Hospitality Collaboration Serving up Opportunity
A new collaboration between Lyndoch Living and Westvic Staffing Solutions is improving the quality of service to Lyndoch residents and providing opportunities to up-and-coming hospitality trainees to further their careers.
The pilot program involves four Westvic Staffing Solutions hospitality trainees delivering food service to Lyndoch residents, a role traditionally carried out by personal care workers.
The hospitality traineeships are through the State Government’s Jobs Victoria Employment Network (JVEN) program offered locally by Westvic Staffing Solutions.
Lyndoch CEO Doreen Power said there were positives for all involved.
“This program provides invaluable on-the-job experience for the Westvic Staffing Solutions trainees and benefits our residents and staff as it frees our personal care workers to focus on their primary job of caring for our residents,” Ms Power said.
“Residents are able to enjoy the experience of trained wait staff delivering consistent, high quality food service, while at the same time receiving the utmost care from their personal care workers,” she said.
For the trainees the positions are a welcome return to the workforce after long periods of unemployment. David Stevenson, Evelyn Habel, Jonathan Honeyman, Stephen Dennis say they are enjoying working in a new field for four hours Monday to Friday preparing and serving breakfast and morning tea.
Ms Habel was previously a childcare assistant but struggled to find work since moving to Warrnambool two years ago. “I found it hard to get work since coming to Warrnambool, more because of my age,” the 55-year-old said. “This has been great for me.”
Mr Stevenson, who had been out of the workforce for nine years as a sole parent, is enjoying the community integration of the work. “I like being part of the culture here,” he said.
Mr Honeyman now looks forward to getting to work every morning. “It’s nice to see the smile on people’s faces when you bring them breakfast,” he said.
For Mr Dennis the traineeship is a chance to move away from back-breaking casual work as a concreter. “I’ve got arthritis so this has been much better for me,” he said.
Westvic is contracting the trainees to Lyndoch Living over the 12-month traineeship period.
Westvic Staffing Solutions Chief Operating Officer Wayne Robertson said the program has a focus on jobseekers that require assistance to gain employment. “We have been working closely with employers to identify job opportunities and prepare jobseekers for those roles,” he said.
Over the three years of the program, Westvic Staffing Solutions plans to place 96 disadvantaged jobseekers into traineeships and apprenticeships.
The Jobs Victoria Employment Network is the Victorian Government’s major activity to help Victorians facing barriers to employment into jobs. The program offers links to community support services to meet the needs of jobseekers facing employment barriers and maximise employment outcomes.