Staff Matters 72

Staff Matters

September 16, 2016- Issue 72 Week 12

Afford Awarded Employers First Choice

In this Issue Page 1 • Afford Awarded Employers First Choice

Page 2 • Staff Profile • Guildford Enjoy Bocce At Bossley • Library Day For Lurnea

Page 3 • Customer Service Awards

Page 4 Afford were successful winning in the Employer of Choice Category at the 2016 Macarthur Regional Business Awards.

The category highlighted all the wonderful services we provide our clients in the Macarthur area through our lifestyle centres, TTW programs and ADEs. To be eligible we needed to list all of our ‘Employer of Choice’ initiatives and we won quite easily with 23 initiatives while 2nd place had under 5!

The award was graciously accepted by CEO, Steven Herald, who would like to give all our services in the Macarthur region and big well done for all the hard work they put in everyday to provide the best service for our clients and supported employees, which being the newly crowned Employer of Choice awards highlights.

Winning this award means we automatically qualify as finalists for the NSW Business Awards later on this year!

T 02 8805 3700 E info@afford.com.au 12 Marieanne Place, Minchinbury 2770 afford.com.au

• Third Group Of Residents Make Their Move • Afford Selfies • Have A Laugh

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

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September 16, 2016 - Issue 72

Staff Profile

Guildford Enjoy Bocce At Bossley

Over the winter months our Guildford Lifestyle Centre attends Bocce at the Marconi club in Bossley park.

Grace Juri

Lifestyle Assistant Canley Vale Lifestyle Centre Favourite Song: My way Favourite Movie: Grease Favourite Hobbies: Gym classes, Soccer, Rugby league Favourite Foods: Italian

The clients have a passion for the game and are eagerly ready to go every Wednesday morning.

Bocce teaches our clients high skills such as concentration, patience, how to follow rules and how to work as a team.

The Marconi club staff are highly qualified and have an amazing way of teaching our clients the game.

Library Day For Lurnea

If you could be an animal what would you be: A Dog What is your dream holiday destination: America/Caribbean Island If you had the power what would you change about the world: Discrimination and I would love for everyone to be equal What is the nicest thing someone has ever done for you: Many things to list If you had to teach something what would you teach: I would teach people to love each other Something no one knows about me: I speak 3 languages

Clients at our Lurnea lifestyle centre visit Penrith Library every Tuesday as part of their learning program.

The clients enjoyed reading different books, and Angelina used the dictionary to search for some new words to learn.

The library has proven to be a massive help in helping our clients towards their goals of improving their communication skills.

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September 16, 2016 - Issue 72

Customer Service Awards

We would like to congratulate the following staff members who have gone above and beyond for their clients and won this month’s customer service awards.

1st Place: Toni Hooper, Telemarketer, Call Centre – Toni is the first person on the phone and the last to leave. She always comes in with a ‘can do’ attitude. She reached her target in record time last raffle and will beat her time this raffle.

Her attitude and persistence encourages others to work as hard and push for sales. She is a role model to anyone who doesn’t think their target is achievable. Her phone manner is always polite and always makes sure all her customers feel great about helping such a great cause.

2nd Place Kerrie-Anne Hopwood, Human Resources Officer, Minchinbury Head Office- Kerrie is always happy and cheerful no matter what. Whenever I have a question or I get stuck with something, she always is the first person to put her hand up to come and help. She has made me feel as though I am truly apart of the Afford team and like I have always been here. Being new to afford has presented some struggles when it comes to remembering everyone’s names and the sections they’re from. Kerrie has always been able to point me in the right direction and when I do end up making a mistake, she is there just to let me know and to show me where I went wrong and how I can fix it so that I can provide the best customer service for our clients. Kerrie brings such a positive attitude to Afford & having her to help and guide me along is an absolute pleasure.

Equal 3rd Place- Rashmi Dhiman, Accounts Payable, Minchinbury Head Office- Rashmi has sorted out a number of invoicing issues for Windsor in a short amount of time. She is polite and efficient. Rashmi does not hesitate to help other staff with invoicing or finance issues and does so in a polite and understanding way. I was able to call Rashmi when I had trouble processing a few invoices and she went through with me step by step and showed me how to fix it and process more effectively for the future. Our onsite facilitators have had all their accounts sorted in a very short time. Rashmi shares knowledge and gives training to others to ensure we are all working efficiently when it comes to accounting matters. One of our facilitators Donna Cavanagh called me to say how lovely Rashmi was in her sorting out of payment on the account. Rashmi listened to what the problem was and fixed it all up immediately. Donna is now confident that her accounts will be paid properly and on time. This is providing great customer service. Rashmi shows we have capable, confident staff that our suppliers can be confident in. Rashmi is clear in her instructions and willing to help at any time.

I believe she is doing a fantastic job and appreciate her also guiding me in what my part is. Rashmi is warm and happy in her emails and delightful to deal with on any accounts issue. Rashmi sets a great example of customer service.

Equal 3rd Place- Olive Joyce, Lifestyle Assistant, Kings Park- Olive went above and beyond in supporting a parent with doing their NDIS pre-planning. Olive went out of her way to be available and in her own time made arrangements to stay back and support this family who were stressing about this. Olive is forever putting our clients first with their wants and needs and shows a team spirit when training and inducting new staff. This has added value to our site and client services and she has demonstrated exactly that. We are here supplying a service to our clients and she has had a customer focused attitude about it. Olive was person centred in finding out how best to promote them and their wants and needs. She has a positive can do attitude, excellent manner in her customer focused skills and all done according to our disability standards, ensuring the family were well aware of their rights, ensuring the client had access to all services, and participating in all programs they wanted to be a part of.

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September 16, 2016 - Issue 72

Third Group Of Residents Make Their Move This week eight out of ten residents Colleen, Jean, Peter, Mark, Stephen, Michael, Kenneth and John moved into their group home in Penrith.

Everyone eagerly finished the final part of packing at Cherrywood including bidding farewell to the other residents while keenly waiting for the removalist, then enjoyed setting up their furniture and providing tours to everyone who turned up to help out.

All eight residents can’t wait for the last two to move in next week!

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In this Selfie Above: Campbelltown Lifestyle Centre staff member, Anthony Fitzgerald, at the Buzz Night Sydney South West.

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