Staff Matters March 5, 2021 Issue 299 Week 36
CARING ABOUT OUR STAFF
WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP AT AFFORD!
In This Issue
The 8th of March is International Women's Day. It is a globally recognised day to celebrate women's culture, social, economic and political achievements. It is also marked as a day to highlight the call to action for women's equality worldwide. The theme for 2021 is Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.
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Women in Leadership at Afford! Trivia Afford Reward Of The Week
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Q&A – Affords Women in Leadership Staff Profile
Women are at the forefront of Afford. The leaders of our business and our frontline workers consist of a majority of women. At present, we have 993 male employees and a total of 1,432 female employees. Not only is our workforce dominated by women, but our management team is as well. We also have three female board members.
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IMPORTANT NEWS: Fringe Benefit Deadline Reminder Handyman Timetable
At Afford, we genuinely respect equal opportunities and reward those who deserve opportunities without reference to their sex, race or whether they have tattoos or different colour hair! We celebrate diversity and our strong culture does not allow nepotism, favouritism or bullying. Our CEO Steven Herald has a strong stance about equal opportunity and pay for women in our organisation. He is passionate about righting the imbalance that has been present in society for decades. With our focus on promotion from within and the support of our CEO, women at Afford have an excellent opportunity to progress up the ladder as far as they desire.
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Staff Awards Hall of Fame Winner – Layla Naji Selfies Of The Week Upcoming Events Trivia Answer
Given the crucial role that women play in our team, Afford has always worked hard to provide women with the flexibility to stay in the workforce and return when ready - IN THE SAME POSITION. While this is easier to achieve in casual type frontline roles, we also work hard to be flexible in management roles to help mums, for example, to get back into the workforce. We champion inclusivity and ensure our staff, female or male, are remunerated equally. There is no pay gap between men’s and women’s wages at Afford. Our female senior executives get equal pay and benefits to what a man would receive in their roles.
PLUS ENJOY EVERY DAY SAVINGS ON THESE BRANDS!
www.afford.com.au
Staff Matters
STAFF PROFILE NAME: Natalie Ciantar POSITION: Lifestyle Assistant LOCATION: Caboolture Day Program, QLD FAVOURITE MUSIC/SONG Dreams by Fleetwood Mac FAVOURITE MOVIE? Fern Gully FAVOURITE HOBBIES? Camping, bike riding and watching movies FAVOURITE FOODS? Cheese IF YOU COULD BE AN ANIMAL, WHAT WOULD YOU BE? An eagle WHAT IS YOUR DREAM HOLIDAY DESTINATION? Malta IF YOU HAD THE POWER, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT THE WORLD? Get rid of COVID IF YOU HAD TO TEACH SOMETHING, WHAT WOULD YOU TEACH? How to use indicators properly at a roundabout. SOMETHING NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT ME? I am petrified of cane toads
March 5, 2021 Issue 299
Q&A – AFFORDS WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP
Fitting with this year's theme, women in leadership, we anonymously asked the female leaders of Afford what it takes to be a leader. Everyone was asked to name a person who has had a tremendous impact on them as a leader and some of the responses we received showed just how important it is to have a strong female leader in our lives. "My mum. Growing up, she was always drilling it into us to be fair, to be true to ourselves, to give the most and expect the least and to soldier on." "My mother. She always encouraged self-worth and a strong drive to get what you want." We also received several responses from leaders' highlighting other leaders at Afford as the person they look up to, from district managers to executive managers and other team leaders. It's inspiring to see such a great culture where we can learn from each other how to become great leaders. We wanted to know what characteristic our leaders believe every great leader should possess. Introspection, authenticity, belief in what you're doing and leading by example were some of the most popular responses. When asked, what is the biggest challenge facing leaders today? Some of our leaders responded with: • I think it has always been a challenge, especially for a mum with kids, to find the balance to juggle work, lead a team be a mum and then find time for yourself. We also asked them to recommend a few resources for someone looking to gain insight into becoming a better leader: • Find a good mentor/s and learn from them. Trial and error, what might work in one situation might not work in the next one, but always keep trying. • Lean on your team for support and encouragement and help each other grow and shine, use each other's strengths and weaknesses as leverage to become the best team. The women who lead our business here at Afford, from the board members to our executive team to our district managers and our team leaders, all possess characteristics that are representative of the Afford culture. We all live and breathe our mission and values and continue to lead by example every day. Our leaders are knowledgeable and have immense experience, and we encourage everyone to never be afraid to ask an Afford leader a question and learn from them what it takes to be a woman in a leadership role.
www.afford.com.au
March 5, 2021 Issue 299
Staff Matters IMPORTANT NEWS: FRINGE BENEFIT DEADLINE The deadline for making a change to your salary packaging, claiming reimbursement or applying to start salary packaging is fast approaching. Funds on your salary packaging card and balances in your salary packaging account need to be spent before the end of the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) year on March 31st 2021. AccessPay is a salary sacrificing service available for staff to maximise up to $15,900 per year of your pre-tax earnings to pay for your daily expenses. As an Employer of Choice benefit, Afford and AccessPay allows you to maximise your take-home pay.
As part of this benefit, employees can have pre-paid entertainment or general living VISA cards topped up fortnightly with an amount from their pre-tax earnings. Each card can hold up to $2,000 of either General Living Expenses or Entertainment funds. Staff who have these cards must understand that they should spend any money on these cards before March 31st 2021. Not spending these funds will reduce the following year’s allowed threshold, resulting in a reduced amount that you can claim. So, to get the maximum benefit of salary packaging, we encourage you to spend your card balances by the FBT deadline. If you want to make changes to your salary packaging deductions before March 31st 2021, ensure you make the change two weeks before the pay date you wish the change to take effect. The final date to apply for a new card in the current FBT Year (2020/21) is March 8th 2021 and all claims need to be submitted by March 18th 2021, where a balance exists in your account. For more information, visit www.accesspay.com.au
MAKE An exciting MOVE interstate WITH AFFORD!
ADELAIDE
Have you ever thought about a new adventure interstate? Did you know Afford has a Secondment’s Program? Secondments are for staff members interested in relocating and bringing the Afford culture to our new locations in Adelaide or Perth. At Afford, we believe in brightness of future for all staff and everyone has the opportunity to take advantage of a secondment. Staff members who may be interested in relocating to either Adelaide or Perth should speak with their immediate and district managers and express interest to HR. Attractive secondment benefits will be available for all those willing to head over and get the Afford Way happening.
PERTH
This is your opportunity for a career progression and Afford will support you with any training, accommodation and relocation for you and your family.
Handyman Timetable Our Handy Man, Tahier, will be at the following sites this week: - Monday 8th March: Jamisontown, Butterflies & Cherrywood - Tuesday 9th March: Windsor & True Blue - Wednesday 10th March: Narellan Vale, Narellan & Glen Alpine - Thursday 11th March:
South Windsor & Bligh Park x3
- Friday 12th March:
Campbelltown & Leumeah
Meet Our Handyman Tahier
www.afford.com.au
March 5, 2021 Issue 299
Staff Matters STAFF AWARDS HALL OF FAME WINNER – LAYLA NAJI We are so proud of the Affordians that received awards at the recent Staff Awards night. Please join us in congratulating Hall of Fame winner Layla Naji! Layla is Afford’s Team Leader at DES in Bankstown. She started with Afford in March 2013 and has fallen in love with her job, the people she works with and her DES clients. “The best thing about my job is Afford Bankstown forever being one of the best employment providers with five stars all the way, which is extremely hard to maintain,” said Layla. Last year Layla took home a prestigious Hall of Fame trophy at the Staff Awards night held in October at Curzon Hall. “This year, we will induct a similar number of people as we did last year into the Afford Hall of Fame,” said CEO, Steven Herald as he announced the award category. “The first award is a lady I love to death. She has been in this sector for over ten years and she is just such an inspirational person. She is in our DES business and she finds people with disability a job. She mentors’ people in our sector. It’s one thing to manage people and it’s another thing to mentor our superstars. I want to induct into the Hall of Fame, Layla Naji!”, said Steve. Layla made her way to the stage to accept her award. When asked how she felt after winning the award, Layla said, “I was too shy to think! But I was happy to be acknowledged and celebrated, of course. I love the trophy and how amazingly designed it is! I truly love Afford as an outstanding disability provider. I truly feel like we all are one big family supporting each other and always there happy and positive even in downtimes.” Congratulations Layla!
SELFIES OF THE WEEK
UPCOMING EVENTS DATE:
EVENT:
1-31 March
National Epilepsy Awareness Month
1-31 March
Australian Womens History Month
8 March
International Women's Day
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www.afford.com.au