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Geoff Fisher: The Importance of Team Work
As Greg Wasmund is currently overseas, Geoff Fisher is 'Acting CEO'
VATMI is a diverse organization, comprising of a number of very different divisions. From Packing to recycling and everything in-between, VATMI relies on our employees to work together and as one team.
Teamwork is an essential part of our organization and the business relies on the strength of our team. The definition of a team has changed over the years, but the underlying nature and benefits of team work are just as important as ever. Due to our ever complex working lives, we can often become a member of several different teams simultaneously. Locality no longer defines membership of teams as technology now affords a much broader and more effective communication network between coworkers.
Good teamwork starts with a shared understanding of its importance. VATMI aims to promote a team culture within our organization and seeks to benefit from this mutually cooperative working community. The effectiveness of a team relies on several factors, including a combined group effort, mutual support, respect and open communication. VATMI invest in our people and encourage managers and supervisors alike to promote cooperation and communication throughout the business.
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There are lots of advantages of working as part of a team, not only for an employer but also for employees. In order to make the most of your team, here are a few tips:
- Become actively involved, don't sit on the sidelines be a proactive member of your team.
- Communicate with team members, be open and contribute ideas and information.
- Learn to work together; helping each other develops a stronger working community/culture.
- Respect your fellow team members.
- Have clear goals.
- Be positive and enthusiastic within your team.
- Maintain regular communication amongst your team.
Teamwork is a cooperative process that allows ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things. Working together, VATMI, VaTPaK, Q ArtStudio and all support employees can create a healthy, happy working environment and further progress our business.
"Synergy - the bonus that is achieved when things work together harmoniously".(Mark Twain.)
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VicWest Lends a Helping Hand
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Volunteers from Vic West Recycling have helped lift community spirits by conducting clean up working bees in the flood-ravaged towns of Glenorchy and Marnoo.
Northern Grampians Shire Council Mayor Cr Ray Hewitt praised the efforts of the 15 volunteers who helped the flood recovery clean up in the two towns.
Cr Hewitt said the work the volunteers did was very much appreciated by the Glenorchy and Marnoo communities.
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"It really was wonderful for Vic West to offer the team's services and the Council really appreciates the work they did," he said.
Vic West Site Manager Kate Sage said the team of long-term unemployed people were working in the company's recycling sorting plant and had some spare time before the end of their tenures.
"We felt helping with the flood recovery efforts was a really worthwhile thing for them to do, something they could add to their resumes but also something to give them a sense of achievement and community involvement," Ms Sage said.
In Marnoo the team did a general tidy up of the town removing trees and debris from fences and public areas, mowing and whipper snipping over three days. The team did similar work in Glenorchy around the town's hall and tennis courts, also removing used sand bags from public areas.
"The work really gave the team an idea of the community spirit in these areas and the satisfaction you get from helping someone else in their time of need. The community was really grateful so that gave the team a great boost," Ms Sage said.
Marnoo resident John Newall said the community was grateful to the Vic West team for the work they did.
"The areas in which they worked look pristine and it really gave the community a lift to see the place tidied up after the floods," Mr Newall said.
"It certainly saved us a lot of heartache down the track. Everyone was really pleased with the job they did and we thank them for their hard work – it certainly was appreciated."
Long-time Glenorchy resident Howard Cooper said it was a similar story in his town, where residents were extremely grateful to the team for its clean-up efforts.
"The feedback I'm getting is very positive and it certainly did a lot to lift the community's spirits after the floods," Mr Cooper said.
"They cleaned up along fence lines, removed sand bags, did some mowing, whipper snipping and a general clean up. The town looks great now and it's wonderful they were able to help."
All at VATMI would like to say how proud we are of VicWests community spirit and generosity, WELL DONE!
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VATMI a Quality Organisation! |
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The first half of the year has seen several audits for a number of quality certifications, along side a number of external customer audits.
Congratulations to all the employees, supervisors and managers at all three VaTPaK sites. These certifications are only achieved by the auditor seeing us "walk the walk" and working hard to achieve the best working practices across our sites. Procedures and policies do not mean anything if they are not followed in the workplace.
VaTPaK has received extremely positive feedback from both auditors
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and customers this year. It is testament to the hard work and dedicated of all employees in quality standards and continued excellence in the workplace.
Audits and customer visits provide a valuable opportunity for us to improve both the quality and maintain food safety when handling our customer's products.
Keep up the great work!
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Australian Certified Organic
In April, the Kew and Keon Park sites were audited against the Australian Organic Standard. They have successfully met the requirements for recertification for the next twelve months.
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Food Safety / HACCP
HACCP audits have been completed in the first half of the year at both the Bendigo and Keon Park sites with both sites successfully meeting the requirements and being certified for the next twelve months.
The Kew site has a HACCP audit scheduled for the 4th July.
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Halal Certification
Halal certification for the Keon Park site has been renewed for the year.
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Kosher Certification
Kosher Australia has audited the Keon Park site and continued certification.
This year we are due for a surveillance audit against the Disability Service Standards. SAI Global have selected three sites they will audit this year being: Kew Site – 25th July, Bendigo Sites (VatPak & SER) - 26th & 27th July.
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VATMI Gets a Check-up |
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VATMI is an organisation that cares about their workforce and as such is promoting the WorkSafe Health Checks. Health Checks are a fast, convenient and easy way to learn a little more about your health gain valuable knowledge about potential health issues.
These health checks have been designed, to improve the health, and wellbeing of all Victorian Workers. As part of our ongoing commitment to the Health and Wellbeing of our employees we have offered employees the opportunity to participate again this year.
What happens during the worker health checks?
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A health professional visits the sites to conduct the health checks. |
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Worker health checks each takes approximately 15 minutes and they involve: |
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Short questionnaire around eating, drinking & exercise habits etc |
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Waist circumference measured |
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Blood cholesterol measured |
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Blood sugar measured |
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Blood pressure measure |
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At the end of the consultation, the employee receives immediate information, and advice based on your results. This is provided in a sealed envelope, to take home.
Onsite Health Solutions is the company assigned to Vatmi Industries to conduct our worker health checks and they have been to both the VaTPaK Keon Park and VaTPaK Kew sites. The Bendigo sites (VaTPaK and SER) have their worker health checks scheduled for 15th & 16th June and we are awaiting confirmation from Onsite Health Solutions when they will complete the Wangaratta health checks.
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Internal Vacancy: Site Foreperson - Stawell |
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VicWest Recyclers, a Division of Vatmi Industries, currently has an opportunity for an experienced Site Foreperson.
This position is responsible for site work load planning, planning and coordinating maintenance, rostering and logistics activities, training, supervision and allocation of tasks to employees, coordinating vehicle traffic including loading and unloading of trucks, recording incoming loads, arranging collection schedule, and liaising with contractors on a daily basis.
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The successful applicant will have previous experience within a processing or manufacturing environment, a current driver's license, HR truck and forklift license, and the ability to supervise a small to medium sized workforce. You will also possess strong problem solving skills, and the ability to communicate openly and effectively with all employees including those with a disability.
The Site Foreperson will be required to act in a higher duties position from time to time, and work the occasional public holiday or weekend.
In return we will negotiate a remuneration package (relevant to experience and qualifications) with the successful applicant which will include the ability to salary package your income, use of company vehicle, attractive leave entitlements and other possible incentives.
Interested and experienced candidates should email applications to Nicole Burton at nburton@vatmi.com.au, or post your application to PO Box 806, Stawell 3380. Telephone enquiries can be directed to 03 9851 9704. Closing date for applications is Friday 17th June 2011.
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Keon Park, Going the Extra Mile |
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Keon Park has recently experienced a significant increase in workload for the formfilling machine. This is fantastic news for VATMI however it does impact on staffing levels and associated workloads. There has been a significant amount of overtime for Keon Park employees to keep up with the demand.
VATMI would like to make a special mention for those Staff Machine Operators: Gary Foggie, Ben Bruitzmen, Adrian Wasmund and Brendan Reed and Supported Employees: Ronald Jeffs, Timothy Dolheguy, Jodie Tate and Ross Alan – for their dedication and for going the extra mile! Well done and thank you!
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Healthy Heart Challenge |
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The Healthy Heart Challenge officially started on 1 June 2011 as part of the launch of Go Red for Women month, but it's not to late to register today. Men are also welcome to join the Challenge too.
Join thousands of women participating in the Challenge, a free 10 week program designed to encourage small, yet realistic lifestyle changes to help you improve your heart health.
With heart disease the No 1 killer of Australian women, it's never been more important to reduce your risk of heart disease.
Registrations for the Healthy Heart Challenge are open until 29 June 2011. To register go on the website here:
http://www.heartfoundation.org.au
Simply choose one of the six goals for your Challenge. You will then receive weekly eNewsletters packed with tips, recipes and information, access to some great online tools and resources, as well as personal support and information via a Heart Foundation phone helpline.
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Wangaratta Hits the Headlines |
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VATMI is currently in the process of developing a new recycling centre at Wangaratta. The project is still in development; however it has attracted some local attention. The Wangaratta Chronicle featured a story on our new centre, describing our site as "set to become a force in the local recycling industry". The story was run in conjunction with World Environment Day coverage, of which provided a fantastic platform for displaying VATMI's contributions to recycling.
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VATMI is investing in the region of $3.5 million dollars to further develop our recycling business. Danny Potter, General Manager of Recycling is working hard to keep the project moving and anticipates the first 'turning of the sod' to be in July 2011. Our Wangaratta site will process a number of recyclables and also has aspirations of moving into the E-Waste business within the near future.
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Australian Government Quality Strategy for Disability Employment |
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The Australian Government introduced the Quality Strategy for Disability Employment and CRS Australia in 2002. The goal was and remains ensuring Australian Government funded services meet certain standards so that they offer employment support and assistance to people with disability in a quality environment, enabling them to enjoy the same basic rights and opportunities generally available to all working Australians.
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VATMI would like to use this forum to internally promote the Disability Service Standards and further explain some of the key aspects of these standards. In this months edition, we will be explaining Service Standard 6, Valued Status. This standard promotes belief in the ability of service recipients to fulfil valued roles in the community. VATMI as an organisation takes several steps to maintain close alignment with these standards and further benefit our employees.
The areas Standard 6 identifies include, management of staff attitudes about the ability of employees, ensuring that proactive strategies are in place to promote a valuable role within the organisation and the wider community and maintaining positive supported employee perceptions.
VATMI identifies and promotes the essential value of supported employment across the organisation by delivering real jobs with real value. We aim to provide a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, by challenging, measuring and valuing each workers output, then remunerating supported employees individually against fairly and equitably identified benchmarks. VATMI, as a whole, is ever aware of the value that accrues in celebrating the "fruits of our labour" and recognising the achievements of supported employees across the board.
A clearer means of identifying this value comes in the simple recognition of these "fruits", our packed products on supermarket shelves and in advertising in the general community; in acknowledging our recycling businesses as a service essential to regional government and communities; and in the showcasing of VATMI's resident artist's work in local, national and international exhibitions and collections.
As workers with disabilities in the main encounter greater difficulties than the average Australian worker in achieving continued employment and exhibiting success in a commercial setting, VATMI remains dedicated to facilitating all staff to address barriers and identify areas of support to ensure workers at all levels of ability within the organisation continue to be the "best worker they can be".
VATMI is conscious of the specific measures required to adhere to Standard 6, Valued Status, by maintaining existing skills and competencies and through targeted development and on-the-job training. By achieving this standard we add to the skill base within each VATMI business and resource our ever expanding operational requirements. Providing the right support for each employee with a disability to participate fully, adds value to both business and supported employee alike.
As Victoria's largest employee of people with disabilities, we continue to review (and renew) ourselves against the Disability Service Standards in order to maintain a positive and fruitful work environment for all employees.
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Five Minutes With: Meghana Singh, Machine Operator – Keon Park |
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What is the best thing about your job?
I really enjoy working for VATMI as I am surrounded by a great team. My job is varied and can be challenging at times but this only adds to its appeal. The machinery is exciting to operate and requires attention to detail. My role within VATMI provides me with a sense of job satisfaction.
How long have you been with VATMI?
I have only been with VATMI for 1 month, but I already feel settled and part of the team.
Where did you work before VATMI?
Amul Dairy, the largest food production company in India. I worked with Amul for 13 years.
What was your first concert?
Lata's night in Ahemadabad.
What is the best piece of advice you have been given?
To have a long line in life (personal success) you must not cut off someone Else's.
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Key Dates |
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19th-25th June 2011
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Refugee Week
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