CALL US
Sustainability 2021
Sustainability
We acknowledge and share our deep appreciation to each and every staff member throughout this year. It has been a year of change and uncertainty, and their commitment to our clients and our community, each other and our organisation has been phenomenal.
Our dedicated and resilient staff
This past year has seen unprecedented change in the way in which we all work due to the pandemic, and this has provided us with further opportunities to grow as an organisation and to support people in our community.
It’s been a year of interruptions, with a number of lockdowns seeing a majority of our staff working remotely, interacting with clients and colleagues over the phone or via video calls in their own home, many of whom had partners and children at home too. It was imperative that our staff felt supported and had the flexibility to manage their work around their home life, creating a safe space to talk to clients while also receiving supervision from their team leaders.
The response and expertise from our staff to move quickly to shift between phone and video support and in-person care has meant that the quality of service to clients has never waived.
Caring for our staff and ensuring their health and wellbeing were central to our COVID plans was essential, with staff and clients consulted when forming our COVID safe plans.
We are proud to have provided our staff with care packages, flexible working arrangements, appreciation leave, EAP sessions, weekly mindfulness sessions and regularly all staff online forums to stay connected and aligned to our vision. Throughout the year, there was also an increased focus on staff supervision to highlight any concerns or challenges.
Our restoration back to our office locations was implemented in a phased approach, in line with Government advice and restrictions. To ensure the safety and responsibilities of all staff, our online COVID transition to the workplace module was developed and rolled out across the organisation, providing staff with updated information on Government restrictions, COVID safe practices, access to COVID Safe Plans, Frequently Asked Questions document and site guidelines.
At the end of the financial year, we employed a total of 103 staff, working across our Barwon, Wimmera, Western Melbourne, The Orange Door and outpost locations, with a number of new team members joining our organisation over the past 12 months.
This year, we further developed our attraction and recruitment processes to support our continued growth and to evolve our people systems and frameworks.
We are proud to have attracted great talent to our organisation and to retain our valued, dedicated staff who hold the client at the centre of everything they do.
We thank our staff for their dedication to ensuring we continue to provide high-quality, sensitive and responsive services, and for their unwavering commitment to working towards a community free from sexual assault and family violence.
“Receiving various care packages in the mail during lockdown made me feel a part of something bigger than myself and my clients. I felt valued and appreciated in terms of the SAFV Centre mission – it truly lifted my spirits and spurred me on. I was/am extremely proud to be a member of the team. I had the sense we were all ‘rowing in the same direction’ one client at a time.”
“I love our team and the manner in which we all support each other. I love that there is recognition of and respect for individual differences and that we get to work in a manner aligned with our values.”
Contributing to gender equality reporting
As part of our growth, with more than 100 employees, for the first time this year, we conducted a report on Workplace Gender Equality.
This report is a workplace profile and questionnaire which is submitted to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency in accordance with the Workplace Gender Equality Act (2012). Our report for 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 was released this year and is available at https://www.safvcentre.org.au/diversity-and-inclusion/
