November 4, 2024 • 50 mins
What if you could empower people with disabilities while simultaneously making strides toward environmental sustainability?
Kane Blackman, the CEO of Good Sammy Enterprises, a beacon of positive change in Western Australia joins us around the warm table. We uncover the inspiring history of Good Sammy, from its roots in 1958 to its current role as a leader in disability employment and sustainable fashion. Kane shares how the organisation not only creates inclusive work environments with over 50% of its workforce having disabilities but also diverts millions of kilograms of textiles from ending up in landfill each year.
Discover how Good Sammy tailors employment opportunities to fit the strengths and aspirations of individuals with disabilities, offering diverse job roles from truck drivers to retail assistants. Kane highlights the crucial partnerships with other employers, which broaden job prospects and the importance of school transition pathways to ignite career dreams in young people with disabilities.
What makes Good Sammy truly special are its values that prioritise bravery, empowerment, goodness, and safety. We explore the circular economy initiatives at the heart of Good Sammy, including the Container for Change scheme, which supports both environmental and social causes.
By choosing to support Good Sammy, you contribute to their mission of creating job opportunities for people with disabilities, thus weaving a thread of responsibility throughout the community. Tune in to learn how this unique organisation not only makes a significant social impact but also champions sustainability in the fashion industry.
Warm thanks to:
Sponsor: Females Over Forty-five Fitness in Victoria Park
Sound Engineering: Damon Sutton
Music: William A Spence
... and all our generous and inspiring guests around the warm table this season!
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My Warm Table, translated into Italian is Tavola Calda. These were the words my Papa used to describe a table of good friends, good food and good conversation. I always aim to create a tavola calda in my life and I hope this podcast encourages you to do so too!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
My dream for society is to see people with disability
everywhere and see people withdisability fully included in
society.
I firmly believe that peoplewith disability should be
working alongside people withoutdisability in every workplace,
in every sort of role, andanyone that wants work can find
work and can progress throughwork work.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Thanks for joining me , sonia Nolan, around the warm
table, or the tavola calda as myItalian papa used to call a
welcoming table of acceptance,positivity and curiosity.
My Warm Table podcast aims tocreate that and more, as we
amplify stories of WesternAustralians making our
communities better.
My Warm Table Season 3 is proudto be sponsored by Females Over
45 Fitness, with a studio inVictoria Park and also online
(00:53):
all over Australia.
So now please take a seat andjoin us for Season 3 as we
explore stories of hope.
We're going to discover thegood stuff about much-loved WA
icon Good Sammy.
Around the table today, I'mjoined by Good Sammy
Enterprise's Chief ExecutiveOfficer, kane Blackman, whose
(01:14):
personal and professionalmission is to ensure everyone
with disability can reach theirfullest potential.
We'll find out about GoodSammy's mission to transform
workplaces in society throughdisability employment.
We'll learn why we shouldchoose to recycle our cans at a
Good Sammy containers for changeoperation.
We'll learn about the circulareconomy and how Good Sammy is
(01:37):
saving 7 million kilograms oftextiles from landfill each year
.
We also want to challenge youto rethink how you might see op
shops At Good Sammy.
Op shops are thriving socialenterprises where, yes, you'll
get a bargain, but theopportunity isn't just about you
.
It's about serving the missionof Good Sammy and inspiring hope
(01:59):
through training and jobs forpeople with disability.
In recent years, good Sammy hasgrown to more than 30 op shops.
It operates numerous containersfor change, recycling centres,
has diversified into hospitality, property care services and
logistics operations.
Right now, good Sammy isundergoing its own deep
(02:19):
transformation.
In fact, you'll hear the soundsof construction in the
background as we recorded thisconversation on site at Good
Sammy's Canning Valeheadquarters, which is setting
the foundations to build on itshistoric legacy and position
itself for a bright future tocontinue its good work in WA.
So join us for a goodconversation with Kane Blackman
(02:41):
around the warm table today,with Cain Blackman around the
warm table today.
Now, cain, you are the ChiefExecutive Officer of Good Sammy
Enterprises and I think thateveryone knows Good Sammy as a
beloved op shop.
Tell us a little bit about GoodSammy's history, if you would,
yeah you're right, you can'tmiss it Bright, yellow, big seal
(03:02):
on the front.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
You can probably see it from the moon and a million
Western Australians come throughour doors every single year.
Well, we started in 1958 inWestern Australia and it was
because there was a young womanwho had a disability and was
seeking employment, and at thattime time a chap by the name of
(03:27):
Ralph Sutton came up with theidea of repurposing clothing.
That could be done by a personto give them an economic
opportunity and that clothingcould then be resold.
And from there, really GoodSammies, from there really Good
Sammy's op shops were born, andnow we're up to 28 stores and
(03:49):
are seeing almost 7 millionkilograms being donated to us
every year.
So from very humble beginningsright through to quite a large
enterprise now, that's a lot,isn't it?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
7 million kilograms of textiles being donated into
Good Sammy every year.
What do you do with it all?
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, it is.
In some ways, I'm very graciousof the kind donations from
Western Australians.
People go out of their way tofind our stores to donate,
because they're doing a goodthing by giving to Good Sammy.
At the same time, though, youdo reflect that the scale of the
donations is because of a fastfashion crisis that we have in
(04:30):
this country, and Australiansare one of the biggest culprits
of buying new textiles and thennot wearing them or not shopping
as sustainably as possible.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I think we've got a statistic which is not very
positive for Australians.
It's 32 kilograms perindividual in Australia is how
many per year 32 kilos oftextiles per year we consume.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
So what we do with it is we keep the items in the
circular economy and categorisethem and send them out to places
where they can be madeavailable in our stores for
people who want to thrift, wantto shop sustainably, want
something at an affordable price, and so we keep that whole
(05:14):
ecosystem in place andultimately it means less demand
for new textiles coming.
So very sustainable practiceand the wonderful proposition
for Good, sammy, is that we dothat while delivering employment
opportunities for people withdisability.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Which is, of course, the mission for Good, sammy,
isn't it?
Absolutely.
It's transforming workplacesand society through disability
employment, which is, you know,it sounds like a lofty, lofty
goal, but tell me what you'redoing to try and achieve that.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, it is a lofty goal and it's purposely.
It's a lofty goal.
But tell me what you're doingto try and achieve that.
Yeah, it is a lofty goal andit's purposely it's a lofty
vision.
It's our vision because thereare a million Australians with
disability of working age not inemployment, and having a job
creates a connection to purpose,it creates a sense of inclusion
, it creates economic and socialindependence.
So it's really, reallyimportant and we want to give
(06:06):
all Australians the opportunityto participate in work.
So what Good Sammy is doing isemploying people with disability
in the careers that they arepassionate about, they aspire to
work in, and proud to say that440 Good Sammy employees have a
disability and are in paidemployment with Good Sammy.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
That's more than 50%.
Yeah, sorry, you were justgoing to say that weren't you.
It's like more than 50% ofpeople working at Good Sammy
have a disability, which is, Ithink you're pretty much
punching above your weight therein response to everyone else's
percentage of disabilityemployment.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, spot on.
So the average or the largestemployer in Western Australia is
the state government andthey're sitting just below 2%.
We're at 52% and that's grownsignificantly.
If you were to have thisdiscussion two years ago I would
have said we're at 30% andwe've seen a great rise in those
numbers.
And we've seen that risebecause GoodSami is reaching out
(07:07):
now beyond retail.
Yes, the op shops have beenknown as the public face, but
we're now in e-commerce.
We're now the largestfor-purpose container for change
operator in Western Australia.
We have logistics supply chain,property care and various work
crews in open employment.
So the Goodsomi brand is outthere, but the opportunities for
(07:29):
the individual are even greaternow.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
And I think that's part of the purpose, isn't it
that you know, obviously not allpeople with disability want to
work in retail.
They don't all want to work inan op shop, although it is
pretty fun.
I've done a little bit of opshop, well, I've been on both
sides of the counter, to be fair, and it's a great environment,
but not everyone wants thatperhaps customer-facing role,
and so stretching the enterpriseopportunities through Good
(07:55):
Sammy Enterprises, as the namesuggests, means that there are
lots more opportunities forpeople to find something they
might really love.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Definitely.
And you know I started inretail as my first job.
I started growing up inMelbourne at Safeway, which has
subsequently been rebranded toWoolworths, and I worked in a
grocery retail environment forseven years.
I've had stints during myuniversity career at Bunnings
working in retail, and retailprovides an incredible
(08:23):
opportunity to build customerservice skills and a whole range
of other really importantskills for future employment
opportunities.
But you're right, not everyonedesires retail and often retail
can be a stepping stone to thoseother enterprises and that's
what we're trying to offer ourexisting employees is.
Well, you might have triedretail for a while.
Are you interested in getting atruck licence?
(08:45):
Or are you interested inlearning to become a barista?
Or do you have aspirations inan employment workplace outside
of Goodsami?
And it's not only our currentcohort.
I mentioned a million WesternAustralians before.
There's 100,000 WesternAustralians with disability of
working age not in a job.
So we're trying to connect withthem and also connect them to
other workplaces to achievetheir employment goal.
(09:07):
So big mission, lots to do todeliver that mission.
But just to see the smile andthe pride when someone achieves
a job, learns those skills andwhat it means to them, makes it
all worthwhile.
A job learns those skills andwhat it means to them makes it
all worthwhile.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Another part of that mission, though, is talking
about transforming society whichagain loftier you could say,
but transforming society and Ithink part of that is the
visibility of disability in thecommunity.
So that's something that GoodSammy is really mindful of in
some of the opportunities thatyou're offering people.
So can you talk me through thevisibility element and why
(09:46):
that's important?
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Yeah, definitely.
I probably personally had avery low visibility of
disability myself before myson's own diagnosis eight years
ago.
He has a rare disease calledAngelman syndrome and when I
reflect back of life beforeFinn's diagnosis, I certainly
didn't have the representationof people with disability in my
life, in my clubs, in my schools, in my networks, and I've
(10:12):
reflected on reasons for thatand those reasons are quite well
articulated in RoyalCommissions.
And you know there are thingsthat occur in society around
biases, discrimination, lack ofopportunities, access, inclusion
challenges.
So I think improving thevisibility of disability is
important to break down thosebarriers and to also shine an
(10:32):
example of this wonderfultalented cohort in our society
and how much they can contribute.
And so if you go into yourlocal coffee shop, you want to
see the people working therereflect the communities in which
you live.
So someone with a disabilitywho's making a coffee and then
going to catch the bus and a busdriver with disability these
(10:55):
are the sorts of jobs sometimeswe don't see enough people with
disability in and there's a hugecohort that want those
opportunities.
So Good, sammy is really leaninginto more front-facing, visible
customer service roles forpeople with disability, and
whilst the roles that we have inour warehouses are really
important for those individualsand their networks.
(11:18):
Not all of society gets to seethe wonderful work of our team
in action on a daily basis.
However, when our truck driversare out visiting various
locations of the community orour gardening team is working in
a number of differentcommercial premises, they
interact with hundreds, if notthousands, of people in those
visits and that really has astrong impact because not only
(11:41):
do people see people withdisability included in the
workplace, it also sparks themthinking, oh, maybe I could
contract those services andmaybe I should reach out to see
how I can partner with GoodSammy, and that helps then build
future employment opportunities.
So the more we have jobsoutward, the more that
encourages other people withdisability to try new things and
(12:02):
be brave, the more itencourages other employers to
take those opportunities as well.
And, coupled with that, we'rereally trying to lean into the
disability awareness for society, to break down the barriers,
these perceptions of a medicalmodel of disability, of what a
diagnosis is and what you can'tdo, to more focusing on people's
strengths and what they can doand the role of things such as
(12:25):
job carving, customisation, tocreate, you know, opportunities
for people to contribute in ameaningful way.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Give me a little bit of an example of what job
carving might look like, andmaybe an example of someone
who's at Good Sammy who's doingsomething.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah.
So job carving is really a formof job customisation which is
effectively taking a job andthen customising it to suit a
certain individual, what theiremployment goals are, what their
strengths are.
And so a great example of thatin Good Sammy can be seen in
almost every one of ourworkplaces.
So in a retail store that mightbe us customising a retail
(13:04):
assistant role where someone maydo opening and closing and
visual merchandising tasks, andperhaps the opening and closing
tasks are too challenging forvarious reasons for that
individual, but they can doevery single other task Well,
rather than saying no to thatemployee coming into our
organisation because they can'topen and close, how do we
(13:25):
customise that role, carve outthose functions and lean into
that person's strengths whichmight be the use of our point of
sale system, customer service,visual merchandising and
training and beef up those areasof the role.
(13:46):
Be in other parts where we'vecreated roles specifically for
an individual who might requirea sit-down role and therefore we
might be able to modify aworkplace with various
adjustments and a task to suitthat individual.
So it's understanding theirinterests, their strengths,
their aspirations and thencustomising it in that way.
Customising it in that way andat Good Sammy, we're very much
an all abilities employer, whichmeans we customise hundreds of
(14:11):
jobs to build employmentoutcomes and we're very flexible
.
So if you're not available towork apart from Tuesday morning
for three hours in one location,we really do try to work with
the individual and theirsupports to create that
opportunity.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
And I think that's another key point there that
when you talk about disabilityemployment, you're not
necessarily talking about afull-time role in a place you
actually also open to.
Perhaps it's one morning a weekor one day a week, or you know
what work looks like can be very, very different.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Oh, it's a spectrum, yeah, so we've had and have
people with disability on ourboards and our management team
in full-time roles, in part-timeroles, in casual roles, in
volunteer roles.
It's really about giving peopleoptions.
So we've got, you know,wonderful truck drivers that
work full time with disabilityon the road, but we've also got
(15:06):
casual retail assistants thatwork three hours a week in our
retail team or someone inhospitality that works one day a
week.
So it does vary and we try tobuild up someone's capacity for
work.
So if you're starting out small, how do we then build on your
skills to more hours, more days,to the extent that they want
that.
(15:27):
So that's really, reallyimportant and also for us trying
to get people up into thoseleadership roles, supervisor
roles, and investing in thetraining of our team, and in the
last couple of years we've donethat by introducing paid
traineeships, so offering peoplean ongoing paid employment
opportunity and a Cert II orCert III in an area of their
(15:49):
focus Also around truck licences, forklift and vehicle licences
and they've been reallymeaningful for people where they
can walk away from 18 months ofGood Sammy with something in
the back pocket the experienceto take on to the next employer.
So there's a lot to do toreally train and empower that
workforce.
So we're doing our bit, butwe're also calling out to other
(16:12):
employers to partner with us,because Good Sammy can't employ
every person with disability andwe don't offer all the
employment opportunities thatthere are out there, and so we
rely on our partnerships to getpeople towards their goals.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Can we talk about daring to dream, because I
believe that the schooltransition element of young
people with disability atschools it's really hard to know
what your next step might be,and daring to dream about what
that could look like.
How important is it from aschool perspective to provide
(16:51):
those pathways?
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Absolutely critical.
I think two and a half yearsago, someone asked me what did I
want to do?
What was my dream foremployment?
I would have found that verydifficult to answer.
I think if you asked me thattoday, I'd probably say to keep
doing what I'm doing a goodSammy, because I'm absolutely
having a ball here.
I think it's really difficultfor people of any age to answer
(17:17):
the question of what their dreamis when it comes to work.
Sometimes you don't know allthe options and a lot of the
jobs of tomorrow don't existtoday.
True, we do know, though, morepathways are required for people
with disability in the schoolsystem.
Those pathways need to be morefocused in employment.
There are too many individualswith disability, especially
(17:40):
intellectual disability, thatwant to enter the workforce when
they finish school and finddifficulty doing so, and
therefore that may mean thatthey are accessing, therefore,
social and community supportsrather than employment, and they
miss out on the purpose andinclusion.
And then, obviously, theirfamily unit might not be
participating in employment tothe same extent.
(18:03):
So, starting early with thosecohorts, through career planning
, by identifying what trainingthey require, by partnering with
the schools to say well, we'vegot these employers, they're
interested to employ this cohort.
By doing career fairs, by doingwork experience, volunteer work
, traineeships, come and trydays there's lots of ways in
which to gain more exposure towork and discover what someone
(18:26):
wants to do, because there's areally talented workforce hiding
in plain sight in our communitythat want a job and want a
chance and it just really lightsme up when you see people get
that chance and we have so manyyoung, talented, good
semi-employees that have joinedus that are just thriving.
(18:47):
And we're a little different asa workplace.
When someone gains some skillsand then they leave for another
job, some employers might getfrustrated.
They're losing their talentedemployees.
We celebrate those as successes.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Because they're moving on to a different
workplace and again they'll beinspiring and demonstrating the
abilities of people withdisability in a different
workplace.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah, catalytic effect.
We have someone that leaves andjoins one of our employment
partners.
All of a sudden, you know, havesomeone that leaves and joins
one of our employment partners.
All of a sudden, you know, inthat workplace they will see
that individual and that has animpact on on future decisions
that they make and also itcreates another opportunity
behind them from someone in goodsammy to get them into a
training.
So it's that pipeline of people.
But there's a lot of work stillto do in australia to create
(19:32):
those pathways and to createthose opportunities.
And there's legislative reformthat's required.
There's education policy reformthat's required.
There's a greater focus, evenin the NDIS, of a workforce, a
work first mentality.
Let's assume people areinterested in and capable of
(19:53):
joining the workforce and let'senable them, through goal
planning and funding, to have acrack and try that out.
And too few people we're stillseeing who are NDIS participants
aren't being given anopportunity for funding and
goals where they should be.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Now, Cain, you mentioned your son Finn.
Now he's 10, yes, yes, yep, andhe, I suspect, is a driving
force behind your work here atGood Sammy.
Can you tell me a bit aboutFinn?
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah, he's a cheeky 10-year-old.
He loves his iPad.
He's always harassing me forlollies and sweets and cakes the
whole time.
He absolutely loves his brother, James, who's five, and they
have a really special bond.
One minute they love each other, the next minute they're
beating each other up.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Typical siblings yes.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
And Finn loves getting out and about.
He loves catching trains,getting on buses, jumping on
ferries.
We recently went to Singaporefor a school holidays.
He absolutely loved that trip.
He's really inquisitive andcheeky, so a lot of the toilet
humour he laughs at all the time.
Loves construction science justto sit and watch some of the
(21:06):
activity in that way, andscience is his favourite subject
at school, I think.
He likes experimenting andseeing things explode or bubble
over, loves swimming.
So you know, in some ways a verytypical 10-year-old.
The ways he's very muchatypical, though, is he has a
non-verbal disability.
It's called Angelman Syndrome.
Affects one in 15,000 WesternAustralians.
(21:28):
So Finn can only say a handfulof words or things that resemble
words, and he uses acommunication device which
resembles an iPad or an AACdevice that he can effectively
touch a cell to communicatevarious things and he uses some
keywords on.
So it faces great communicationchallenges and also faces
(21:51):
behavioral challenges andintellectual disability
challenges.
So it's quite a significantfaces behavioural challenges and
intellectual disabilitychallenges.
So it's quite a significantdisability when it comes to the
support that he requiresthroughout his life.
But he has certainly taughtmyself and my wife and, I'm sure
, james now so many things, justthat importance of empathy,
patience, purpose, focusing onyou know, the wonders of the
(22:17):
present rather than dreaming toomuch about the future, and
focus on things that are withinyour control.
So he has been a driving forceand probably was missing that
sense of purpose in work untilthat diagnosis happened and then
really awoken this appetite.
I had to take the skills andexperience that I had prior to
(22:38):
that to put into a moremeaningful workplace and I
lucked out when it came to GoodSammy, because I get to create
opportunities for people withdisabilities that make
meaningful differences in theirlives in so many ways every
single day, and I literallyspend every day thinking how do
(23:01):
I create more opportunities andhow do I do so in a sustainable
way, in a more contemporary way,and that's just an absolute
dream.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
And you are the catalyst behind a deep
transformation at Good Sammy.
Do you want to tell me a littlebit about you?
Know some of your hopes, dreamsand, in fact, what's actually
hitting the rubber, hitting theroad at the moment at Good Sammy
?
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Yeah, I guess, in terms of a dream, my dream for
society is to see people withdisability everywhere and see
people with disability fullyincluded in society.
Now, I firmly believe thatpeople with disability should be
working alongside peoplewithout disability in included
in society.
Now, I firmly believe thatpeople with disability should be
working alongside peoplewithout disability in every
workplace, in every sort of role, and anyone that wants work can
find work and can progressthrough work, and that's the
(23:47):
goal.
And so Good Sammy, I see, is areally critical catalyst for
achieving that in WesternAustralia, because we have a
wonderful platform, brand,extensive operations in which to
create diverse opportunitiesfor people and broaden off one
(24:10):
retail social enterprises intoother social enterprises.
But in order to achieve thatoutward vision of transforming
workplaces and society, we needto transform ourselves first,
and as an organisation we aretaking much more of a focus of
transforming to be morecontemporary, and what that
(24:32):
looks like on a daily basis is Ilook out the window and I can
see contractors who are startinga year-long capital build
project to put in the workplacesthat are truly accessible and
contemporary at Good Sammy, andthat is more training rooms,
sensory rooms, meeting rooms, acafeteria and break areas that
(24:54):
people want to spend time andengage with, toilets that are
accessible, open plan meetingareas.
So really investing in our ownpeople and infrastructure.
That also looks like deepdiscovery with our employees,
and by discovery I meandiscovering what they really
want to do.
(25:15):
You've been a good Sammy for awhile.
Let's let's re ask you youremployment goals.
Let's revisit what you're goodat.
Do you want to try some ofthese new things that we're
doing?
What are your hopes, dreams andaspirations?
And investing in those staffthrough some of the traineeships
that we offer, or licenses, orconnecting to open employment
outside.
So really starting withourselves.
(25:36):
It's also meant a newmanagement team, a new executive
team to bring in the talent,the energy, the resilience and
change management requiredthrough a deep transformation,
because, you know, change hasbecome the new normal, but when
you do need to change society,there's a lot to do.
(25:56):
So just making sure we've gotthe right people in the tent has
been a critical focus for me,and I think the other thing is
re-establishing Good Sammy'spresence in the market Big brand
, iconic, well-loved, millioncustomers a year.
And you know, give it to GoodSammy is just part of the
(26:18):
vernacular when someone'sdonating and we want that same
recognition for other socialenterprises.
And I think over the lastcouple of years, as we've
started to lift our head abovethe parapet and tell people
about what we do and how theycan connect to our mission,
we've seen a great demand forour services and we've seen a
great demand for our servicesand we've seen a wait list for
our employment services of now200.
(26:40):
We've seen the demand mean thatwe've opened new stores in the
retail side, a demand forhospitality services, and at
Good Sammy it's more aroundwhich opportunity to execute
rather than we need to find someopportunities.
At Good Sammy, it's more aroundwhich opportunity to execute
rather than we need to find someopportunities.
So we're probably, you know,just at the beginning of a deep
(27:01):
transformation, but I hope, youknow, in a few years ahead to be
looking at a workforce that'smuch greater in size, with
people with disability inleadership roles, more training
opportunities in place, moreopen employment opportunities.
I'd like to see Good Sammy takea national footprint in time
(27:26):
and be seen to be a verywell-respected and contemporary
partner in the employment space.
And we've, you know, reallystarted to plant seeds in that
space through our work with theHuman Rights Commission, our
work with state and federalgovernments and our advocacy and
just the sheer number of peoplewe're employing.
We've given over 250 jobs topeople with disability.
(27:46):
New jobs to people withdisability in the last two years
.
250 new employment outcomes forpeople specifically with
intellectual disability.
That is impact on a massivescale.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
That is huge.
Can we talk economic impact?
And also I know that you'vequoted statistics one in six
families, one in threehouseholds.
Can you talk me through that?
Because, again, going back tothe invisibility of disability,
and yet it is in ourneighbourhoods, it's probably in
our families, it's so much morecommon than we even talk about.
(28:22):
So can you talk me through that?
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah, sure, I suppose the first point is not all
disabilities are visible, true,and there is no obligation to
have to disclose disability,obligation to have to disclose
disability.
And so the research shows thatwhere you have culturally safe
and psychologically safeworkplaces, people feel more
comfortable to disclose thatthey may need some additional
(28:46):
support, they may have adisability.
So, as I said, good Sam is at52%.
There are 4.4 millionAustralians with disability, and
that one in six is associatedwith the population of Australia
and the number of people withdisability.
As per a previous census anddue to the number of households,
it's then one in threehouseholds in Australia.
(29:06):
But what I find fascinatingwith those ratios one in three,
one in six is just thinkingabout your own life with those
ratios, just thinking about yourown life with those ratios.
So if you've ever been in afootball team and you've got,
you know, 18 people on the teamand a couple on the bench and do
you see any visibledisabilities, are you aware if
(29:27):
anyone has any invisibledisabilities?
Most people are saying no onehas a disability.
And if you think back to theboyfriends and girlfriends that
people have had, you know, havethey had disabilities?
Who were the teachers you hadat school?
Where do you go on the weekendto socialize your friendship
groups?
And I think you'll find timeand time again people without
(29:47):
disabilities will be sayingthose groups and experiences
don't reflect those numbers.
Reflect those numbers and for me, just asking the question, why
and what conscious andunconscious decisions and
actions have I taken to leadtowards that?
But then also reflecting on whatsystems have resulted in our
(30:08):
society for that to occur.
And if I think back to theeducation system, you know
people starting in mainstreamschool and then often some
people with disability having toleave that system and enter an
ed support system and then maybehave to enter a specialist
disability setting and thenmaybe just moving towards a
disability employment settingand thereafter taking away the
(30:29):
opportunities for fullengagement into society and
therefore not benefiting thepeople without disability that
want to improve and need toimprove their inclusion.
So I think it's important thatwe keep a strong focus on the
benefits of inclusion, butgiving options to individuals
and their families that suit.
(30:50):
There are lots of educationsettings that are wonderful
because of the additionalsupport they can provide and
need to be retained and, at thesame time, lots of mainstream
environments that need moresupport and awareness in that
way.
But yeah, I think it startswith just one's own recognition
(31:10):
of the lack of visibility ofdisability and then leaning in
to understand that and how do weimprove it.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Good Sammy is very much a values-based organisation
.
Can you tell me about GoodSammy's values?
And then I want to know theanswer to the big question,
which is what's with the seal?
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Sure, yeah.
So we have four values, and thefirst value is often my
favourite is brave, and thetagline we often say under the
brave value is you know, have ago.
And we say have a go becausebrave.
For a lot of the people that wesupport, this might be their
(31:52):
first job or this might be anopportunity to try something new
, a training course in a newindustry, and we really, really
want to encourage people to bebrave, to have that choice, and
so I see that every day in termsof bravery, that people put
themselves out there to stepinto open employment or step
(32:12):
into a training course.
So that's really, reallyimportant for me.
We also have another value,which is empowered, and
empowered is quite broad, but weare empowering the individual
and building their capacity tomake choices and take different
pathways and empowering them tospeak up and their support
(32:34):
networks to speak up whensomething needs to be improved,
and what we've heard from theDisability Royal Commission is
the various barriersdiscrimination, violence,
neglect that people withdisability have focused.
It's very important we have aworkplace where people feel
empowered to speak up and theyhave channels and confidential
channels to raise matters,because every workplace needs to
(32:57):
improve in various things.
We also, having a name likeGood Sammy, have a value of good
and we do good every day andit's not just about disability
employment.
We do good every day by savingitems from moving to landfill.
You know we recycled 50 millioncontainers last year through
(33:19):
the Container for Change schemeand that enables those
containers to be, you know,broken down and made into new
products that are used again.
So, literally, we are doinggood every day at Good Sammy and
we want to ensure we do theright thing in the right way,
always, and especially during atransformation, where we want to
really be proud of thedecisions that we're taking,
(33:41):
moving forward.
And the last value is safe.
In that way, and safety isimportant in every workplace.
It's a legislative right, butit's additionally important for
a vulnerable workforce and avulnerable customer base.
So, ensuring that we areupholding those disability
(34:01):
practice standards through theNDIA, that we're teaching,
empowering people about theimportance of safety and we're
equipping people with thosesafety skills into other jobs,
into the future.
And you know, whilst peoplewalk into an op shop and they
think, oh, there's not too manyunsafe things there, we have
lots of forklifts and trucks andvarious activities and seven
(34:25):
million kilograms of items tomove creates various safety
risks as well, so it's importantthat we look after our
workforce in that way.
So you're right, very, veryvalues-based In terms of the
seal.
I do get asked that question alot.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
It's a big question, isn't it?
Because the seal, of course,appears on the Good Sammy logo
and it's just synonymous withGood Sammy.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Yeah, it was the question I had asked myself
during an interview when Ijoined a couple of years ago and
I subsequently learned that theseal was chosen by Good Sammy
as a symbol of a caring,intelligent, nurturing animal
and figure and that was meant torepresent the care and
nurturing empowerment andintelligence of the organisation
(35:10):
and the cohort of people it wastrying to support.
And the creation of Good Sammyin the 1950s coincided with a
very popular English novelcalled Sammy the Seal, and I
think they must have plucked acharacter out from that book and
thought oh, that might be awonderful one to place for the
(35:33):
Good Sammy name.
But despite a seal not having alot to do with some of the
activities we have, we have donesome research in recent time
that shows there's a lot ofbrand appeal for the seal and
therefore we won't be gettingrid of it anytime soon.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
No, no, I think there'd be an uproar.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
There absolutely would be.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Tell me a little bit more about the circular economy,
and you haven't necessarilyused that term, but you've
talked about sustainability.
You've talked about divertingtextiles and containers away
from landfill, but the circulareconomy is something that Good
Sam is really committed to, socan you talk me through what
that means?
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Yeah, in some ways it's a bit of a self-purpose for
us.
And the circular economy is theuse of goods and services and
making sure that you're gettingthe highest use of various items
, and that involves their reuse.
So for us that is aboutdiversion of items from landfill
(36:33):
and waste and keeping itcircular by keeping them in use
and were able then, to you know,sell on to somebody else to to
enjoy that unique item.
(36:59):
So circular is is very importantfor us.
It creates jobs for people atthe same time and it does the
right thing by the environmentand it certainly saves a lot of
water and carbon having beenused and emitted associated with
new material production.
So if more people adopt thosecircular economy practices, the
better.
And it doesn't mean that wewant everyone to op shop in
(37:22):
society, but we want people tomake sustainable fashion choices
and that means buying eitherquality, ethically produced
products or potentially comingto our stores and thrifting
secondhand products.
Buying those fast fashion itemsvery cheap in stores that are a
poor quality, that lasts alimited time just means that
(37:45):
they end up in op shops and theyend up in landfill and often
can't be resold and repurposedin that way, and our
introduction of the Containerfor Change scheme to become one
of the largest providers inWestern Australia leans in
further to that circular economyspace, really through the
collection and recycling ofitems, that they can be remade
(38:08):
and have a purpose rather thangoing to litter.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
And there's an extra bonus with the containers for
change for a place like GoodSammy isn't there.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Yes, there is, and it's one that, unfortunately, is
not well communicated.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
And when people find out about it, they are just so
excited to understand this extrabenefit and wish they'd known
sooner.
So tell us all about it, Cain.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Everyone says a container is worth 10 cents to
the consumer because the 10cents label is on every Coke can
and water bottle and the backof buses you can see 10 cents
eligible container.
What that really should say is17 cents and then anyone
listening is probably like ohgreat, I can get 17 cents for it
.
Well, each container is worth17 cents and the 10 cents very
(38:56):
much goes to the consumer thatowns the bottle, but the 7 cents
is there for the licensedrecycler.
So if you bring your waterbottles to a good semi-store or
one of our drive-throughcontainer sites or one of our
collection points in thecommunity or businesses, we get
the 7 cents and the consumergets the 10 cents.
So literally, people can dogood and practice circular
(39:21):
economy principles, createemployment opportunities by
doing something as simple asgiving your containers to
GoodSami and they can still getthe same money.
And we want that because you'resupporting a charity by doing
it.
Anyone that puts containers intypically a vending machine or
(39:41):
taking it to some refund pointsare most likely giving it to
for-profit companies, and thosebusinesses provide a really
critical service.
However, we would rather seethose containers come to social
enterprises like Good Sammy.
And when the Western AustralianParliament introduced the
Container for Change scheme,they were very, very specific in
the legislation and the objectsof the Act to say we want this
(40:05):
scheme to promote socialenterprises, and Good Sammy's is
the largest social enterprisein Western Australia.
So, yeah, the call out topeople is bring us your
containers, and there are 17cents by doing so.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
And that's a really important message, isn't it that
you know you can do good andyour choices in where you take
your recycled containers make ahuge difference.
So choosing Good Sammies, yourcharity of choice, is number one
thing they could do.
You said the word socialenterprise.
Now what is a social enterprise?
So Good Sammy is the largestsocial enterprise in Western
(40:40):
Australia.
What does that mean?
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Yeah, it's really around a business doing good in
that way.
So it's the reinvesting of anymoney or profit that may have
been produced into a socialpurpose in that way, and there
are lots of different examplesof social enterprises.
But Good Sammies is anot-for-profit, it's a
registered charity and itoperates commercially principled
(41:07):
businesses to deliveropportunities for people with
disability, and that's somethingI've absolutely loved about
Good Sammy's mission sincestarting.
There's lots of great charitiesthat are out there.
Sometimes the way in which thecharities raise funds is quite
disconnected from their mission,whereas when you come to a Good
(41:27):
Sammy store, you're seeingstaff with disability working in
the store and they're sellingitems in the store and they're
selling items in that store.
So there's a direct connectionbetween our commercial activity
to raise revenue to create thosejobs to our mission in that way
, and I just love that becauseit means the mission is on
display every day.
We're not running a truckingbusiness to create funds to then
(41:49):
create jobs in a different partof the organisation.
We're running a truckingbusiness in which our drivers
have a disability and that'sjust.
It means the mission's ondisplay and it really drives a
stronger purpose for Good Sammyand it's one of the main reasons
people want to join Good Sammyand want to stay with Good Sammy
because they just feel reallyproud on what they do.
So, yeah, big social enterpriseis something that is really
(42:13):
becoming a lot more common nowand, as in Western Australia,
we're part of WASEC, which isthe WA Social Enterprise Council
, as one of the largest socialenterprises and we've got strong
ambitions to keep growing theopportunities through there and
there are for-profit businessesthat can support social
enterprises as well.
They might say, well, apercentage of our profits could
(42:35):
go to social enterprises or doan activity and therefore
partner with someone to helpsocial enterprise.
So I think the mantra really isthat these days we're wanting
businesses to be good corporatecitizens and doing good at the
same time as they're doingcommercial activities.
And, yeah, we've got that ondisplay every day.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
And so, as a social enterprise and the retail stores
all over the place through theop shops, you've touched on a
couple of things that make GoodSammy different from other op
shops.
So one is that the mission isalive and well within the store,
with people with disabilitiesworking there.
(43:18):
They're also getting paid.
I think that's a reallyimportant distinction that it's
not run by volunteers alone,that these people are also
getting paid a fair wage.
So you know, did you want totalk to that at all?
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Certainly.
Yeah, what makes us different?
Yeah, there's the bright yellowof Good Sammy and the seal, and
the seal are the two thingsthat stand out when you're
looking at the front door, Ithink the pride of our workforce
stands out.
People are really passionate towork at Good Sammy.
They're passionate about theenvironment, or they're
passionate about disability, orpassionate about people doing
(43:52):
good things, and they'repassionate about the environment
or they're passionate aboutdisability, or passionate about
people or doing good things, andthat stands out more than
anything else.
Usually it's any of ouremployee surveys just that pride
of work is one of the highestrating items and I think you're
right in terms of the connectionto mission stands out.
You can see our missioneverywhere.
You just don't have somenot-for-profits might have
(44:14):
corporate services in one partand then their mission in
another part.
Everything is embedded atGoodSammies, which is really
fascinating.
And, yeah, with a mission suchas employment, it's no surprise
that we focus on paid employmentopportunities.
We are lucky to have somevolunteers, but 840 paid
employees at Good Sammy andthose paid employees range
(44:41):
throughout the supported toaward payment categories and
we're really strongly supportingpeople to enter the workforce,
build skills, build theirremuneration profile on time and
also advocate very stronglywith state and Commonwealth
governments for more economicopportunities, for changes in
policy settings where it comesto disability support, pensions,
(45:03):
ndis plans as well.
And that's another thing that'sdifferent about Good Sammy is
we're an all-abilities employer.
We are not necessarily lookingat one small cohort of the
disability community that ismost able to drive a truck or
most able to finish atraineeship or most able to
enter open employment and justfocus on that cohort.
(45:27):
Sometimes that cohort might bethe easier cohort to be able to
engineer those outcomes becauseof their skills and attributes.
We have a range of people ofthat nature, but we also have a
range of people for that.
For those people who thosepathways are longer term goals,
(45:47):
roll up the sleeves and reallyhave individual conversations
with all people with disabilityand help them towards their
employment pathways, whateverthey may be.
And you know, as a father of a10-year-old child with an
intellectual disability andsignificant challenges, I
certainly want to be leading anorganisation where everybody can
(46:08):
feel welcome and certainlywalking the talk about the
workforces that I want to see inthe future and the
opportunities for people likeFinn and others in the future as
well.
Because if we don't look at thewhole cohort of people with
disability.
We're never going to shift thatvisibility point.
We're never going to shift thatparticipation rate.
So we need to be hiring peoplewith intellectual disability and
(46:30):
with physical and otherdisabilities.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
Cain, you've really enlightened so many people about
the work of Good Sammy, takingus behind the scenes, into what
happens at Good Sammy in so manydifferent ways, and certainly
its mission, which istransforming society and
workplaces through disabilityemployment.
What are three things that youwant people to know that perhaps
(46:56):
they can tactically do to helpsupport the mission?
Speaker 1 (47:02):
I think item one would be reach out to Good Sammy
and ask how can I get involvedWould be the first thing,
because there are so manydifferent ways and we can help
you identify those ways.
So if listening to this orwanting to do something is
igniting something or you've gotan itch that you just want to
(47:22):
scratch somehow but don't knowwhere to start, just reach out.
You could send us a LinkedInmessage or Facebook message.
Just find someone you know,write us an email and just say
I'd like to get involved withGood Sammy.
I'm not sure how.
This is my employer, this iswho I am.
The second one was just socialprocurement is those businesses
can be purchasing products andservices from Good Sammy.
It could be gardening services,it could be employment services
(47:44):
, it could be a whole range ofrecycling and other labour
services.
So lots of opportunities foremployers.
And I think the third one foran individual is just to be kind
and respectful to everybody andwhen you are seeing a person
with a disability or someonewith a non-verbal disability
using a communication device,say hi, expose yourself to
(48:09):
learning about disability inthat way and don't fear.
People with disability are justlike people without disability,
with hopes, dreams, aspirationsand feelings, and the more
people can deepen theirexperience and exposure to
people with disability, thebetter, and we would really
encourage people to do that byeven just coming in and
(48:33):
volunteering with us.
It could just be a corporatevolunteer event with your family
and friends, or a tour or visitour shops or something more
substantial further.
But I think the more exposure,the better the visibility will
be and the more likelihood thatwe can achieve our vision of
transforming society andworkplaces through employment.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
Thank you so much, cain.
That's been so delightful tohave you around the warm table
today and I just love what GoodSammy is doing and you know,
obviously, as a proud WesternAustralian, it's a great, iconic
Western Australian brand.
But more than a brand, it'sreally doing what it says it's
going to do.
Speaker 1 (49:16):
Yeah, absolutely.
I've been a real pleasure to behere to speak a little bit
about Good Sammy and just.
It's an awesome organisation.
It's bright yellow, it's proud,wonderful mission.
We do good every day and wejust want to keep going every
day and we just want to keepgoing.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
Thanks for joining us around the warm table.
My warm table is produced,hosted and edited by me, sonia
Nolan.
It's my way of amplifyingpositivity and curiosity in our
community.
I invite you to share thisconversation with family and
friends and follow my Warm Tablepodcast on Facebook, instagram
and LinkedIn.
Also, you can subscribe andfollow my Warm Table on Spotify
(49:59):
or Apple Podcasts, and maybeeven leave a review, because it
helps others to find us moreeasily.
My dream for society is to see people with disability
everywhere and see people withdisability fully included in
society.
I firmly believe that peoplewith disability should be
working alongside people withoutdisability in every workplace,
in every sort of role, andanyone that wants work can find
work and can progress throughwork work.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Thanks for joining me , sonia Nolan, around the warm
table, or the tavola calda as myItalian papa used to call a
welcoming table of acceptance,positivity and curiosity.
My Warm Table podcast aims tocreate that and more, as we
amplify stories of WesternAustralians making our
communities better.
My Warm Table Season 3 is proudto be sponsored by Females Over
45 Fitness, with a studio inVictoria Park and also online
(00:53):
all over Australia.
So now please take a seat andjoin us for Season 3 as we
explore stories of hope.
We're going to discover thegood stuff about much-loved WA
icon Good Sammy.
Around the table today, I'mjoined by Good Sammy
Enterprise's Chief ExecutiveOfficer, kane Blackman, whose
(01:14):
personal and professionalmission is to ensure everyone
with disability can reach theirfullest potential.
We'll find out about GoodSammy's mission to transform
workplaces in society throughdisability employment.
We'll learn why we shouldchoose to recycle our cans at a
Good Sammy containers for changeoperation.
We'll learn about the circulareconomy and how Good Sammy is
(01:37):
saving 7 million kilograms oftextiles from landfill each year
.
We also want to challenge youto rethink how you might see op
shops At Good Sammy.
Op shops are thriving socialenterprises where, yes, you'll
get a bargain, but theopportunity isn't just about you
.
It's about serving the missionof Good Sammy and inspiring hope
(01:59):
through training and jobs forpeople with disability.
In recent years, good Sammy hasgrown to more than 30 op shops.
It operates numerous containersfor change, recycling centres,
has diversified into hospitality, property care services and
logistics operations.
Right now, good Sammy isundergoing its own deep
(02:19):
transformation.
In fact, you'll hear the soundsof construction in the
background as we recorded thisconversation on site at Good
Sammy's Canning Valeheadquarters, which is setting
the foundations to build on itshistoric legacy and position
itself for a bright future tocontinue its good work in WA.
So join us for a goodconversation with Kane Blackman
(02:41):
around the warm table today,with Cain Blackman around the
warm table today.
Now, cain, you are the ChiefExecutive Officer of Good Sammy
Enterprises and I think thateveryone knows Good Sammy as a
beloved op shop.
Tell us a little bit about GoodSammy's history, if you would,
yeah you're right, you can'tmiss it Bright, yellow, big seal
(03:02):
on the front.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
You can probably see it from the moon and a million
Western Australians come throughour doors every single year.
Well, we started in 1958 inWestern Australia and it was
because there was a young womanwho had a disability and was
seeking employment, and at thattime time a chap by the name of
(03:27):
Ralph Sutton came up with theidea of repurposing clothing.
That could be done by a personto give them an economic
opportunity and that clothingcould then be resold.
And from there, really GoodSammies, from there really Good
Sammy's op shops were born, andnow we're up to 28 stores and
(03:49):
are seeing almost 7 millionkilograms being donated to us
every year.
So from very humble beginningsright through to quite a large
enterprise now, that's a lot,isn't it?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
7 million kilograms of textiles being donated into
Good Sammy every year.
What do you do with it all?
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, it is.
In some ways, I'm very graciousof the kind donations from
Western Australians.
People go out of their way tofind our stores to donate,
because they're doing a goodthing by giving to Good Sammy.
At the same time, though, youdo reflect that the scale of the
donations is because of a fastfashion crisis that we have in
(04:30):
this country, and Australiansare one of the biggest culprits
of buying new textiles and thennot wearing them or not shopping
as sustainably as possible.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I think we've got a statistic which is not very
positive for Australians.
It's 32 kilograms perindividual in Australia is how
many per year 32 kilos oftextiles per year we consume.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
So what we do with it is we keep the items in the
circular economy and categorisethem and send them out to places
where they can be madeavailable in our stores for
people who want to thrift, wantto shop sustainably, want
something at an affordable price, and so we keep that whole
(05:14):
ecosystem in place andultimately it means less demand
for new textiles coming.
So very sustainable practiceand the wonderful proposition
for Good, sammy, is that we dothat while delivering employment
opportunities for people withdisability.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Which is, of course, the mission for Good, sammy,
isn't it?
Absolutely.
It's transforming workplacesand society through disability
employment, which is, you know,it sounds like a lofty, lofty
goal, but tell me what you'redoing to try and achieve that.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, it is a lofty goal and it's purposely.
It's a lofty goal.
But tell me what you're doingto try and achieve that.
Yeah, it is a lofty goal andit's purposely it's a lofty
vision.
It's our vision because thereare a million Australians with
disability of working age not inemployment, and having a job
creates a connection to purpose,it creates a sense of inclusion
, it creates economic and socialindependence.
So it's really, reallyimportant and we want to give
(06:06):
all Australians the opportunityto participate in work.
So what Good Sammy is doing isemploying people with disability
in the careers that they arepassionate about, they aspire to
work in, and proud to say that440 Good Sammy employees have a
disability and are in paidemployment with Good Sammy.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
That's more than 50%.
Yeah, sorry, you were justgoing to say that weren't you.
It's like more than 50% ofpeople working at Good Sammy
have a disability, which is, Ithink you're pretty much
punching above your weight therein response to everyone else's
percentage of disabilityemployment.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, spot on.
So the average or the largestemployer in Western Australia is
the state government andthey're sitting just below 2%.
We're at 52% and that's grownsignificantly.
If you were to have thisdiscussion two years ago I would
have said we're at 30% andwe've seen a great rise in those
numbers.
And we've seen that risebecause GoodSami is reaching out
(07:07):
now beyond retail.
Yes, the op shops have beenknown as the public face, but
we're now in e-commerce.
We're now the largestfor-purpose container for change
operator in Western Australia.
We have logistics supply chain,property care and various work
crews in open employment.
So the Goodsomi brand is outthere, but the opportunities for
(07:29):
the individual are even greaternow.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
And I think that's part of the purpose, isn't it
that you know, obviously not allpeople with disability want to
work in retail.
They don't all want to work inan op shop, although it is
pretty fun.
I've done a little bit of opshop, well, I've been on both
sides of the counter, to be fair, and it's a great environment,
but not everyone wants thatperhaps customer-facing role,
and so stretching the enterpriseopportunities through Good
(07:55):
Sammy Enterprises, as the namesuggests, means that there are
lots more opportunities forpeople to find something they
might really love.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Definitely.
And you know I started inretail as my first job.
I started growing up inMelbourne at Safeway, which has
subsequently been rebranded toWoolworths, and I worked in a
grocery retail environment forseven years.
I've had stints during myuniversity career at Bunnings
working in retail, and retailprovides an incredible
(08:23):
opportunity to build customerservice skills and a whole range
of other really importantskills for future employment
opportunities.
But you're right, not everyonedesires retail and often retail
can be a stepping stone to thoseother enterprises and that's
what we're trying to offer ourexisting employees is.
Well, you might have triedretail for a while.
Are you interested in getting atruck licence?
(08:45):
Or are you interested inlearning to become a barista?
Or do you have aspirations inan employment workplace outside
of Goodsami?
And it's not only our currentcohort.
I mentioned a million WesternAustralians before.
There's 100,000 WesternAustralians with disability of
working age not in a job.
So we're trying to connect withthem and also connect them to
other workplaces to achievetheir employment goal.
(09:07):
So big mission, lots to do todeliver that mission.
But just to see the smile andthe pride when someone achieves
a job, learns those skills andwhat it means to them, makes it
all worthwhile.
A job learns those skills andwhat it means to them makes it
all worthwhile.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Another part of that mission, though, is talking
about transforming society whichagain loftier you could say,
but transforming society and Ithink part of that is the
visibility of disability in thecommunity.
So that's something that GoodSammy is really mindful of in
some of the opportunities thatyou're offering people.
So can you talk me through thevisibility element and why
(09:46):
that's important?
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Yeah, definitely.
I probably personally had avery low visibility of
disability myself before myson's own diagnosis eight years
ago.
He has a rare disease calledAngelman syndrome and when I
reflect back of life beforeFinn's diagnosis, I certainly
didn't have the representationof people with disability in my
life, in my clubs, in my schools, in my networks, and I've
(10:12):
reflected on reasons for thatand those reasons are quite well
articulated in RoyalCommissions.
And you know there are thingsthat occur in society around
biases, discrimination, lack ofopportunities, access, inclusion
challenges.
So I think improving thevisibility of disability is
important to break down thosebarriers and to also shine an
(10:32):
example of this wonderfultalented cohort in our society
and how much they can contribute.
And so if you go into yourlocal coffee shop, you want to
see the people working therereflect the communities in which
you live.
So someone with a disabilitywho's making a coffee and then
going to catch the bus and a busdriver with disability these
(10:55):
are the sorts of jobs sometimeswe don't see enough people with
disability in and there's a hugecohort that want those
opportunities.
So Good, sammy is really leaninginto more front-facing, visible
customer service roles forpeople with disability, and
whilst the roles that we have inour warehouses are really
important for those individualsand their networks.
(11:18):
Not all of society gets to seethe wonderful work of our team
in action on a daily basis.
However, when our truck driversare out visiting various
locations of the community orour gardening team is working in
a number of differentcommercial premises, they
interact with hundreds, if notthousands, of people in those
visits and that really has astrong impact because not only
(11:41):
do people see people withdisability included in the
workplace, it also sparks themthinking, oh, maybe I could
contract those services andmaybe I should reach out to see
how I can partner with GoodSammy, and that helps then build
future employment opportunities.
So the more we have jobsoutward, the more that
encourages other people withdisability to try new things and
(12:02):
be brave, the more itencourages other employers to
take those opportunities as well.
And, coupled with that, we'rereally trying to lean into the
disability awareness for society, to break down the barriers,
these perceptions of a medicalmodel of disability, of what a
diagnosis is and what you can'tdo, to more focusing on people's
strengths and what they can doand the role of things such as
(12:25):
job carving, customisation, tocreate, you know, opportunities
for people to contribute in ameaningful way.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Give me a little bit of an example of what job
carving might look like, andmaybe an example of someone
who's at Good Sammy who's doingsomething.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah.
So job carving is really a formof job customisation which is
effectively taking a job andthen customising it to suit a
certain individual, what theiremployment goals are, what their
strengths are.
And so a great example of thatin Good Sammy can be seen in
almost every one of ourworkplaces.
So in a retail store that mightbe us customising a retail
(13:04):
assistant role where someone maydo opening and closing and
visual merchandising tasks, andperhaps the opening and closing
tasks are too challenging forvarious reasons for that
individual, but they can doevery single other task Well,
rather than saying no to thatemployee coming into our
organisation because they can'topen and close, how do we
(13:25):
customise that role, carve outthose functions and lean into
that person's strengths whichmight be the use of our point of
sale system, customer service,visual merchandising and
training and beef up those areasof the role.
(13:46):
Be in other parts where we'vecreated roles specifically for
an individual who might requirea sit-down role and therefore we
might be able to modify aworkplace with various
adjustments and a task to suitthat individual.
So it's understanding theirinterests, their strengths,
their aspirations and thencustomising it in that way.
Customising it in that way andat Good Sammy, we're very much
an all abilities employer, whichmeans we customise hundreds of
(14:11):
jobs to build employmentoutcomes and we're very flexible
.
So if you're not available towork apart from Tuesday morning
for three hours in one location,we really do try to work with
the individual and theirsupports to create that
opportunity.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
And I think that's another key point there that
when you talk about disabilityemployment, you're not
necessarily talking about afull-time role in a place you
actually also open to.
Perhaps it's one morning a weekor one day a week, or you know
what work looks like can be very, very different.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Oh, it's a spectrum, yeah, so we've had and have
people with disability on ourboards and our management team
in full-time roles, in part-timeroles, in casual roles, in
volunteer roles.
It's really about giving peopleoptions.
So we've got, you know,wonderful truck drivers that
work full time with disabilityon the road, but we've also got
(15:06):
casual retail assistants thatwork three hours a week in our
retail team or someone inhospitality that works one day a
week.
So it does vary and we try tobuild up someone's capacity for
work.
So if you're starting out small, how do we then build on your
skills to more hours, more days,to the extent that they want
that.
(15:27):
So that's really, reallyimportant and also for us trying
to get people up into thoseleadership roles, supervisor
roles, and investing in thetraining of our team, and in the
last couple of years we've donethat by introducing paid
traineeships, so offering peoplean ongoing paid employment
opportunity and a Cert II orCert III in an area of their
(15:49):
focus Also around truck licences, forklift and vehicle licences
and they've been reallymeaningful for people where they
can walk away from 18 months ofGood Sammy with something in
the back pocket the experienceto take on to the next employer.
So there's a lot to do toreally train and empower that
workforce.
So we're doing our bit, butwe're also calling out to other
(16:12):
employers to partner with us,because Good Sammy can't employ
every person with disability andwe don't offer all the
employment opportunities thatthere are out there, and so we
rely on our partnerships to getpeople towards their goals.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Can we talk about daring to dream, because I
believe that the schooltransition element of young
people with disability atschools it's really hard to know
what your next step might be,and daring to dream about what
that could look like.
How important is it from aschool perspective to provide
(16:51):
those pathways?
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Absolutely critical.
I think two and a half yearsago, someone asked me what did I
want to do?
What was my dream foremployment?
I would have found that verydifficult to answer.
I think if you asked me thattoday, I'd probably say to keep
doing what I'm doing a goodSammy, because I'm absolutely
having a ball here.
I think it's really difficultfor people of any age to answer
(17:17):
the question of what their dreamis when it comes to work.
Sometimes you don't know allthe options and a lot of the
jobs of tomorrow don't existtoday.
True, we do know, though, morepathways are required for people
with disability in the schoolsystem.
Those pathways need to be morefocused in employment.
There are too many individualswith disability, especially
(17:40):
intellectual disability, thatwant to enter the workforce when
they finish school and finddifficulty doing so, and
therefore that may mean thatthey are accessing, therefore,
social and community supportsrather than employment, and they
miss out on the purpose andinclusion.
And then, obviously, theirfamily unit might not be
participating in employment tothe same extent.
(18:03):
So, starting early with thosecohorts, through career planning
, by identifying what trainingthey require, by partnering with
the schools to say well, we'vegot these employers, they're
interested to employ this cohort.
By doing career fairs, by doingwork experience, volunteer work
, traineeships, come and trydays there's lots of ways in
which to gain more exposure towork and discover what someone
(18:26):
wants to do, because there's areally talented workforce hiding
in plain sight in our communitythat want a job and want a
chance and it just really lightsme up when you see people get
that chance and we have so manyyoung, talented, good
semi-employees that have joinedus that are just thriving.
(18:47):
And we're a little different asa workplace.
When someone gains some skillsand then they leave for another
job, some employers might getfrustrated.
They're losing their talentedemployees.
We celebrate those as successes.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Because they're moving on to a different
workplace and again they'll beinspiring and demonstrating the
abilities of people withdisability in a different
workplace.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah, catalytic effect.
We have someone that leaves andjoins one of our employment
partners.
All of a sudden, you know, havesomeone that leaves and joins
one of our employment partners.
All of a sudden, you know, inthat workplace they will see
that individual and that has animpact on on future decisions
that they make and also itcreates another opportunity
behind them from someone in goodsammy to get them into a
training.
So it's that pipeline of people.
But there's a lot of work stillto do in australia to create
(19:32):
those pathways and to createthose opportunities.
And there's legislative reformthat's required.
There's education policy reformthat's required.
There's a greater focus, evenin the NDIS, of a workforce, a
work first mentality.
Let's assume people areinterested in and capable of
(19:53):
joining the workforce and let'senable them, through goal
planning and funding, to have acrack and try that out.
And too few people we're stillseeing who are NDIS participants
aren't being given anopportunity for funding and
goals where they should be.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Now, Cain, you mentioned your son Finn.
Now he's 10, yes, yes, yep, andhe, I suspect, is a driving
force behind your work here atGood Sammy.
Can you tell me a bit aboutFinn?
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah, he's a cheeky 10-year-old.
He loves his iPad.
He's always harassing me forlollies and sweets and cakes the
whole time.
He absolutely loves his brother, James, who's five, and they
have a really special bond.
One minute they love each other, the next minute they're
beating each other up.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Typical siblings yes.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
And Finn loves getting out and about.
He loves catching trains,getting on buses, jumping on
ferries.
We recently went to Singaporefor a school holidays.
He absolutely loved that trip.
He's really inquisitive andcheeky, so a lot of the toilet
humour he laughs at all the time.
Loves construction science justto sit and watch some of the
(21:06):
activity in that way, andscience is his favourite subject
at school, I think.
He likes experimenting andseeing things explode or bubble
over, loves swimming.
So you know, in some ways a verytypical 10-year-old.
The ways he's very muchatypical, though, is he has a
non-verbal disability.
It's called Angelman Syndrome.
Affects one in 15,000 WesternAustralians.
(21:28):
So Finn can only say a handfulof words or things that resemble
words, and he uses acommunication device which
resembles an iPad or an AACdevice that he can effectively
touch a cell to communicatevarious things and he uses some
keywords on.
So it faces great communicationchallenges and also faces
(21:51):
behavioral challenges andintellectual disability
challenges.
So it's quite a significantfaces behavioural challenges and
intellectual disabilitychallenges.
So it's quite a significantdisability when it comes to the
support that he requiresthroughout his life.
But he has certainly taughtmyself and my wife and, I'm sure
, james now so many things, justthat importance of empathy,
patience, purpose, focusing onyou know, the wonders of the
(22:17):
present rather than dreaming toomuch about the future, and
focus on things that are withinyour control.
So he has been a driving forceand probably was missing that
sense of purpose in work untilthat diagnosis happened and then
really awoken this appetite.
I had to take the skills andexperience that I had prior to
(22:38):
that to put into a moremeaningful workplace and I
lucked out when it came to GoodSammy, because I get to create
opportunities for people withdisabilities that make
meaningful differences in theirlives in so many ways every
single day, and I literallyspend every day thinking how do
(23:01):
I create more opportunities andhow do I do so in a sustainable
way, in a more contemporary way,and that's just an absolute
dream.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
And you are the catalyst behind a deep
transformation at Good Sammy.
Do you want to tell me a littlebit about you?
Know some of your hopes, dreamsand, in fact, what's actually
hitting the rubber, hitting theroad at the moment at Good Sammy
?
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Yeah, I guess, in terms of a dream, my dream for
society is to see people withdisability everywhere and see
people with disability fullyincluded in society.
Now, I firmly believe thatpeople with disability should be
working alongside peoplewithout disability in included
in society.
Now, I firmly believe thatpeople with disability should be
working alongside peoplewithout disability in every
workplace, in every sort of role, and anyone that wants work can
find work and can progressthrough work, and that's the
(23:47):
goal.
And so Good Sammy, I see, is areally critical catalyst for
achieving that in WesternAustralia, because we have a
wonderful platform, brand,extensive operations in which to
create diverse opportunitiesfor people and broaden off one
(24:10):
retail social enterprises intoother social enterprises.
But in order to achieve thatoutward vision of transforming
workplaces and society, we needto transform ourselves first,
and as an organisation we aretaking much more of a focus of
transforming to be morecontemporary, and what that
(24:32):
looks like on a daily basis is Ilook out the window and I can
see contractors who are startinga year-long capital build
project to put in the workplacesthat are truly accessible and
contemporary at Good Sammy, andthat is more training rooms,
sensory rooms, meeting rooms, acafeteria and break areas that
(24:54):
people want to spend time andengage with, toilets that are
accessible, open plan meetingareas.
So really investing in our ownpeople and infrastructure.
That also looks like deepdiscovery with our employees,
and by discovery I meandiscovering what they really
want to do.
(25:15):
You've been a good Sammy for awhile.
Let's let's re ask you youremployment goals.
Let's revisit what you're goodat.
Do you want to try some ofthese new things that we're
doing?
What are your hopes, dreams andaspirations?
And investing in those staffthrough some of the traineeships
that we offer, or licenses, orconnecting to open employment
outside.
So really starting withourselves.
(25:36):
It's also meant a newmanagement team, a new executive
team to bring in the talent,the energy, the resilience and
change management requiredthrough a deep transformation,
because, you know, change hasbecome the new normal, but when
you do need to change society,there's a lot to do.
(25:56):
So just making sure we've gotthe right people in the tent has
been a critical focus for me,and I think the other thing is
re-establishing Good Sammy'spresence in the market Big brand
, iconic, well-loved, millioncustomers a year.
And you know, give it to GoodSammy is just part of the
(26:18):
vernacular when someone'sdonating and we want that same
recognition for other socialenterprises.
And I think over the lastcouple of years, as we've
started to lift our head abovethe parapet and tell people
about what we do and how theycan connect to our mission,
we've seen a great demand forour services and we've seen a
great demand for our servicesand we've seen a wait list for
our employment services of now200.
(26:40):
We've seen the demand mean thatwe've opened new stores in the
retail side, a demand forhospitality services, and at
Good Sammy it's more aroundwhich opportunity to execute
rather than we need to find someopportunities.
At Good Sammy, it's more aroundwhich opportunity to execute
rather than we need to find someopportunities.
So we're probably, you know,just at the beginning of a deep
(27:01):
transformation, but I hope, youknow, in a few years ahead to be
looking at a workforce that'smuch greater in size, with
people with disability inleadership roles, more training
opportunities in place, moreopen employment opportunities.
I'd like to see Good Sammy takea national footprint in time
(27:26):
and be seen to be a verywell-respected and contemporary
partner in the employment space.
And we've, you know, reallystarted to plant seeds in that
space through our work with theHuman Rights Commission, our
work with state and federalgovernments and our advocacy and
just the sheer number of peoplewe're employing.
We've given over 250 jobs topeople with disability.
(27:46):
New jobs to people withdisability in the last two years
.
250 new employment outcomes forpeople specifically with
intellectual disability.
That is impact on a massivescale.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
That is huge.
Can we talk economic impact?
And also I know that you'vequoted statistics one in six
families, one in threehouseholds.
Can you talk me through that?
Because, again, going back tothe invisibility of disability,
and yet it is in ourneighbourhoods, it's probably in
our families, it's so much morecommon than we even talk about.
(28:22):
So can you talk me through that?
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah, sure, I suppose the first point is not all
disabilities are visible, true,and there is no obligation to
have to disclose disability,obligation to have to disclose
disability.
And so the research shows thatwhere you have culturally safe
and psychologically safeworkplaces, people feel more
comfortable to disclose thatthey may need some additional
(28:46):
support, they may have adisability.
So, as I said, good Sam is at52%.
There are 4.4 millionAustralians with disability, and
that one in six is associatedwith the population of Australia
and the number of people withdisability.
As per a previous census anddue to the number of households,
it's then one in threehouseholds in Australia.
(29:06):
But what I find fascinatingwith those ratios one in three,
one in six is just thinkingabout your own life with those
ratios, just thinking about yourown life with those ratios.
So if you've ever been in afootball team and you've got,
you know, 18 people on the teamand a couple on the bench and do
you see any visibledisabilities, are you aware if
(29:27):
anyone has any invisibledisabilities?
Most people are saying no onehas a disability.
And if you think back to theboyfriends and girlfriends that
people have had, you know, havethey had disabilities?
Who were the teachers you hadat school?
Where do you go on the weekendto socialize your friendship
groups?
And I think you'll find timeand time again people without
(29:47):
disabilities will be sayingthose groups and experiences
don't reflect those numbers.
Reflect those numbers and for me, just asking the question, why
and what conscious andunconscious decisions and
actions have I taken to leadtowards that?
But then also reflecting on whatsystems have resulted in our
(30:08):
society for that to occur.
And if I think back to theeducation system, you know
people starting in mainstreamschool and then often some
people with disability having toleave that system and enter an
ed support system and then maybehave to enter a specialist
disability setting and thenmaybe just moving towards a
disability employment settingand thereafter taking away the
(30:29):
opportunities for fullengagement into society and
therefore not benefiting thepeople without disability that
want to improve and need toimprove their inclusion.
So I think it's important thatwe keep a strong focus on the
benefits of inclusion, butgiving options to individuals
and their families that suit.
(30:50):
There are lots of educationsettings that are wonderful
because of the additionalsupport they can provide and
need to be retained and, at thesame time, lots of mainstream
environments that need moresupport and awareness in that
way.
But yeah, I think it startswith just one's own recognition
(31:10):
of the lack of visibility ofdisability and then leaning in
to understand that and how do weimprove it.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Good Sammy is very much a values-based organisation
.
Can you tell me about GoodSammy's values?
And then I want to know theanswer to the big question,
which is what's with the seal?
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Sure, yeah.
So we have four values, and thefirst value is often my
favourite is brave, and thetagline we often say under the
brave value is you know, have ago.
And we say have a go becausebrave.
For a lot of the people that wesupport, this might be their
(31:52):
first job or this might be anopportunity to try something new
, a training course in a newindustry, and we really, really
want to encourage people to bebrave, to have that choice, and
so I see that every day in termsof bravery, that people put
themselves out there to stepinto open employment or step
(32:12):
into a training course.
So that's really, reallyimportant for me.
We also have another value,which is empowered, and
empowered is quite broad, but weare empowering the individual
and building their capacity tomake choices and take different
pathways and empowering them tospeak up and their support
(32:34):
networks to speak up whensomething needs to be improved,
and what we've heard from theDisability Royal Commission is
the various barriersdiscrimination, violence,
neglect that people withdisability have focused.
It's very important we have aworkplace where people feel
empowered to speak up and theyhave channels and confidential
channels to raise matters,because every workplace needs to
(32:57):
improve in various things.
We also, having a name likeGood Sammy, have a value of good
and we do good every day andit's not just about disability
employment.
We do good every day by savingitems from moving to landfill.
You know we recycled 50 millioncontainers last year through
(33:19):
the Container for Change schemeand that enables those
containers to be, you know,broken down and made into new
products that are used again.
So, literally, we are doinggood every day at Good Sammy and
we want to ensure we do theright thing in the right way,
always, and especially during atransformation, where we want to
really be proud of thedecisions that we're taking,
(33:41):
moving forward.
And the last value is safe.
In that way, and safety isimportant in every workplace.
It's a legislative right, butit's additionally important for
a vulnerable workforce and avulnerable customer base.
So, ensuring that we areupholding those disability
(34:01):
practice standards through theNDIA, that we're teaching,
empowering people about theimportance of safety and we're
equipping people with thosesafety skills into other jobs,
into the future.
And you know, whilst peoplewalk into an op shop and they
think, oh, there's not too manyunsafe things there, we have
lots of forklifts and trucks andvarious activities and seven
(34:25):
million kilograms of items tomove creates various safety
risks as well, so it's importantthat we look after our
workforce in that way.
So you're right, very, veryvalues-based In terms of the
seal.
I do get asked that question alot.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
It's a big question, isn't it?
Because the seal, of course,appears on the Good Sammy logo
and it's just synonymous withGood Sammy.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Yeah, it was the question I had asked myself
during an interview when Ijoined a couple of years ago and
I subsequently learned that theseal was chosen by Good Sammy
as a symbol of a caring,intelligent, nurturing animal
and figure and that was meant torepresent the care and
nurturing empowerment andintelligence of the organisation
(35:10):
and the cohort of people it wastrying to support.
And the creation of Good Sammyin the 1950s coincided with a
very popular English novelcalled Sammy the Seal, and I
think they must have plucked acharacter out from that book and
thought oh, that might be awonderful one to place for the
(35:33):
Good Sammy name.
But despite a seal not having alot to do with some of the
activities we have, we have donesome research in recent time
that shows there's a lot ofbrand appeal for the seal and
therefore we won't be gettingrid of it anytime soon.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
No, no, I think there'd be an uproar.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
There absolutely would be.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Tell me a little bit more about the circular economy,
and you haven't necessarilyused that term, but you've
talked about sustainability.
You've talked about divertingtextiles and containers away
from landfill, but the circulareconomy is something that Good
Sam is really committed to, socan you talk me through what
that means?
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Yeah, in some ways it's a bit of a self-purpose for
us.
And the circular economy is theuse of goods and services and
making sure that you're gettingthe highest use of various items
, and that involves their reuse.
So for us that is aboutdiversion of items from landfill
(36:33):
and waste and keeping itcircular by keeping them in use
and were able then, to you know,sell on to somebody else to to
enjoy that unique item.
(36:59):
So circular is is very importantfor us.
It creates jobs for people atthe same time and it does the
right thing by the environmentand it certainly saves a lot of
water and carbon having beenused and emitted associated with
new material production.
So if more people adopt thosecircular economy practices, the
better.
And it doesn't mean that wewant everyone to op shop in
(37:22):
society, but we want people tomake sustainable fashion choices
and that means buying eitherquality, ethically produced
products or potentially comingto our stores and thrifting
secondhand products.
Buying those fast fashion itemsvery cheap in stores that are a
poor quality, that lasts alimited time just means that
(37:45):
they end up in op shops and theyend up in landfill and often
can't be resold and repurposedin that way, and our
introduction of the Containerfor Change scheme to become one
of the largest providers inWestern Australia leans in
further to that circular economyspace, really through the
collection and recycling ofitems, that they can be remade
(38:08):
and have a purpose rather thangoing to litter.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
And there's an extra bonus with the containers for
change for a place like GoodSammy isn't there.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Yes, there is, and it's one that, unfortunately, is
not well communicated.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
And when people find out about it, they are just so
excited to understand this extrabenefit and wish they'd known
sooner.
So tell us all about it, Cain.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Everyone says a container is worth 10 cents to
the consumer because the 10cents label is on every Coke can
and water bottle and the backof buses you can see 10 cents
eligible container.
What that really should say is17 cents and then anyone
listening is probably like ohgreat, I can get 17 cents for it
.
Well, each container is worth17 cents and the 10 cents very
(38:56):
much goes to the consumer thatowns the bottle, but the 7 cents
is there for the licensedrecycler.
So if you bring your waterbottles to a good semi-store or
one of our drive-throughcontainer sites or one of our
collection points in thecommunity or businesses, we get
the 7 cents and the consumergets the 10 cents.
So literally, people can dogood and practice circular
(39:21):
economy principles, createemployment opportunities by
doing something as simple asgiving your containers to
GoodSami and they can still getthe same money.
And we want that because you'resupporting a charity by doing
it.
Anyone that puts containers intypically a vending machine or
(39:41):
taking it to some refund pointsare most likely giving it to
for-profit companies, and thosebusinesses provide a really
critical service.
However, we would rather seethose containers come to social
enterprises like Good Sammy.
And when the Western AustralianParliament introduced the
Container for Change scheme,they were very, very specific in
the legislation and the objectsof the Act to say we want this
(40:05):
scheme to promote socialenterprises, and Good Sammy's is
the largest social enterprisein Western Australia.
So, yeah, the call out topeople is bring us your
containers, and there are 17cents by doing so.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
And that's a really important message, isn't it that
you know you can do good andyour choices in where you take
your recycled containers make ahuge difference.
So choosing Good Sammies, yourcharity of choice, is number one
thing they could do.
You said the word socialenterprise.
Now what is a social enterprise?
So Good Sammy is the largestsocial enterprise in Western
(40:40):
Australia.
What does that mean?
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Yeah, it's really around a business doing good in
that way.
So it's the reinvesting of anymoney or profit that may have
been produced into a socialpurpose in that way, and there
are lots of different examplesof social enterprises.
But Good Sammies is anot-for-profit, it's a
registered charity and itoperates commercially principled
(41:07):
businesses to deliveropportunities for people with
disability, and that's somethingI've absolutely loved about
Good Sammy's mission sincestarting.
There's lots of great charitiesthat are out there.
Sometimes the way in which thecharities raise funds is quite
disconnected from their mission,whereas when you come to a Good
(41:27):
Sammy store, you're seeingstaff with disability working in
the store and they're sellingitems in the store and they're
selling items in that store.
So there's a direct connectionbetween our commercial activity
to raise revenue to create thosejobs to our mission in that way
, and I just love that becauseit means the mission is on
display every day.
We're not running a truckingbusiness to create funds to then
(41:49):
create jobs in a different partof the organisation.
We're running a truckingbusiness in which our drivers
have a disability and that'sjust.
It means the mission's ondisplay and it really drives a
stronger purpose for Good Sammyand it's one of the main reasons
people want to join Good Sammyand want to stay with Good Sammy
because they just feel reallyproud on what they do.
So, yeah, big social enterpriseis something that is really
(42:13):
becoming a lot more common nowand, as in Western Australia,
we're part of WASEC, which isthe WA Social Enterprise Council
, as one of the largest socialenterprises and we've got strong
ambitions to keep growing theopportunities through there and
there are for-profit businessesthat can support social
enterprises as well.
They might say, well, apercentage of our profits could
(42:35):
go to social enterprises or doan activity and therefore
partner with someone to helpsocial enterprise.
So I think the mantra really isthat these days we're wanting
businesses to be good corporatecitizens and doing good at the
same time as they're doingcommercial activities.
And, yeah, we've got that ondisplay every day.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
And so, as a social enterprise and the retail stores
all over the place through theop shops, you've touched on a
couple of things that make GoodSammy different from other op
shops.
So one is that the mission isalive and well within the store,
with people with disabilitiesworking there.
(43:18):
They're also getting paid.
I think that's a reallyimportant distinction that it's
not run by volunteers alone,that these people are also
getting paid a fair wage.
So you know, did you want totalk to that at all?
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Certainly.
Yeah, what makes us different?
Yeah, there's the bright yellowof Good Sammy and the seal, and
the seal are the two thingsthat stand out when you're
looking at the front door, Ithink the pride of our workforce
stands out.
People are really passionate towork at Good Sammy.
They're passionate about theenvironment, or they're
passionate about disability, orpassionate about people doing
(43:52):
good things, and they'repassionate about the environment
or they're passionate aboutdisability, or passionate about
people or doing good things, andthat stands out more than
anything else.
Usually it's any of ouremployee surveys just that pride
of work is one of the highestrating items and I think you're
right in terms of the connectionto mission stands out.
You can see our missioneverywhere.
You just don't have somenot-for-profits might have
(44:14):
corporate services in one partand then their mission in
another part.
Everything is embedded atGoodSammies, which is really
fascinating.
And, yeah, with a mission suchas employment, it's no surprise
that we focus on paid employmentopportunities.
We are lucky to have somevolunteers, but 840 paid
employees at Good Sammy andthose paid employees range
(44:41):
throughout the supported toaward payment categories and
we're really strongly supportingpeople to enter the workforce,
build skills, build theirremuneration profile on time and
also advocate very stronglywith state and Commonwealth
governments for more economicopportunities, for changes in
policy settings where it comesto disability support, pensions,
(45:03):
ndis plans as well.
And that's another thing that'sdifferent about Good Sammy is
we're an all-abilities employer.
We are not necessarily lookingat one small cohort of the
disability community that ismost able to drive a truck or
most able to finish atraineeship or most able to
enter open employment and justfocus on that cohort.
(45:27):
Sometimes that cohort might bethe easier cohort to be able to
engineer those outcomes becauseof their skills and attributes.
We have a range of people ofthat nature, but we also have a
range of people for that.
For those people who thosepathways are longer term goals,
(45:47):
roll up the sleeves and reallyhave individual conversations
with all people with disabilityand help them towards their
employment pathways, whateverthey may be.
And you know, as a father of a10-year-old child with an
intellectual disability andsignificant challenges, I
certainly want to be leading anorganisation where everybody can
(46:08):
feel welcome and certainlywalking the talk about the
workforces that I want to see inthe future and the
opportunities for people likeFinn and others in the future as
well.
Because if we don't look at thewhole cohort of people with
disability.
We're never going to shift thatvisibility point.
We're never going to shift thatparticipation rate.
So we need to be hiring peoplewith intellectual disability and
(46:30):
with physical and otherdisabilities.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
Cain, you've really enlightened so many people about
the work of Good Sammy, takingus behind the scenes, into what
happens at Good Sammy in so manydifferent ways, and certainly
its mission, which istransforming society and
workplaces through disabilityemployment.
What are three things that youwant people to know that perhaps
(46:56):
they can tactically do to helpsupport the mission?
Speaker 1 (47:02):
I think item one would be reach out to Good Sammy
and ask how can I get involvedWould be the first thing,
because there are so manydifferent ways and we can help
you identify those ways.
So if listening to this orwanting to do something is
igniting something or you've gotan itch that you just want to
(47:22):
scratch somehow but don't knowwhere to start, just reach out.
You could send us a LinkedInmessage or Facebook message.
Just find someone you know,write us an email and just say
I'd like to get involved withGood Sammy.
I'm not sure how.
This is my employer, this iswho I am.
The second one was just socialprocurement is those businesses
can be purchasing products andservices from Good Sammy.
It could be gardening services,it could be employment services
(47:44):
, it could be a whole range ofrecycling and other labour
services.
So lots of opportunities foremployers.
And I think the third one foran individual is just to be kind
and respectful to everybody andwhen you are seeing a person
with a disability or someonewith a non-verbal disability
using a communication device,say hi, expose yourself to
(48:09):
learning about disability inthat way and don't fear.
People with disability are justlike people without disability,
with hopes, dreams, aspirationsand feelings, and the more
people can deepen theirexperience and exposure to
people with disability, thebetter, and we would really
encourage people to do that byeven just coming in and
(48:33):
volunteering with us.
It could just be a corporatevolunteer event with your family
and friends, or a tour or visitour shops or something more
substantial further.
But I think the more exposure,the better the visibility will
be and the more likelihood thatwe can achieve our vision of
transforming society andworkplaces through employment.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
Thank you so much, cain.
That's been so delightful tohave you around the warm table
today and I just love what GoodSammy is doing and you know,
obviously, as a proud WesternAustralian, it's a great, iconic
Western Australian brand.
But more than a brand, it'sreally doing what it says it's
going to do.
Speaker 1 (49:16):
Yeah, absolutely.
I've been a real pleasure to behere to speak a little bit
about Good Sammy and just.
It's an awesome organisation.
It's bright yellow, it's proud,wonderful mission.
We do good every day and wejust want to keep going every
day and we just want to keepgoing.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
Thanks for joining us around the warm table.
My warm table is produced,hosted and edited by me, sonia
Nolan.
It's my way of amplifyingpositivity and curiosity in our
community.
I invite you to share thisconversation with family and
friends and follow my Warm Tablepodcast on Facebook, instagram
and LinkedIn.
Also, you can subscribe andfollow my Warm Table on Spotify
(49:59):
or Apple Podcasts, and maybeeven leave a review, because it
helps others to find us moreeasily.
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