Dear clients, partners and sector colleagues,
As we move further into 2026, I wanted to share a practical update from my side as GM of abrs, what we’re seeing across the market, what it means for workforce planning, and where we’re focusing our efforts this year.
At abrs, we work across children, youth and families, disability, aged care, housing and homelessness, mental health and allied health. These sectors continue to carry significant demand and complexity, and the organisations we work with are being asked to do more while managing workforce pressure, reform activity and rising service and contract expectations.
We are also increasingly working with organisations across other industries that want a recruitment partner with strong delivery capability and a more socially purposeful commercial model.
That context matters. It shapes how we recruit, how we support our clients, and how we think about quality.
Our focus in 2026 is not just helping organisations hire. It is helping organisations make stronger workforce decisions that support service quality, safety and long-term capability.
What we’re seeing in the market
Across the sectors we support, a few themes are coming through consistently:
Demand is still high, but hiring conditions remain tight
Many organisations are still recruiting into hard-to-fill frontline and specialist roles, while also competing for experienced leaders and practice-ready talent.
The challenge is no longer just attracting applicants, it’s attracting the right applicants, and moving quickly enough without compromising quality.
Workforce decisions are carrying more risk
In social care, a poor hiring decision can impact service delivery, team culture, client safety and compliance.
We’re seeing more employers place greater emphasis on:
- values alignment
- safeguarding awareness
- stakeholder management capability
- resilience and practice judgement
- realistic role readiness
This is a positive shift, and one we strongly support.
Reform and operational change are influencing hiring needs
Across disability, aged care and community services, many employers are managing broader change while still needing to maintain day-to-day recruitment momentum.
That often means role scopes are shifting, internal structures are being reviewed, and hiring managers need more support to define what “good” looks like in a role before they go to market.
What this means for employers in 2026
For employers, recruitment in this environment needs to be more intentional.
The organisations getting better outcomes are generally doing a few things well:
- spending more time upfront on role clarity
- being realistic about market conditions
- moving decisively once they identify the right person
- treating candidate engagement as part of their brand
- partnering early when roles are high-risk or hard to fill
This is especially important in social care, where recruitment quality is directly linked to stability in services and outcomes for the communities you support.
What we’re focused on at abrs
As GM, my focus this year is on making sure abrs continues to evolve in a way that is useful to the sector and practical for our clients, strengthening recruitment quality across our core social care work, building more consistency in how we deliver, and growing in a way that supports long-term impact.
Looking ahead | The next 6–12 months at abrs
Over the next 6–12 months, our focus is on building a stronger, more scalable recruitment model that supports both sector outcomes and long-term sustainability.
Strengthening our core in social care
We will continue to deepen our specialisation across social care, with a focus on recruitment quality in sectors where safety, compliance and workforce stability matter most. This includes lifting consistency in role briefing, screening and assessment across high-impact roles.
Building more structured market execution
We are moving further away from ad hoc recruitment activity and toward a more disciplined growth model — with clearer target markets, stronger account planning, and better focus on the roles and partnerships where we can add the most value.
Expanding our service model with more strategic workforce support
We are continuing to evolve how we support clients — not just through strong recruitment delivery, but through a more consultative and forward-looking approach. This includes deeper workforce planning conversations, specialist hiring support, and improved recruitment process quality.
Our focus is on helping clients make stronger hiring decisions earlier, with clearer role design, better market alignment, and a recruitment approach that supports long-term workforce stability.
Growing aligned partnerships across industries to increase sector sustainability (we are expanding!)
As part of our long-term sustainability strategy, we are expanding into aligned corporate and professional recruitment partnerships across industries to help bring more investment and revenue into the social care sector.
This creates a practical pathway for organisations outside traditional social care to use their recruitment spend in a socially purposeful way. Through partnership with abrs, employers can meet their workforce needs while also contributing to a model that reinvests in children, youth and family programs.
For abrs, this growth is not separate to our mission — it strengthens it. By broadening our partnerships across industries, we can diversify revenue, increase long-term sustainability, and grow the contribution abrs makes to the communities and services we exist to support.
If your organisation is reviewing recruitment partnerships in 2026, whether that is across People & Culture, Finance, Operations, Governance, Marketing, Project Delivery or leadership roles — we would welcome a conversation about how working with abrs can support both your hiring goals and your broader social purpose commitments.
Investing in capability, systems and tools that protect recruitment quality
We will continue investing in the capability, systems and tools that strengthen recruitment quality across abrs.
This is increasingly important in a market where employers are managing rising workforce costs, including workers compensation pressure, while also trying to build resilient teams in demanding social care environments.
Our focus includes ongoing development of our child-safe recruitment practice, structured interview and assessment tools, and stronger fitness-for-work style briefing approaches that help create a more realistic job preview and support better suitability decisions for high-impact roles.
We are also improving the systems and ways of working that support consistency behind the scenes — reducing admin burden, improving workflow quality, and using automation where it helps speed and structure, without replacing human judgement.
The goal is simple: stronger hiring decisions upfront, better alignment to role realities, and recruitment practice that supports safer, more sustainable workforces over time.
Protecting what makes abrs different
As we grow, we are staying clear on our value proposition: ethical recruitment, sector depth, child-safe practice, and commercial discipline. Our focus is on sustainable growth that strengthens workforce outcomes and increases the long-term contribution abrs makes to children, youth and family programs.
Social Care Sector insight spotlight
Recruitment quality is becoming a leadership issue, not just an HR issue
One trend I expect to continue in 2026 is a shift in how organisations view recruitment responsibility.
For a long time, recruitment has often been treated as an operational function. What we’re seeing now is that workforce quality, retention and hiring decisions are increasingly becoming executive-level issues, particularly in sectors dealing with risk, regulation and service pressure.
That’s a healthy shift.
When leaders are more involved in defining role outcomes, capability expectations and culture fit, recruitment becomes sharper and more effective. It also gives hiring managers better support to make decisions with confidence.
This is an area where we’re spending more time with clients, helping translate operational needs into clearer hiring decisions.
We also believe more organisations will start looking at recruitment spend not only as a hiring cost, but as a partnership decision that can contribute to broader social outcomes.
Let’s keep the conversation practical
If you’re planning ahead for 2026 hiring, within social care or across a broader corporate or professional services workforce — and want a practical conversation about role scope, market conditions or recruitment strategy, we’d be happy to support a discussion.
Whether it’s a single hire, a team build, or a broader workforce planning discussion, we can help shape the approach early.
Thank you for continuing to work with abrs and for the work you do across your organisations and communities.
