Communities@Work secures second win as ACT Large Employer of the Year

Communities@Work has been recognised as the ACT Large Employer of the Year for the second consecutive year at the ACT Training Awards, held Thursday 10 September 2020.

As Canberra’s largest not-for-profit community organisation and children’s services provider, and an early childhood education and care (ECEC) training provider, the award represents a significant win for the entire Communities@Work team. 

Seeking to recognise excellence in large organisations that demonstrate a commitment to training employees and encouraging and assisting them in their employment-related development, the ACT Large Employer of the Year award is coveted, with CEO Lee Maiden saying the provider was “elated” to have been recognised for a second consecutive year. 

“Communities@Work has a strong and ongoing commitment to developing the best people, which means a highly skilled and qualified team. To be an employer of choice, we need to continually support and invest in our people. It is our hardworking and dedicated team who make us who we are and make such an impact to the Canberra community.”  

More than 600 people are employed by Communities@Work, around 500 of whom are ECEC educators. 

“It’s not just about training,” Ms Maiden said, noting that to complement formal training opportunities Communities@Work provides employees opportunities to cross-skill and develop career pathways working across roles and areas in Communities@Work. 

Loveleen Kaur, a Communities@Work employee and graduate of the Ascend program offered by the provider, said being able to train and work at the same place “has been very useful because what you learn in class relates to what you practise in service”.

“What I really like about the program is not just the class and the study, it’s the extra support I get from the trainers. Ascend is good because you got a job while you were studying so you were working straight away,” Ms Kaur said. 

The Ascend Program has been designed as an ongoing traineeship model to source, train and secure the high quality educators for Communities@Work services. 

The program offers new educators permanent employment across Children’s Services programs and enrolment into a Certificate III Traineeship within the Communities@Work RTO. 

For more information on Communities@Work’s Registered Training Organisation, please visit the Qualifications and Professional Learning webpage, here.