The rollout of the NDIS has left many in the disability services sector with questions about what their future workforce will look like.

Is the sector moving towards a more casualised workforce? How are staff age and gender profiles shifting?

A free online tool aims to help disability organisations answer these questions and more.

An initiative of National Disability Services (NDS), Workforce Wizard aims to fill a major gap in workforce data in the disability sector, equipping organisations that employ direct support workers to make informed decisions about workforce development and future planning.

The Workforce Wizard tool offers you a data exchange. After you add your workforce information, you’ll be able to benchmark your workforce profile with other providers in the sector who have entered the same information.

Workforce Wizard has three main benefits:

1. By tracking your own workforce metrics over time, you’ll discover trends in your workforce;
2. It defines different workforces for different parts of your service;
3. It allows you to benchmark your data against other providers in the sector, as well as data provided by national sources like the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

NDS will also use the data to support advocacy work on behalf of the disability services sector as a whole.

All information provided through the Workforce Wizard is strictly confidential.

And as more organisations begin to use the service, the data will become more accurate and useful over time.

To find out more or to sign up to Workforce Wizard, visit the website here.