PEOPLE OVERVIEW
Exemplifying Housing Choices commitment to providing staff with a range of development opportunities and career pathways in a supportive culture we hear from new staff members Adrian and Elva and staffer Mona about their experiences at Housing Choices. In April this year, Adrian McHugh decided to move down under to Australia. Originally from Ireland, Adrian has a background as a speech pathologist and worked in disability for about 3 years back in Ireland. “When I first came over here, I started work doing furniture removals and deliveries, then I injured my shoulder and took it as a sign to get into the disability sector over here. I applied for a few jobs but there were delays in starting work due to NDIS worker checks, police checks etc., so I started looking for agency work as an interim measure.” Adrian found a job at Housing Choices and thought it’d be a great fit as a not-for-profit. After working on reception at Housing Choices for a few weeks, Adrian realised Housing Choices was the kind of workplace he wanted to stay at and that he was keen to go back into the disability space. it’s all about culture
Our staff engagement survey has provided us with rich insights on how we can accelerate people's development, enhance our capabilities, and further improve our employee experience. We are a growing organisation and the breadth of our skills, types of expertise and capabilities among our teams is expanding; our pathways and opportunities will only continue to build. An important component of our onboarding training at Housing Choices is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Competency course, so far completed by 85% of staff. A recent self-assessment of improvement in knowledge after the course showed very significant lifts across all streams. Housing Choices celebrates our diverse and values-driven workforce; we put people first and people are central to everything we do. We are committed to being an organisation that doesn’t stay static and continues to learn and evolve, creating a workplace where everyone feels a sense of belonging and where each of us can thrive.
People are drawn to work at Housing Choices for our purpose and they bring to the organisation a drive to create impact for residents. Other abundant qualities include care, dedication, dynamism and resilience; we’ve seen that across the organisation more than ever over the past few years. Staff have donned hazmat suits and decontaminated buildings to keep homes safe, rallied to respond to constant change and pressures in the external environment, embraced and helped shape new ways of working and connecting, and adjusted to new technologies. As ever, and possibly even more as we’ve traversed so much new ground in recent years, it is vital we focus on our people’s health, safety and wellbeing and take some time to reflect on how our work landscapes have changed. This year, we engaged a specialist to run a series of workshops with all staff to provide a forum for developing approaches and strategies for prioritising self-care and work and life integration. These sessions created conversations and depth of awareness that continue well beyond the workshops.
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