Residential Care Officer

A Residential Care Officer provides daily personal care, support and supervision to residents in aged care homes, disability accommodation, or other residential facilities. They assist with activities of daily living, maintain safe and clean environments, monitor resident wellbeing, and respond to immediate care needs while working under the direction of registered nurses or care supervisors.

Assist residents with personal hygiene tasks including bathing, showering, toileting and grooming. Help residents with dressing, eating and drinking, adapting assistance based on individual capabilities and preferences. Monitor and report changes in resident behaviour, mood, appetite or physical condition to nursing staff. Maintain resident comfort by repositioning, providing toileting assistance and managing continence care. Clean and sanitise resident rooms, bathrooms and communal areas in accordance with aged care or disability facility standards. Support residents with mobility using appropriate manual handling techniques and assistive equipment to prevent falls and injuries. Respond promptly to resident call bells and requests, maintaining a duty of care approach. Document care activities, incidents and resident observations in facility records and electronic care management systems.

The standard entry pathway requires a diploma, advanced diploma or associate degree (ABS skill level 2). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.

Shift work including weekends and nights is standard, not optional. The emotional toll of watching residents decline is constant.

Jobs concentrate in metro areas where aged care and disability facilities cluster near population centres. Regional areas have openings but fewer options. Work is facility-based, not remote. Growth is strongest in outer suburbs where new aged care homes are being built.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 4117, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• Accept own accountabilitycore
• Active Listeningcore
• Case Note Documentationcore
• Confidentiality and Privacy Compliancecore
• Conflict De-escalationcore
• Cultural Awareness and Sensitivitycore
• Empathy and Emotional Intelligencecore
• Incident Reportingcore
• Inclusive Practicecore
• Participant or Client Advocacycore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Professional Boundaries Maintenancecore
• Risk Identificationcore
• Team Collaborationcore
• Trauma-Informed Communicationcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Adaptability and Flexibility
• Adhere to organisational guidelines
• Disability Awareness and Inclusion
• Interpreter and Accessibility Coordination
• Problem Solving
• Record Management
• Regulatory and Legislative Awareness
• Service Navigation and Referral
• Time Management and Prioritisation
• Workload Self-Management
• Written Communication

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

Last updated: 30 October 2026