needs around the frequency of mandatory training. For example:
Recurring training - Ongoing manual handling or workplace health and safety training must be completed annually.
Planned and one-off - Mandatory induction training as part of induction/orientation a new starter will required to be completed once, before or within a certain period of an employee commencing employment.
Just in time - Education that occurs in response to an incident to rapidly address workplace safety and the wellbeing of staff and consumers. This type of education will likely not be relevant to all staff in the organisation. Often only assigned once-off.
Additional Mandatory Training
Additional mandatory training should be assigned to meet the needs of your organisation. Some reasons for assigning additional mandatory training may be in response to the following:
- Changes to relevant Standards
- New compliance requirements set by regulatory bodies
- Audits, onsite assessments and review audits
- Internal incidents, risks, complaints or feedback
- The implementation of new products and equipment
- High-risk clinical conditions with abrupt onset, for example COVID-19
Example: Additional Mandatory Training During COVID-19
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, organisations quickly introduced new mandatory training on hand hygiene, correctly donning and doffing PPE and rapid antigen testing to ensure safety and compliance.
Additional mandatory training might be scheduled once or added on a recurring basis if there's a clear need for ongoing compliance.
It’s best to choose an LMS that allows you to assign mandatory training as part of an ongoing plan or manually, providing flexibility for ad-hoc situations.
What is Optional Training?
Optional training is "recommended" or "suggested." It differs from mandatory training because learners can choose to complete it, which doesn't affect your organisation's compliance.
Costs Associated with Mandatory Training
Paid staff training
Per the Fair Work Act, employees must be compensated for time spent in mandatory training. Training hours, whether on the job or completed online, are considered working hours and must be paid accordingly.
Importance of accurate reporting
An LMS with accurate payroll reporting is essential. Payroll reports detailing learning duration by requirements, users, teams, and roles assist in adequately compensating employees for training time.
Reducing waste and inefficiencies
These strategies can help reduce training costs and avoid wastage:
- Follow a plan-implement-evaluate process to ensure you assign targeted modules only
- Conduct regular program reviews to ensure that only required compliance topics are covered
- Target only specific teams and job roles as needed
When did you last review your mandatory training plans?
Book a time with Ausmed to review your mandatory training program and identify waste and inefficiencies.
Promoting Engagement with Mandatory Training
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Catering to a Multilingual Diverse Workforce
Use various delivery formats (online, in-person, blended) to meet diverse workforce needs of our multilingual, multicultural aged care sector. Offer clear, accessible materials for employees with non-English speaking backgrounds. Ensure engaging, up-to-date materials with tools like closed captions or translations for better comprehension.
Compliance with Mandatory Training
Compliance requirements, also known as compliance records, require users to complete mandatory training by a due date. All mandatory training counts towards your organisation's learning compliance and may be required during an audit.
While some organisations are achieving high levels of compliance, there is still significant room for improvement across the industry. By setting clear benchmarks, tracking compliance data, and implementing effective mandatory training programs, organisations can work towards ensuring that their workforce is adequately trained and compliant with regulatory requirements.
Managing Poor Compliance with Mandatory Training
Monitoring and managing compliance rates for mandatory training is critically important. Queensland Health's (2021) mandatory training policy, developed by its Human Resource team, states that management is responsible for managing compliance with mandatory training of employees under their supervision.
Anecdotally, the management of poor compliance with mandatory training varies. Approaches range from doing nothing to reminders and nagging, taking employees off the floor, precipitating performance management situations, and, in extreme cases, having pay docked.
For completing specific skill-based training modules, for example, using a particular lifting machine. Employees are often unable to perform those duties until their training is completed.
Challenges of Mandatory Training
Poorly designed mandatory training programs are associated with many issues for the organisation and the learners.
- Low engagement levels - Employees mindlessly click through training modules without actively learning the content, reinforcing a negative stigma of mandatory training.
- Poor compliance rates - resulting from missed, not done or skipped training requirements.
- Overwhelming training demands - lead to training fatigue and disillusionment among high-performing employees who feel they are repeating unnecessary training.
- Unmanageable schedules - due to excessive mandatory training requirements and a reluctance to remove modules “because we’ve always done it this way.”
- Escalating costs - compensating staff for unnecessary training time, resulting in training cost blowouts.
- Lack of clear data and metrics - to assess the effectiveness of mandatory training programs, making it difficult to evaluate their impact and justify their continuation or modification.
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Competency and Mandatory Training
Does Mandatory Training Mean Someone is Competent?
Completing mandatory training does not necessarily equate to competency. Practical skill assessments are often included to verify competency for topics like infection control, manual handling, basic life support (BLS), and fire safety.
What is a Competency Assessment?
Competency assessments and mandatory training are separate but may be used together, either before training to verify existing competency or after training to confirm competency acquisition.
What is Competency-Based Training?
The Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards require competency-based training on core matters such as person-centred care, culturally safe care, dementia care, emergency response, Code of Conduct, SIRS, and Quality Standards. However, the standards lack a clear definition of suitable "competency-based" training. To ensure competency, core mandatory training topics should be designed as competency-based education, tailored to identified gaps, focused on specific outcomes, and include verification of the desired result through follow-up assessments.
Successful Mandatory Training
Keep in mind these fundamental principles to ensure your mandatory training program is effective, engaging and minimises unnecessary training costs:
- Be able to articulate organisational reasons for mandatory training clearly.
- Establish a clear process for planning, scheduling, assigning, and evaluating training.
- Regularly review and update training plans.
- Carefully select mandatory items to avoid training fatigue.
- Switch providers if modules are ineffective or disengaging.
- Monitor training costs accurately.
- Use optional education to address specific knowledge gaps.
- Complement mandatory training with other educational initiatives.
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Conclusion
Mandatory training is only one aspect of an organisation's ability to achieve its clinical and corporate governance framework. Providing high-quality, safe, and effective care also requires strong leadership, clinical excellence, a positive learning culture, effective incident reporting and risk management, support for high-performing teams, and a safe care environment. Use mandatory training wisely, understand its role, and monitor its effectiveness closely.
References
- The Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards – Final Draft
- AHPRA 2019, Registration Standards, AHPRA & National Boards, https://www.ahpra.gov.au/Registration/Registration-Standards.aspx
- Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care 2017, National Model Clinical Governance Framework. Sydney, (NSW), viewed 16 June, 2024, https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/sites/default/files/migrated/National-Model-Clinical-Governance-Framework.pdf
- Creative Healthcare Management 2018, Resources for healthcare professionals, viewed 16 June, 2024, https://shop.chcm.com/
- Fair Work Australia, Unpaid Work, viewed 16 June 2024, https://shop.chcm.com/
- NSW Health Education and Training 2020, Mandatory Training, NSW Government, https://www.heti.nsw.gov.au/education-and-training/my-health-learning/mandatory-training
- Paramedicine Board of Australia 2018. Continuing professional development registration standard, AHPRA, https://www.paramedicineboard.gov.au/Professional-standards/Registration-standards/CPD.aspx
- Royal College of Nursing, Professional Development Publication, RCN, https://www.rcn.org.uk/Professional-Development/publications/pdf-006689
- Safer Care Victoria 2017, Delivering high-quality healthcare: Victorian clinical governance framework, Department of Health and Human Services, https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/about/publications/policiesandguidelines/Delivering-high-quality-healthcare-Victorian-clinical-governance-policy
- Queensland Health 2021, Mandatory training: Human Resource Policy, Queensland Government, https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0034/395845/qh-pol-183.pdf
- Wright, D. 2018, Mandatory Education: Why Do We Do it?, Ausmed Education Pty Ltd, https://www.ausmed.com.au/cpd/lecture/mandatory-education-why-do-we-do-it
Author
Zoe Youl
Zoe Youl is a Critical Care Registered Nurse with over ten years of experience at Ausmed, currently as Head of Community. With expertise in critical care nursing, clinical governance, education and nursing professional development, she has built an in-depth understanding of the educational and regulatory needs of the Australian healthcare sector.
As the Accredited Provider Program Director (AP-PD) of the Ausmed Education Learning Centre, she maintains and applies accreditation frameworks in software and education. In 2024, Zoe lead the Ausmed Education Learning Centre to achieve Accreditation with Distinction for the fourth consecutive cycle with the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s (ANCC) Commission on Accreditation. The AELC is the only Australian provider of nursing continuing professional development to receive this prestigious recognition.
Zoe holds a Master's in Nursing Management and Leadership, and her professional interests focus on evaluating the translation of continuing professional development into practice to improve learner and healthcare consumer outcomes. From 2019-2022, Zoe provided an international perspective to the workgroup established to publish the fourth edition of Nursing Professional Development Scope & Standards of Practice. Zoe was invited to be a peer reviewer for the 6th edition of the Core Curriculum for Nursing Professional Development.
