Staff Matters July 24, 2020 Issue 267 Week 4
CARING ABOUT OUR STAFF
PHENOMENAL FINANCIAL RESULT!
In This Issue
The end of financial year is a great time to reflect on our success as an organisation, both financially and our reputation as the best provider in the sector.
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The 30th of June marked a significant milestone for us with our CEO, Steven Herald celebrating his first 5 financial years with Afford.
Phenomenal Financial Result! Trivia Swag Selfie
The business was pretty sick when Steven joined Afford, turning over $42mil and had made a surplus of only $1mil in the previous 10 years which meant in terms of size we were about 35th in Australia and in terms of viability we weren’t even in the top 500.
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Despite major challenges that threatened to crush Afford including $2.5mil negative impact of the NDIS, Loss of Woolworths coat hanger $4mil contract and closure of DES Campbelltown, by the first year ending June 2016, under the leadership of Steve, we saw a surplus of $7mil and a dramatic turnaround in many business health areas. Head Office staffing reductions provided $2.5mil profit improvement but efficiency and our culture provided double that. Staff turnover dropped from 33% in the previous 3 years to 12%. Day program Client exits dropped from 8% to 0%. Sick Leave taken by frontline staff halved. The journey has been an incredible one. We have progressed from 35 sites in 2015 to over 100 today. We have expanded along the Eastern Seaboard to Queensland & Victoria and frontline carers numbers grew from 500 to 1,500, while Supported Employees remained steady in the 400s.
Afford Celebrates NAIDOC Week Staff Profile
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National Pyjama Day Reminder Fitness Passport Update Handyman Timetable Selfies of the Week Upcoming Events
We transitioned thousands of clients to NDIS packages from State based packages, implemented new computer systems (CIMS/NAV/Elmo/Accendre), grew our fleet from 50 cars to 350 cars, moved to a larger Head Office, built our FACs partnered Group Homes at Thornton Estate and rebranded.
Trivia Answer
Our surpluses in these 5 years have been double what was generated in the previous 65 years. In 5 years we made a surplus of $65mil placing us No. 1 in Australia and $20mil ahead of our closest competitor, which together with our Opening Net Equity of $31mil means we now have $96mil. These surpluses have enabled us to pay off $70mil of property in the last 5 years – we now own $100mil of properties outright Not only have we been a success financially, but we have been recognised as the best Service Provider in Australasia and twice as the Best Employer in Australia (Voice Survey). The Voice Survey conducted the month before Steve started showed a toxic culture with management divided with frontline workers disconnected from senior management. Our Employer of Choice benefits including maintaining wages above Award and buzz nights have brought a previously unachievable culture Our branding is now known by all along the Eastern seaboard, the best recognised in our sector and its design attracts clients and employees to our family. The year as of 30th June saw our revenue triple what it was 5 years ago at $131mil as we provide more than 2mil hours per annum of the best quality supports to people in Australia. In the coming year our revenue will top $180 mil as we enter South Australia and Western Australia placing us in the top 6 Service Providers in Australia. As at today we are already almost quadruple what we were 5 years ago and unlike our competitors, we have never stopped providing any services to clients because they were losing money. COVID19 has given us a significant pause and the coming year will be stop start as outbreaks and containments progress, but our future is bright and our spirit as Affordians is strong. Thank you everyone for your contribution. We have the best frontline carers in the sector and the coming 5 years will see us cement our position as the Number 1 Service Provider in Australia. In 5 years’ time we will likely provide half a billion dollars of services nationally and have over 5,000 employees and along the way we will have loads of fun!
www.afford.com.au
Staff Matters
STAFF PROFILE NAME: Livenya Chamoun POSITION: Vocational SLES Trainer LOCATION: Ingleburn SLES FAVOURITE MUSIC/SONG? All My Life - KC and JoJo FAVOURITE MOVIE? The Notebook FAVOURITE HOBBIES? Drawing FAVOURITE FOODS? Pasta IF YOU COULD BE AN ANIMAL, WHAT WOULD YOU BE? A bird WHAT IS YOUR DREAM HOLIDAY DESTINATION? Maldives IF YOU HAD THE POWER, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT THE WORLD? Not sure IF YOU HAD TO TEACH SOMETHING, WHAT WOULD YOU TEACH? Kindness SOMETHING NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT ME? A secret
July 24, 2020 Issue 267
AFFORD CELEBRATES NAIDOC WEEK
Green Valley Day Program clients and staff had a wonderful day last week, immersing themselves in Aboriginal culture for a National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) celebration. NAIDOC Week is an Australian observance traditionally held from the first Sunday in July until the following Sunday. Sadly, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, The National NAIDOC Committee has decided to postpone the official NAIDOC Week event from July to 8-15 November 2020. Even though the official event has been moved, July has always traditionally been the time to celebrate NAIDOC, so our staff at Green Valley went ahead with the highly anticipated event. The day was organised by Team Leader Carol Blayney with the help of LSA Jayne Saxon. Jayne identifies as Aboriginal which was a huge advantage as Jayne was able to organise some special Indigenous activities for our clients to enjoy through her family. Clients started the day with having their faces painted in the Aboriginal flag colours, red, yellow and black. Jayne had arranged for her family friend Jason to attend and do a dance. Jason spoke about Aboriginal culture and invited two staff to complete a cleansing dance with him. Part of the welcome ceremony was to place clay hand prints onto a surface which could be kept and preserved, so Team Leader Carol Blayney volunteered her Afford jacket, which the participants decorated. He did a welcome dance afterwards depicting kangaroo, emu and eagle with Green Valley clients joining in. After dancing there was lots of art and craft activities to explore such as painting boomerangs and colouring of NAIDOC themed stencils. Overall, everyone had an absolutely fantastic day learning about Indigenous culture. Before leaving Jason also painted a special boomerang for Green valley site to keep which Carol plans on framing with the welcome jacket as a wall feature.
www.afford.com.au
July 24, 2020 Issue 267
Staff Matters NATIONAL PYJAMA DAY National Pyjama Day is held on the 17th of July every year as a way to raise awareness and funds for children in foster care. It invites everyone to go to work or go about their typical day in their favourite pair of pyjamas. In true Afford spirit our sites jumped on board to have a blast on the day. Staff were even more motivated to create their best crazy PJ poses when Cristina Alvarez, Marketing, Events and Fundraising Manager, announced that there were Peter Alexander gift vouchers up for grabs as a prize for the best dressed and most creative PJ photo on the day. The photos flooded the Afford staff Facebook page with images of staff getting wild and wacky in their best pyjama poses. The picture with the most likes was the HR team with their ‘On cloud 9’ creative shot. Their photo, with the help of photo editing software, depicted the team asleep on a soft cloud. The Afford Way was on show in all its comfortable glory! We would like to thank everyone for getting involved, getting creative and being proud to be part of such an amazing tribe! Go team Afford!!
Reminder! Staff please be reminded about the importance of the following: • Please note that all New South Wales and Victorian staff need to wear masks while working – inside and outside. This is in line with this morning’s announcements for NSW – it nominated Western Suburbs but for certainty we request all staff in NSW to comply. Victoria had already moved to this point. If you have any doubts or issues with stock please discuss with your Team Leader or Manager.
www.afford.com.au
July 24, 2020 Issue 267
Staff Matters FITNESS PASSPORT UPDATE
NSW Affordians were lucky enough to start back at the gym from July 1st, staff across the state have already been enjoying the feeling and benefits of returning back to the gym and it’s so great to see so many of us embracing a healthier lifestyle post isolation. QLD Affordians received the good news last week that their programs also resumed from the 10th of July. Unfortunately, due to the second outbreak in Victoria our VIC Affordians are still a little while away from enjoying the gym, after their fitness centres closed again last week. We hope that our fellow Victorians stay safe! For those of us who have returned to the gym, you may notice some changes to facilities as they operate in-line with social distancing and additional cleaning protocols. Please contact or check the website of your preferred facility prior to attending to check how they are managing this. If you have recently applied to join Fitness Passport or are intending to join, please note that there may be a small delay of an extra week in your application due to the backlog and demand that Fitness Passport are currently experiencing. We hope you enjoy getting back into training! For any questions regarding Fitness Passport please email Rawvell Miraflor on: Rawvell.miraflor@afford.com.au.
Handyman Timetable Our Handy Man, Tahier, will be at the following sites this week: - Monday 27th July:
Green Valley, Oran Park & Eaglevale
- Tuesday 28th July:
Woodbine & Ingleburn
Meet Our Handyman Tahier
- Wednesday 29th July: Rouse Hill, Kings Park & Blacktown - Thursday 30th July:
Belmore & Bexley
- Friday 31st July:
Weekly catch up & urgent requests
SELFIES OF THE WEEK
mpbelltown Selfie Above: Ca nna chillin in Ha LSA - Brandon client Tomasi. th wi e hin ns the su
Pawsome Se lfi Alvarez alw e Above: Cristina ay monkey bus s has important iness.
UPCOMING EVENTS DATE:
EVENT:
24th July
Stress Down Day
26th July
Crazy Hair Day
27th July
Afford Academy 1st Session
1-31st July
Dry July
A: A needle
www.afford.com.au
