Staff matters August 3, 2018 - Issue 164 Week 5
Rewarding Leaders
In This Issue 1 Rewarding Leaders
2 Staff Profile Career Goals In Melbourne
At the recent Management Conference at Brighton Beach, a number of amazing staff were recognised for their talents and dedication to go above and beyond to deliver exceptional customer service and progression within their Afford business. Congratulations to Loan Nittel, Layla Naji , Joumana Talj and Yang Zhang from Afford DES for receiving Exceptional Performance Awards. Your commitment to enhancing the lives of many job seekers has made Afford a key player in the employment category. Gary Harrison, John Del Popolo and Paul Burton from the Afford Pallets business also received Exceptional Performance Awards, for their efforts in making their business an outstanding success. Joe-Marie Van Zyl from Afford Respite was also a recipient of an Exceptional Performance Award and deserves recognition for her efforts in growing Respite. Special awards were presented to Karina Tran who received a Super Sales Award and Sarah Vandermeer who received a Super Support Award. Well done to all award recipients for showcasing their leadership skills and pushing the boundaries to ensure Afford remains at the forefront of the disability sector.
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Let your abilities soar www.afford.com.au
3 Rewarding Leaders Cont. Important Changes To AccessPay
4 Oran Park Pops Pink Upcoming Events Selfie Of the Week Have a Laugh
Reminder Don’t forget to send your/clients’ achievements, good news stories and photos to
Marketing@afford.com.au
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August 3, 2018 - Issue 164
Staff Profile
Akash Shah
Administration Assistant Minchinbury Favourite Song: Leave him in the Longyard by Slim Dusty and other country songs. Favourite Movie: Any reality movie on Netflix Favourite Hobbies: Piano, guitar, singing, listening to music, puzzles and Sudoku. Favourite Foods: Pizza, pasta, noodles, Indian food. If you could be an animal what would you be: No idea. What is your dream holiday destination: No particular one. If you had the power what would you change about the world: Eliminate terrorism. What is the nicest thing someone has ever done for you? Lots of thing, e.g. You are amazing Michelle! If you had to teach something what would you teach: I would teach everyone how to do the Rubik’s cube Something no one knows about me: I help do the housework including the clothes, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, showers, cleaning kitchen and wiping dishes.
let your abilities soar
CAREER GOALS IN MELBOURNE The SpotJobs Melbourne Career Expo has been held for the last 17 years and is the largest and most inclusive careers event in Victoria. The expo covers a wide range of career opportunities for employment and training in the trades, corporate and professional sectors. Due to the expansion of Afford into Victoria, Afford jumped at the chance to be involved in the Expo to increase awareness of our organisation and showcase all the we have to offer clients and their families. Afford staff members, Jessica Norman, David Farrell, Karina Tran and Kiesha Spies, attended the three day event which was held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Friday kicked off with a busy start with over 7,000 enthusiastic teachers, TAFE and High School students’ eager to find a new career path. Many people were drawn to the Afford stand; attracted by our funky cranes and bright colourful banners - Afford merchandise was flying off the table! A number of students who were interested in working for Afford visited the stand to have a chat, as well as teachers who were collecting information for students who were unable to make it. The team was busy the entire time - so much so business cards ran out almost instantly and recruitment was receiving a number of resumes from potential candidates from day one. Not only did the team have success with recruitment opportunities, they also gained potential clients through valued conversations about our Club Afford services! “It was a great event, everyone was intrigued as to what ’Afford’ was and we had many people approach our stall. Such a great way to get our name out there!” – Kiesha Spies, Afford Marketing Assistant. It’s an exciting time for Afford as the organisation expands into Victoria. We look forward to sharing our culture and values with new staff members and clients and showing them all the things that make Afford great!.
www.afford.com.au
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August 3, 2018 - Issue 164
Rewarding Leaders CONT. During the Management Conference, there was much discussion from our CEO, Steven Herald, about the value of stepping up to become a leader within our organisation and using your strengths to drive passion, commitment, loyalty and productivity within teams. Looking back three years ago, Afford has come a long way. We’ve moved away from an atmosphere of ‘passing the buck’ to become a strong, cohesive team all working towards the one goal - to make Afford a leading disability service provider in Australia. How have we achieved this? Through leadership. Communication has improved drastically with the addition of initiatives such as Staff Matters and other newsletters, Buzz Nights, Friday Meetings, conferences and Employer of Choice initiatives. Our policies and procedures, IT and systems have improved to ensure we’re working to our maximum efficiency across the organisation. We have a highly talented team of leaders within our community. Leaders who cultivate respect and loyalty among their teams by being open to personal and professional development needs, nurturing their team’s growth without micromanaging and earning the trust and respect of their team by choosing an honest and authentic approach where they take ownership of their decisions and expect of their team only that which they expect of themselves. We are now two years into the full NDIS rollout and thanks to the many changes that we have made, Afford can boast a strong financial position. We have been able to reinvest funds into new Group Homes, rescue underperforming services providers such as WALCA and Norma Parker, our Allied Health team is proving hugely successful, we are expanding into Queensland and Victoria, and we still have a range of exciting opportunities ahead. During the last financial year, we solidified our leadership within the industry by refusing to place profits ahead of client services. We have continued to deliver some of the services that other organisations struggle to make viable, such as 1:1 support. Afford, has many profitable businesses. Afford has experienced explosive growth in Allied Health, Accommodation, Day Programs and Respite and Afford staff have an incredibly good reputation within the industry. The constants of successful businesses are growth, change and profit. Afford businesses have been asked to submit their business plans; taking in mind all that each of us can to do to cultivate success within each business. Let’s continue Afford’s success. Trust in your abilities, trust in your teams, take ownership of your decisions and be a leader that inspires.
IMPORTANT CHANGES TO ACCESSPAY
As an Employer of Choice, Afford has presented staff with opportunities to take part in salary packaging with AccessPay.
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It is an optional registration, where staff have the ability to set up payments for reoccurring bills to be paid before the money is taxed – maximising your pay. Staff also have the option to set up Entertainment VISA cards to manage their spending.
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Staff are able to nominate payments to be made to billers such as rent payments, phone bills and credit card repayments, to name a few.
LOYER
CHOICE
For staff members who make payments to credit card bills it is important to note that from 31 August 2018, payment can no longer be made direct to credit cards. The change comes from AccessPay compliance on Data Security and Standards, which are aimed at increasing security and as a result can no longer store credit card data. The change does not mean you can no longer pay for your credit cards, but rather continue making them via reimbursement. Reimbursements are paid directly into a nominated bank account which AccessPay will collect the details for each salary packaging employee, directly from Payroll. Employees who take part is salary packaging will receive an email notifying you of the changes, if you have any questions about the change please call AccessPay on 1300 133 697.
let your abilities soar
www.afford.com.au
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August 3, 2018 - Issue 164
Oran Park Pops Pink At Afford our teams and tribes culture is one that is centred on supporting each other and we encourage all teams to get involved with their own Afford Buzz Nights. Buzz nights are a great way to get to know the people you work alongside every day on a more personal level and in a casual setting. Last Thursday night, Oran Park Day Program was overcome with the colour pink as staff gathered to celebrate their monthly buzz night. It was certainly a pink surprise, as Oran Park Day Program staff went the extra mile for their Buzz Night and dressed up in matching pink Afford shirts and decorated their shed area with pink spotty roof ornaments, white flowers, a scrumptious pink cake and a baby shower banner! But... this was no ordinary Buzz Night. Team Leader, Amira, and her staff secretly planned to surprise co-worker, Lucinda Primiano, with a baby shower party to mark the coming of her baby girl who is due in September. Lucinda (Lucy) has worked at Oran Park Day Program for over one and a half years and has become a truly valued team member and loved Lifestyle Assistant to our clients. Congratulations Lucy, wishing you and your newborn many years of good health, love, and happiness.
UPCOMING EVENTS Date: Event: 28 Jul - 3 Aug Be A Superhero 1-31 Aug Wheel Make a Change (Cerebral Palsy Alliance) 1-31 Aug MS Readathon 4-11 Aug Gold Coast Disability Expo 5 Aug Jeans for Genes Day 17-24 Aug Book Week 20-26 Aug Keep Australia Beautiful
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Have a laugh
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In the Selfie Above: Cristina Alvarez & Michelle Flynn, rewarding themselves with Superhero awards!
let your abilities soar www.afford.com.au
Please send in your selfies or laughs