“People usually think that we can’t do a lot of things, but when they see the way we work, fast as we can; and how capable they are, how open they are and how friendly, they’re a bit surprised.”
That’s the reflection from Production Senior Supervisor Anastasiia Zelenova at Waverley Social Enterprises, which is an organisation that has a long-standing relationship with CFA.
Workmates at Waverley Social Enterprises have supplied catering for CFA at our Bangholme training campus and are currently fulfilling the assembly tender for transportable radios, with the relationship spanning back to 2012.
Anastasiia’s reflection highlighting the importance of CFA undertaking social procurement contracts with organisations such as Waverley Social Enterprises, and providing opportunities to highlight the skills, capabilities and work ethic of people with a disability.
As a state government agency, CFA pursues social procurement to not only fulfil CFA’s needs to help the community, but also creates value through broader social and sustainable impacts.
“The partnership between CFA and Waverley Social Enterprises highlights what can be achieved through ongoing relationships built through social procurement,” CFA CEO Greg Leach AFSM said.
“By providing stable sources of income, social enterprises are able to grow and develop, delivering improved social outcomes for Victoria.”
Social enterprises are businesses that exist specifically to make the world a better place through creating employment opportunities or generating profits for, among other things, people with a disability.
Waverley Social Enterprises currently supports more than 330 employees across two sites, and Chief Commercial Officer Scott Haines said long-term relationships with partners such as CFA ensure job security and greater opportunities to expand the skills of individuals.
“Our current work with CFA is really interesting and detailed work, which serves our mission and vision of providing meaningful and innovative employments for our people with a disability,” Scott Haines said.
“Our involvement with CFA is beneficial for a range of reasons. It brings credibility to our work and give us scale that we can then get to forecast work, as well as help us find other work and promote to the market we do.”
Scott added that having consistent work allowed Waverley Social Enterprises to plan, broadening the scope to employ more people with a disability.
“When we don’t have work for people, we’re still paying their wages but have no income coming in. We have a target of 1,000 employees in nine years and we can only do that if we have consistent work as a base.”
For employees at Waverley Social Enterprises, who refer to each other as Workmates of Waverley, they relish work where new skills can be learned and benefit the community.
Repacking CFA’s transportable radios is a job that provides a range of training, requires new skills and is a task those assigned find interesting and engaging.
“As part of our employee value proposition, we look at what our people love and they love the work where they can see what it is doing in the community,” Scott said.
“When we’re associated with CFA, that alignment is something that our people are really proud of.”
Workmate of Waverley Ian Omerovic has been assigned to the CFA job, assembling the transportable cases. His 21 years of experience at Waverley Social Enterprises has him overseeing each case fit-out from start to finish, as well as training others.
“I enjoy the challenging aspect of this job. There is a lot of drilling, stripping and printing, with each pack taking two hours,” Ian said.
“I enjoy training other people. That is a benefit of working here, the people; they’re good people.”
An employee of 25 years at Waverly Social Enterprises, Andrew Byrne is hoping to learn the skills required to join the team doing the CFA work.
“I know and understand my limitations with certain jobs but I am hoping to start doing the CFA work soon,” Andrew said.
“I love working here. This gets me out of the house and I get some exercise by walking around here talking with people.”
One Workmate of Waverley learning the skills to join the team doing the radio job is the always social Andrew France, who thrives because of the camaraderie of the place where everyone helps each other.
“I haven’t got the exact skills that everyone else does, but I’ve been learning to get good at it,” Andrew said.
“I’m learning how to use the hand tools and the wiring. I like to challenge myself and do stuff I haven’t done before.
“I’m also a good communicator and I like to help others when they need help”
Assembly Production Manager Justin Roff, who has a sister with a disability, said the relationship with CFA was extremely important for the team.
“Especially for the employees and the skills they’re learning from this work. They know the quality of their work going into it is going to make a big difference in the community,” Justin said.
“We have people who start with attaching labels to items, to moving up to using tools on the line. We’ve had people come back from the weekend and advise that they’ve been able to do something at home from what they’ve learnt here.
“This is the only job I’ve ever looked forward to waking up and going to every morning.
“It is great to be able to assist in removing that whole `sheltered workshop’ stereotype it was once known as; to showcasing what our people can do and the benefits of employing people with a disability.”
Waverley Executive Chef Nick Schwarz, who leads the team that provides hot and cold meals at CFA’s Bangholme training complex, said the ongoing relationship enabled employees to build on their skills and grow as people.
“It (Bangholme) gets us to take employees to a different location, and serving hot-plated meals is something they don’t get to experience here,” Nick said.
“It also gives interaction with guests and clients to get direct feedback, which is great training opportunity for us.”
Waverley employee of 16 years Caroline Oleskowski identified the growth of her independence as the key benefit to working at Bangholme.
“I am more confident in driving around Melbourne and have greater confidence in my job,” Caroline said.
“I enjoy the family feel we have in here. It is a good workplace to be.”
CFA CEO Greg Leach concluded that CFA was proud of the relationship established with Waverley Social Enterprises and continue to pursue other social procurement opportunities.
“By CFA including social criteria in our tenders, we send a clear message about what matters to CFA while also delivering the best value outcomes for our communities.”
| Submitted by |
Bradley Thomas |