Staff Matters 186

Staff Matters January 4, 2019 Issue 186 Week 27

2018 YEAR IN REVIEW

AFFORD’S YEAR TO RENEW & REFRESH

Heading into Spring last year, we challenged all our businesses to renew and refresh their sites to enhance the everyday experience for our clients.

Many sites faced the challenge head on by going the extra mile to create truly wonderful environments. Lakemba Respite incorporated decorative wall graphics, themed rooms and pops of colour EVERYWHERE; Bexley Day Program and the Allied Health team transformed the site’s sensory room; Campbelltown Day Program included an amazing potplant people garden; Belmore Day Program refreshed their gym; Oran Park Day Program incorporated client photos everywhere; and Guildford Day Program created beautiful backyard gardens.

It’s not only our Day Programs that took on the renew and refresh challenge, our Minchinbury ADE also had a refresh, with the factory floor being painted and the layout improved to optimise movement and cleanliness Of course, the major renew and refresh story was with our Head Office move to its new premises at 3-7 Marieanne Place in Minchinbury. Our new Head Office is modern and boasts a better work environment and layout.

Our move marks a new era for our organisation as a fresh and re-energised community that is moving forward and demonstrating why Afford has become the partner of choice for so many Australians living with disability.

In This Issue 1

2

Afford’s Year To Renew & Refresh Joke of The Week The Afford Culture Soaring High Making moves Interstate

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Growth Of Group Homes

Afford Wins Voice Project’s Change Challenge Awards!

Upcoming Events Selfies of The Week

It is due to the hard work, camaraderie and new vision that we have been able to achieve such success together. So when we moved, we hosted a House Warming Party!

Close to 200 staff from across Afford attended the Head Office House Warming, with everyone excited and pumped to party into the weekend with colleagues and friends. There was a guest appearance from the mystical Apollo Jackson (who is now an honorary Affordian), music, pizza, jumping castles, laughter and a united tribe.

It was a wonderful celebration and made even better by our interstate counterparts making the effort to travel to Sydney just for the event. It was great to have the NSW, VIC and QLD teams together in one location to celebrate such a momentous occasion.

REMINDER

Don’t forget to send your clients’ achievements, good news stories and photos to Marketing@afford.com.au

www.afford.com.au

Staff Matters

STAFF PROFILE NAME: Tayla Clark POSITION: SLES Vocational Trainer LOCATION: Minchinbury FAVOURITE SONG? Jason Mraz - I’m Yours FAVOURITE MOVIE? Eternal Sunshine Of A Spotless Mind

January 4, 2019 Issue 186

THE AFFORD CULTURE SOARING HIGH

Every staff member at Afford makes a real difference to the lives of our clients and their families. The work that you do each and every day is a testament to what makes Afford great - it’s our people.

We have implemented PACES team incentives, monthly Customer Service Awards and monthly staff meetings/Buzz Nights to make sure that we are always stopping to acknowledge all that we have achieved during the month.

Over the year, our teams and tribes mentality has strengthened. We have worked together through troubles and triumphs to come out as one strong community that works hard and plays hard.

FAVOURITE HOBBIES? Reading

At Afford, we cultivate an environment of belonging and value. Our regular staff meetings are great opportunities to share ideas, encourage our team to push harder, do better and achieve more.

FAVOURITE FOODS? Spaghetti Bolognese

We work towards the same goal, sing from the same song sheet and drive success together. Our teams are supporting each other more, so that if one bird in the flock falls behind, we’re all there to help bring them back into the team.

IF YOU COULD BE AN ANIMAL WHAT WOULD YOU BE? A cat so I could laze all day in the sun WHAT IS YOUR DREAM HOLIDAY DESTINATION? Venice IF YOU HAD THE POWER WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT THE WORLD? Make animals talk IF YOU HAD TO TEACH SOMETHING WHAT WOULD YOU TEACH? I would teach people to look for the good in themselves and others SOMETHING NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT ME? I am deathly afraid of cockroaches

Remember to use technology to your advantage and email, phone or teleconference your peers to increase productivity - this is especially important now that we have expanded interstate.

Keep your teams and tribes energised and let’s make 2019 our year to shine!

MAKING MOVES INTERSTATE

For over 60 years, Afford has provided disability services for people for NSW. This year, it was time to introduce our interstate friends to all that Afford offers.

Heading north to QLD we saw a need for people living with disability in communities in and around Caboolture, Gold Coast, Strathpine and Robina, so we swiftly started connecting with locals to make them aware of our services, especially since they haven’t yet transitioned to the NDIS. Our QLD South business has been a runaway success and we are excited for QLD North to grow as it begins its NDIS rollout. We also established a presence in Melbourne in Victoria - a tough metropolitan market, but one that has shown increased promise with our team on the ground talking to the community at expos, at schools and through Club Afford events.

To support our expansion in QLD and VIC we have held training at our Minchinbury Head Office for all sales staff, which also served as a great opportunity to get the teams together for some team bonding on a Buzz Night out.

Our Bounty Bonus Challenge for our Customer Care Team across NSW, VIC and QLD was hugely successful with the team securing well in excess of $1 million worth of client sign-ups - a great way to finish the year!

Our year of expansion has been an exciting time for Afford and our brand has begun to resonate with locals in the communities we service.

Well done to our QLD and VIC teams for all your efforts in 2018 and also our team in NSW Head Office who have facilitated a successful interstate expansion for Afford.

www.afford.com.au

January 4, 2019 Issue 186

Staff Matters GROWTH OF THE AFFORD LIFESTYLE Afford are Australia’s Group Home experts and we have experienced significant growth over the past year, with Afford now facilitating accommodation support for over 80 residents in 13 homes in NSW and 7 homes in Queensland.

Our amazing Group Homes team works closely with individuals to determine their needs and ways in which we can provide support.

We have identified a need for quality accommodation support across NSW, QLD and VIC and have taken the lead to create safe and comfortable homes for residents to live life on their terms. We are a trusted leader in supported independent living because of what we deliver through the Afford Lifestyle.

The Afford Lifestyle involvess going above and beyond in supporting residents to live independently and on their own terms.

Once residents step into an Afford home, it feels like their home. They’re homes where residents have comfort and real choice. They can choose the colour of their bedroom walls, the furniture and the types of decorations to include. Homes are modified with things like hoists or wider doorways, to meet the needs of residents. We make sure that homes are located close to transport and that there’s a household car parked in the driveway, so residents can come and go as they please.

There’s always a bowl of fresh fruit on the counter at Afford homes and our Lifestyle Assistants encourage healthy and active lifestyles through regular exercise, meal planning or participation in Club Afford.

In Afford homes, residents are paired with housemates with similar interests and they develop friendships that last a lifetime. Our awesome team of Lifestyle Assistants also make sure our residents stay connected with family and friends.

We support residents through the SIL and housing pathways process, provide opportunities for skills developments and new life experiences and ensure our residents are part of inclusive and supportive communities.

It is the Afford Lifestyle that sets us apart from other service providers. We champion exceptional service for residents to deliver happiness in work, at home and in life. This is our commitment to our residents and this is what has driven our leadership in the industry as Australia’s Group Home experts.

www.afford.com.au

Staff Matters

January 4, 2019 Issue 186

AFFORD WINS VOICE PROJECT’S CHANGE CHALLENGE AWARDS! In 2018, we were honoured with being the 2018 National winner of the Voice Project’s Change Challenge Awards in the Large Business Category!

Our win was based on the Voice Project Online Staff Survey, with results we achieved as an organisation being the highest the Voice Project have ever recorded. The voice project survey is completed by thousands of companies each year, so the competition is very tough. To be judged the winner of the large business category for Australia is a huge achievement by everybody.

The Voice Project was designed by Macquarie University and the judges, which included Dr Perter Langford, provided some very positive feedback about the significant improvements that Afford has made. Some of the judge’s comments include: • “Clearly, Afford is an organisation that has experienced a remarkable turnaround in a number of areas, not least of which is its financial situation. This doesn’t seem to have been at the expense of its Voice results which are very positive.”

• “Strong improvements in Passion and Progression along with significant increases in the areas that were the focus of the change strategy.”

• “It appears that new leadership has engendered the turnaround in performance by establishing a different organisational culture and expectations of staff.”

• “The changes in Afford’s scores over little more than two years are outstanding. An average change per year across all questions of over 5% is a rare achievement for a large organisation, one of which the managers and staff at Afford deserve to be immensely proud.”

At Afford we value our staff as much as our clients, so we work very hard to maintain our Employer of Choice initiatives.

We strongly believe that to deliver great Customer Service to our clients, we need a happy and engaged workforce and the survey shows us that we are succeeding. We will continue to go above and beyond to look after our staff and maintain a positive culture that promotes strong teams and tribes and makes Afford an amazing place to work!

SELFIES OF THE WEEK

UPCOMING EVENTS DATE:

EVENT:

10 Jan

Frontline Staff Conference

12 Jan

International Earth Charkra Day

19-28 Jan Tamworth Country Music Festival

w Year

ove: Happy Ne In the Selfie Ab Team! es from the Raffl

Pawsome Se lfi with furbab e Above: Grace Juri y, Lucy!

26 Jan

Australia Day

1 Feb

National Wear Red Day

www.afford.com.au