After dedicating almost 30 years of his career to the printing industry, Dave jumped at an opportunity to join the Multicap team at Makeables six months ago and now provides tremendous support and motivation for supported employees as a Job Coach.
For as long as Dave can remember, he has always wanted to work with people with disability which stems from fond childhood memories when living in Sydney.
“When I was a young boy of only 10 years of age, my family lived directly across the road from a disability school and hostel. Of an afternoon after school, I would drop my bag at home then go straight across the road, press the intercom on the front gate and ask to be allowed in to hang out with the residents,” Dave said. “Eventually I even went on bus outings with them some weekends, so even at a young age, I never saw people with disability as being different from me.”
Dave originally learned about the Job Coach position in his previous job delivering goods to Makeables for finishing and is thrilled to have finally found an employer that doesn’t just produce a product, but one that makes a huge difference to people’s lives, every day.
The main responsibility of being a Job Coach at Makeables involves teaching supported employees correct and safe procedures and maintaining guidance and reassurance throughout the day.
To see Dave on the job, it only takes a moment to witness his light-hearted approach to life and his genuine desire to make people smile and laugh, making him a natural and inspiring Job Coach.
“As a Job Coach, I create a safe and reassuring environment for our supported employees to learn new skills and build confidence not only in the workplace but in life also. For example, producing the Thunderbox tent pegs involves many of the learnings relevant to the home environment such as weighing, counting, lifting, measuring, heating, sealing and most importantly being aware of safety.”
Every day, Dave witnesses supported employees succeeding in various ways but says he is particularly proud to see the integration process of new supported employees.
“Our Employment team, along with my fellow Job Coaches, do a marvellous job making the new employees feel comfortable and safe allowing them to focus more quickly on setting and achieving their personal goals. Within a week or two, we are fortunate to see them make the transition from being shy and stand-offish to smiling, laughing, and making new friends.”
More of a personal achievement has been the connection Dave reached with supported employee, Logan.
“After a month of being very gentle in my approach offering only the typical pleasantries – hello and goodbye – I started to get a little look in my direction, then a little smile, which soon had a nod added to it, until one Friday afternoon to my absolute delight, Logan responded with… “See ya Dave!”
“I got in the car that afternoon and physically pumped my fists into the air several times, completely elated by the achievement – Logan and I became best mates from that day on.
“I absolutely love the face-to-face with supported employees at Makeables. I can honestly say that they give me every bit as much as I give them.
“I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to help our supported employees on their journey to reach their full potential and thoroughly enjoy the smiles and laughter along the way,” he said.
Makeables offers great variety of work including packing and preparing for some big brands such as Trademutt, Thunderbox, Unipro, Crock’d, One Harvest and Pepsico.
If you work for a business that has a great sense of community built into their philosophy and need help to make manual elements of production and distribution easier, contact Makeables today on 1300 135 886.