Staff Matters 229

Staff Matters November 1, 2019 Issue 229 Week 18

CARING ABOUT OUR STAFF AFFORD AWARDED BEST WORKPLACE FOR 2019

In This Issue

Earlier in October, we launched our 2019 Staff Survey, managed by our partner, The Voice Project! We are honoured to announce that as a result of your feedback Afford is the winner of the Voice Project’s, Best Workplace Awards for 2019. This prestigious award recognises best workplaces who have excellent management practices and a highly engaged workforce.

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Afford Awarded Best Workplace for 2019 Joke Afford Trivia

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Affording Our Carers Free Support Services Reminder

The survey itself was an opportunity for everyone to be candid in their answers as it is 100% confidential.

Once all the responses are collated, it provides our Executive Team with a fantastic platform to work from in implementing change. Both positive and negative feedback, contribute to growth, enhancing offerings and the continuation of successful initiatives.

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Connecting With Carers

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Celebrating National Bandanna Day

Handyman Timetable

Upcoming Events Afford Trivia Answer Selfies of the Week

These surveys are important to our organisation, as we are committed to continuously improving our standards and ensuring our workplace is one that our staff love. The survey gives all staff a voice to let the business know their feelings around a number of key areas.

Afford has exceeded the Voice Project's percentage criteria of 80% or above for staff satisfaction, winning us the Best Workplace Award 2019. An incredible win as only a small number of the Voice Project's clients meet this criteria. It's no surprise with our outstanding culture, that Afford has been identified as an exceptional place to work.

Thank you to all staff who completed the Staff Survey that was sent out earlier this month. We more than doubled last years response rate and our employees reported exceptional levels of engagement and satisfaction in the latest survey.

We are honoured to win this award and are so proud of our staff who continue to provide the best service and supports in the industry.

AFFORD TRIVIA

Cherrywood Cup Golf Tournament was first established in what year?

www.afford.com.au

Staff Matters

STAFF PROFILE NAME: Cindy woodcock POSITION: Lifestyle Assistant LOCATION: Caboolture, QLD FAVOURITE MUSIC/SONG? Little Wing The Apartment FAVOURITE HOBBIES? Guitar FAVOURITE FOODS? Coffee IF YOU COULD BE AN ANIMAL, WHAT WOULD YOU BE? A dog WHAT IS YOUR DREAM HOLIDAY DESTINATION? Tulum, Mexico IF YOU HAD THE POWER, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT THE WORLD? Maliciousness IF YOU HAD TO TEACH SOMETHING, WHAT WOULD YOU TEACH? Psychology SOMETHING NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT ME? Secret

November 1, 2019 Issue 229

AFFORDING OUR CARERS FREE SUPPORT SERVICES The Afford Way promotes positive health and wellbeing initiatives throughout our organisation. The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a voluntary, confidential and complimentary counselling service that we offer for all employees. We are excited to announce that this incredible service is now available to all parents and carers!

Over the past 12 months, we have provided our staff with over 180 hours of counselling and support through the EAP program. We will continue to offer this free benefit as an Employer of Choice initiative and have also extended the services to our carers. If you need assistance with personal, family or work related concerns that are impacting on your health or quality of life, you can contact EAP and make an appointment for face-to-face, online or telephone counselling services.

We always put the needs of our clients and carers first and understand it is important for them to have someone to reach out to in times of need. Carers and parents have two sessions available to access at any time, however, if they need more, you can confidentially request that through EAP and this will be approved through our HR team.

Your wellbeing starts here: Contact EAP: 1800 81 87 28 / (02) 8247 9191 or info@accesseap.com.au

Reminder!

A general reminder for ALL Staff: • The public is always watching and it is important to show the quality of our services at all times. Remember to smile! We have the best job in the world!

• As the warmer weather heats up, make sure we are staying hydrated, wearing hats and slip slop slapping on suncream.

• Calling in red alerts straight away is compulsory, do not wait until the incident is over.

www.afford.com.au

Staff Matters

November 1, 2019 Issue 229

CONNECTING WITH CARERS Recently to celebrate National Carers Week, Afford held an event at each site for Carers/Parents to attend. National Carers Week is an opportunity to educate and raise awareness among all Australians about the diversity of carers and their caring roles.

We value not only our clients, but also the amazing carers and family members who support them. This is why we must encourage and support carers to connect and network, at our free networking dinners and events.

It is a great way for carers to communicate and learn from other carers. It is also a fantastic opportunity for them to connect and share their thoughts and concerns. It also allows for time out to enjoy a catch-up, chat and laugh with friends.

Sites across all states recently held a number of events and invited families and carers to attend. Some holding high tea functions, BBQs, morning teas and others catching up over an exquisite 3 course meal at a restaurant.

Some of our sites also used this as an opportunity to ‘Get Connected’, which is a program that has been offered for our carers to upgrade their technical skills in the form of online modules completed on iPads. This was thanks to the work of our Grants and Fundraising Coordinator, Toni Preston, who applied for an Australian Government grant from ‘Be Connected’, which allowed us to purchase iPads for each of our sites and offer online training for our carers.

The feedback from our events was very positive, with most sites having high numbers of attendees joining the event.

“It went really well, the food was fantastic and everyone had a fantastic time” – Aaron Evans District Manager for Central East.

We sincerely hope everyone enjoyed celebrating National Carers Week with us as much as we did, and we look forward to holding more events like these in the future.

Handyman Timetable Our Handy Man, Tahier, will be at the following sites this week: - 4th November: Condell Park & Chipping Norton - 5th November: Billabong & Dolphin - 6th November: Lurnea, Green Valley & Prestons ADE

Meet Our Handyman Tahier

- 7th November: Campbelltown & Glen Alpine

www.afford.com.au

November 1, 2019 Issue 229

Staff Matters CELEBRATING NATIONAL BANDANNA DAY National Bandanna Day was held on Friday the 25th of October 2019. It is run by CanTeen, an Australian national support organisation for young people living with cancer.

Days like National Bandanna Day are a fun and great way to raise money and awareness. The marketing team saw this as an opportunity for everyone to get involved and wear their bandana, raising money in support of a great cause.

Each box of bandannas provides two nights' accommodation for a young person so they can attend an overnight support program and gain skills to help them deal with their cancer journey.

Kiesha Spies, Marketing Assistant, sent a callout to Head Office Staff who may want to purchase and get involved. Gordon Griff, Executive Manager Commercial Services, thought this would be a fantastic and fun thing for our Minchinbury ADE staff to be involved in and decided to purchase one and a half boxes of bandannas to hand out, donating $500.00 to the cause!

On the day Gordon was like Santa walking around and handing out bandannas to all Minchinbury ADE and Head Office Staff. Pretty soon, everyone was sporting a colourful and funky cotton bandanna on their head or tied on their wrists.

Thank you to everyone who got involved in this National Bandanna Day, our contributions will make a huge difference.

It is The Afford Way to work as a tribe and make things happen!

SELFIES OF THE WEEK

len Giatrakis, Selfie Above: He nt, Melbourne at Lifestyle Assista ! at Arthurs Se

Pawsome Se lfie Above: LSA, Redla nds and fu Leica Rainbird, rbaby Snoz.

UPCOMING EVENTS DATE:

EVENT:

1&2 November

VIC Christmas Parties

1-7 November

National Others Week

9-14 November

International Week Of Science and Peace

1-30 November

Movember

Afford Trivia Answer: 1958

www.afford.com.au