Ellie Cole's Couch - Red Full Podcast transcript

Intro (00:00)

Red: Hello, I'm Red and I have worked for Compass Group Australia for going on to four months now. I am the Unit Manager for Air New Zealand Lounge at the Perth International Airport and it's a really, it's a fantastic place to work and it's a fantastic company to work for.

Ellie: Tell me about the relationship between the Compass Group and APM. Do you know when that journey and that partnership began?

Red: I know when it started for me, obviously. I have a fantastic key accounts manager and Elizabeth is her name, and she spoke incredibly highly of Austin.

Ellie: Austin at APM, the famous Austin!

Red: He definitely is famous! And Elizabeth is quite a dynamic and energetic individual and really positive. And so when she recommended meeting Austin, I was like, “OK, I want a piece of that action.”

Getting started with disability recruitment (01:12)

Ellie: So back when Elizabeth spoke to you about Austin at APM, what was the, I suppose the trigger for that conversation to happen? Were you looking for people with disabilities to join your team? Were you looking to, I suppose, capitalise on the value of diversity and inclusion that you already have within your organisation? What was the, the trigger that made you speak to Elizabeth about APM?

Red: Both of those items are, they're definitely high on my agenda. We also - it's actually quite challenging hiring and recruiting at the airport. It's a really long process and you really need to find the right people for the right job and the wider the scope, the better the outcome. It's fantastic to be able to have options and really embrace diversity because I think that if you can do that, sometimes it can be challenging, but I think that you get a better outcome. It's a more rewarding outcome.

So, we were really looking to increase the pool of recruitment, for recruitment. And APM was another avenue that Elizabeth just couldn't stop raving about. And then when I met, or I spoke with Austin, I thought, “yeah, she's right.” This could be a whole new partnership that I hadn't experienced before.

We just talked about what APM can do, how it can reach out, how it can support the people industry that I'm in and how we could help each other. And for myself, being new to Compass, there's so much to learn as well as taking on board a new team. You're working for the airport, you're working for Compass, and you also have a client. So, to have someone that is able to support you in a different way but adds something to your current workplace is - I just could see the benefits straight away.

And instantly, within a couple of hours after getting off the telephone, he started sending me through a couple of really fantastic candidates and it was just at the right time as well because we were doing a recruitment drive and he managed to help me land – instantly, I landed 3 individuals that help me within the lounge and also with our new hosting contract.

Building support for your team (06:43)

Ellie: You mentioned before that you had to navigate, when you were a little bit younger, territory around disability or language. And a lot of people feel really uncomfortable around language with disability or saying or doing the wrong thing, so afraid to offend. But you know, you've been very fortunate to have the support of APM to help you navigate yourself through that journey. Has there ever been a moment throughout this process where you have been afraid to say or do the wrong thing when employing someone with a disability? And what advice would you give to other organisations who are thinking about stepping into the space of employing someone with a disability?

Red: I think you need to be clear from the outskirts [outset] what the expectations are within the workplace and keep it honest, transparent and clear so that if there's ever a point that you're not sure about, the door is always open, we need to have a conversation, clear the air and make sure that we get back on track really quickly. I think that when you feel doubt, that's when things can go a little bit haywire. I think that if you keep things simple and you're just honest, I think that people appreciate that both ways.

Respect goes both ways. So, if you respect your employees and they respect you for the way that you manage yourself and you conduct yourself, it goes both ways. So, when you do have those issues, you're honest, you're straight to the point, but you're also caring in the way you deliver it and you're respectful in the way you handle that.

 I think you also need to be tolerant as well. You need to sometimes stop and remember that not everyone is the same. And most people that you employ, if you employ them the right way and you do your due diligence, and you ask the right questions at the beginning, you're going to hire people that have good hearts. And I always think that people that have good hearts are the right people for your team.

Ellie: You've just mentioned that a huge challenge of changing a team's culture is for the team to be really open-minded with accepting new, new people into that team who may have diverse backgrounds or different perspectives. You know, communication's really important, transparency is really important. But what tips would you give to other organisations who are looking at changing the dynamic within their team, maybe bringing in people that have disabilities? What tips do you have to help that transition process, not just for the person with a disability, but for the rest of your team as well?

Red: That's a great question and it's a really hard one. I think that you need to have a couple of supports. You need to make sure that obviously the individuals that are coming in are going to be very supported, that they're going to feel comfortable, that they understand some of the black and white so that they can feel confident. And if there's moments or windows that are downtime, what can they do to be proactive and help the team?

And I think you also need to make sure that you communicate, to particularly the senior team, what you're doing, what the vision is, what the goal is, what the company's goals are, and how we're going to do it. So that it's clear for the person coming in, but it's also really clear to the individuals that are currently working in there so that they know how they can help the individual, but they can also get help themselves if they have never experienced that before.

What I found doesn't work is when you get - I've had in the past where agencies will provide you with, you know, a wider pool of people and then these people come in and they're great individuals, but the environment in which they're coming into is not supported enough.

And so, the management structure is not ready and not - they haven't been provided the tools that help them manage and introduce a new dynamic to a small team. And sometimes that can cause conflict or misunderstandings.

I think the more openness you can have with the team, positivity that you can have with a team and fun, it makes the workplace easier, more enjoyable to come and do your day-to-day job. You know, I want to be able to come to work just like any of my team members and know that, you know, I can make someone happy. I can make them feel like they're part of my team and that we're all going in the same direction. I think clarity is really important on what's expected from everyone.

Ellie: And it sounds like, you know, the discussion that you had prior to people from APM coming into your organisation, it sounds like it gave you a lot of confidence. It would have also given them a lot of confidence as well. Was there any modifications or accommodations that you had to make within your organisation, if any?

Red: I think just having the background knowledge on what someone needs, particularly if it's not something that people can see all the time because disability has a variety of appearances. And just making sure that the conversations that you would have with our other supervisors that were on so that they felt comfortable in how to deliver tasks and how to give demonstrations as well. Because we had one individual that's so good on IT, he'd just go hurtling through all the online training but still require a little bit more practical training. So having that background knowledge, I guess you can help them on their initial journey, which helps them settle in quicker. And again, you don't always get that. So, this was a really refreshing, nice little start to my Compass journey as well.

Hiring Michael (11:21)

Ellie: Do you have any success stories with your team that you'd like to share? Anything that comes to mind?

Red: Yeah, I've got something that's I will never forget, one of my early stages, of a young chap and he couldn't sweep the floor properly and it was part of - it's just something that as part of his disability that he struggled with. But no one told me this. No one knew. Anyway, so we took him aside and we went through the how to and what the correct procedure was and how many times you had to, you know, how you had to hold the broom, etc., etc.

He had a lovely moment where he cleared the floor and he did such a great job, like he really did. And he came back and he said, “God, I want you to come and check the floor. I've done a really good job I think.” I was like, “Oh, my God, Michael, it's just a fantastic job.” And he got such pleasure from doing it correctly. And he said afterwards, you know, “Thank you for showing me how to do that.” And I was, I just thought, oh, God! Yeah. It was just really nice because that's such a small thing.

Ellie: A small thing to us, though.

Red: Yeah, exactly and it made a huge difference. And his father came in afterwards as well, and was just like “That was just wonderful. Came home talking about brushing. He's now going to clean the house!” I said, “Great!”

Ellie: He's probably sweeping the floor every day now! But you know, those moments maybe seem small to us but really big to other people. And I can almost guarantee you that every time Michael sweeps the floor now, he's probably thinks about you.

Advice for employing people with disability (13:12)

Ellie: For other organisations that would like to employ people with disabilities, I'm sure you have some advice for them?

Red: I think it's absolutely open your doors. I don't think there's anything to lose at all. I think there's everything to gain. The broader the spectrum of people that you get to work with, you learn so much more. It's just invigorating and it's enriching. I can't advocate it enough. I think that it provides the next level of service. I think when you have diversity, difference, people that offer a different focus, have a different view on life, you offer something wider to the guests coming in. You can engage in broader topics.

You also have, in the background as well, it enables the team to grow as well. It can be challenging and a little bit uncomfortable sometimes because it's change, but I think that it's more rewarding because you learn something different. It's so lovely to… I'll be walking past the buffet in a section and I can hear in the kitchen, you know, they've had a bit of a chuckle and they're all having a laugh and they're, you know, I've got so many different nationalities now working on our team, all walks of life, disabilities, men, women, transgender, we've got the works. So, it just makes life interesting.