Staff Matters 148

Staff matters April 13, 2018 - Issue 148 Week 38

Afford Wins Voice Project’s Change Challenge Awards!

Afford has just been announced as the 2018 National winner of the Voice Project’s Change Challenge Awards in the Large Business Category!

A few months ago many of you completed the Voice Project Online Staff Survey, the results we achieved as an organisation were 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 including Dr Perter Langford included some very positive feedback about the significant improvements that Afford has made, some of which 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 2 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 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 do our outmost to look after our Staff and maintain a positive culture that promotes strong teams and tribes.

Let your abilities soar www.afford.com.au

In This Issue 1 Afford Wins Voice Project’s Change Challenge Award

2 Staff Profile Harmony All Around at Minchinbury Great Foundations and Exceptional Culture

3 Oran Park Lifestyle Centre Gets Musical

Afford’s Green Thumb Gardening at Marrickville

4 Carers Coming Together Selfie Of the Week Have a Laugh

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

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April 13, 2018 - Issue 148

Staff Profile

Harmony All Around at Minchinbury In March, Minchinbury Transition to Work (TTW) trainees participated in celebrations for Harmony Day in a community festival held at Bowman Hall in Blacktown and Blacktown Arts Centre.

Sulett van Wyk, Lifestyle Assistant at Windsor Lifestyle Centre Favourite Song: Andrea Bocelli – Vivo per lei Favourite Movie: Too many to pick one Favourite Hobbies: Reading and refurbishing old furniture Foods: Indian, Asian and Italian If you could be an animal what would you be: Cat What is your dream holiday destination: Tuscany Italy If you had the power what would you change about the world: Respect… Mutual respect for one another What is the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

I am blessed with wonderful people, but if I have to choose one, it would be my husband painting my toe nails when I was 41 weeks pregnant If you had to teach something what would you teach: Languange. How to spell and use words properly Something no one knows about me? I was a gymnast years ago and can still do cart wheels and hand stands at age 40

let your abilities soar

The focus of taking part in Harmony Day celebrations was to expose trainees to the value of diversity and inclusiveness in the community, as well as learning about and embracing other cultures.

Trainees joined hundreds of people from different cultures and communities in a celebration of unique differences. The theme for this year’s Harmony Day was ‘Everyone Belongs’, with the festival showcasing performances from different cultures from around the world and guest speakers to share their experiences.

Afford’s very own Jarrod Nicholas led the cultural Conga Line all around Bowman Hall and trainees were given the opportunity to participate in a ‘Breaking Bread’ Ceremony where they tried different types of breads from around the world, and even had the chance to roll their own bread dough.

Trainees showed their enthusiasm for the event, contributing to a community mural about inclusiveness. Trainees created beautiful collages about what Harmony Day meant to them, with artworks being displayed at Blacktown Art Centre. They also wrote messages for the community, with Brenton encouraging people to ‘Share music from around the world’ and Jarrod writing that he ‘Wishes Everyone the Best’. There were also opportunities for trainees to meet with members of the community, such as police officers, local artists, TAFE trainers offering courses for people of all abilities, and volunteers.

Great Foundations and Exceptional Culture

Afford has experienced exceptional growth. We have grown our client base, acquired new properties, partnered with various organisations and created a strong ‘teams and tribes’ environment.

Our CEO has said: “Over the past few years we have built great foundations, built an exceptional culture with low staff turnover and a track record of delivery.”

Let’s keep the momentum going as we extend our service offering in Sydney and NSW and start our expansion into Queensland.

Let’s work together as one flock and look for opportunities where Afford can create positive change and grow for the benefit of our staff and our clients for the future.

P EM

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CHOICE

www.afford.com.au

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April 13, 2018 - Issue 148

Oran Park Lifestyle Centre Gets Musical

Thanks to the Small Grants Program of Camden City Council, clients at Oran Park Lifestyle Centre can now enjoy musical tunes and dance time with the addition of a new juke box and karaoke machine at the Centre.

Music therapy is a great way for clients to increase self awareness and encourages participation in group activities.

Through music, any self doubt and behavioural challenges can be overcome as clients enjoy social interactions in a fun and active atmosphere. The new juke box and karaoke machine will also enhance Oran Park Lifestyle Centre’s monthly music disco sessions for people with disabilities and high support needs. The music sessions will also support development of hand eye coordination and encourage social inclusion.

We look forward to hearing about the new Oran Park Disco and seeing some of the fabulous client dance moves!

Afford’s Green Thumb— Gardening at Marrickville

Last month, SLES Marrickville trainees, Cameron Chance, Jeffery Lei, Jonah Strickland Carolina Tejo and James Walsh, joined Marrickville Australian Disability Enterprise (ADE) Supported Employees for an innovative Gardening Project at the Marrickville site.

The purpose of the Gardening Project is to promote healthy eating, develop life skills, and foster collaboration between Marrickville ADE and Marrickville SLES Trainees.

As part of the project, Supported Employees and SLES trainees worked together during the planning process to determine the best way to manage the garden and choose the plants to be included. Both employees and trainees haven been responsible for creating and caring for the new portable vegetable garden.

SLES Trainees took on the role of going to Bunnings Warehouse and purchasing supplies for the garden. Trainees asked for advice from Bunnings staff, kept track of spending to make sure there wasn’t a budget blow-out, and took their time choosing the best plant and seedling varieties.

Supported Employees and SLES trainees then worked together to put the portable planters together and enjoyed getting their hands dirty as they planted the vegetables. The gardens are free access for all clients to use in cooking activities, to encourage healthy eating, or just to nibble on a carrot (once they are ready, that is!).

Marrickville Supported Employees and SLES trainees are now sharing the responsibility of making sure the garden flourishes by ensuring it receives enough sunshine, water, and TLC. We can’t wait to see the results of this wonderful collaboration!

let your abilities soar

www.afford.com.au

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April 13, 2018 - Issue 148

Carers Coming Together

Afford has a supportive and engaging Carer’s Program that is proving to be an important forum for carers to ask questions, network with other and simply take some time out for themselves.

Recently, Blacktown Lifestyle Centre carers met up for lunch as a way to debrief and talk about how things are going for them and mingle with others.

It was wonderful to have attendees who have been with Blacktown Lifestyle Centre since it opened, as well as the addition of some new faces to the group.

All were able to talk about their individual needs with NDIS and find out about connecting with Afford’s NDIS Support Coordinator to help fill in other gaps about NDIS specifics.

Kings Park Lifestyle Centre also recently invited all carers to an afternoon tea in an effort to build relationships with carers to enhance communications and the service offering at Kings Park Lifestyle Centre to continue to move forward positively into the future.

A variety of topics were discussed at the Carers event including the ways in which current programs are managed, client benefits and communications. Carers were impressed with the way in which Kings Park LC communicated with photos of clients in action during programs and said that it enabled carers to see how their loved ones were adapting to and enjoying community outings and programs.

One carer commented that her daughter benefited from work experience and the swimming program coordinated by the Centre. Another said that she was impressed with how Kings Park provided a service to enable her brother to attend a family get together for Easter and that she has a new appreciation for just what is involved in getting her brother from the nursing home where he resides to another location.

Both Carers events were a joint effort between Afford and Together Carers and we are very grateful to Together Carers for their support.

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Have a laugh

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Andrea is a new client at Lurnea LC who got all dressed up to visit Minchinbury HQ in the hope of meeting Afford CEO, Steven Herald. He returned to Lurnea LC telling everyone how he “got to meet the biggest boss!”

let your abilities soar www.afford.com.au

Please send in your selfies or laughs