15/09/2025
By Ellie Fuller
I’ve had the privilege of facilitating training through the Asuria and IEP Certificate IV in Employment Services—and I don’t use that word lightly.
It’s a privilege to walk alongside people stepping into one of the most demanding, misunderstood, and underestimated roles in our sector.
Every day, employment professionals sit across from people carrying trauma, disconnection, fear, and frustration—and are expected to support, empower, document, refer, report, plan, problem-solve, motivate, and meet KPIs… all while staying kind, clear-headed, and ethical.
That’s not just support work. That’s employment services.
And to do it well, employment staff need to master something not often spoken about in the same breath: Care and compliance.
This work requires a constant, thoughtful balancing act:
- Supporting people with empathy—while applying policy with clarity
- Building trust—while meeting Participation Requirements
- Being flexible—within the boundaries of the deed
This is what sets employment services apart. It’s human-centred work, absolutely—but it’s also contract-bound.
And that’s why we need training that prepares people for both.
Care without compliance can lead to burnout, blurred roles, or missed outcomes.
Compliance without care? It drives disconnection, disengagement, and fear.
We need to train for the real, lived complexity of this work.
So I invite you to reflect:
- Does your team’s training prepare them to walk this line with confidence?
- Does it reflect the daily pressures, the emotional load, and the performance expectations of the role?
- Does it honour the unique position that employment professionals hold—not just in systems, but in people’s lives?
- Does it balance care with compliance?
Because when we strike that balance in training, we don’t just develop capable employment professionals—we build a stronger, more ethical, and more sustainable sector.
