2014 cti synergy annual reportv3

2014 ANNUALREPORT

CTI t/as Synergy GroupReflection on the year that was 2014.

Contents

www.synergygroup.org.au

General Manager reportManagement CommitteeWho we are

01 05-07 13-14

Who we are as an organisation defines every decision and direction that the organisation takes. As part of the Australian Disability Enterprise community we are constantly reminded in operations that we are here for the cause of providing people with a disability a career and better future.

The Management Committee is a voluntary group of business leaders and mentors for the organisation. Governance plays a vital role for the Management Committee as they are required to discuss and direct the Managers on various issues faced by the organisation.

The General Managers Report covers many key topics. A year that the organisation saw extreme highs and the ongoing challenge of keeping a boutique disability organisation in a position that will enable continued operations. The future drection of the organisation and needs of the Supported Employees will guide where the organisation will be not just next year but in many years to come.

WelcomeCTI t/asSYNERGY GROUP2014 Annual Report

Independent Auditor’s Financial Report

23-35

The Challenge Tweed Incorporated Finanical Report for the year ended 30th June 2014 was audited by independent auditor Mr J M Stone (Chartered Accountant).

CHALLENGE TWEED INCORPORATED T/AS SYNERGY GROUP

is pleased to present the 2013/14 Annual Report. As each year passes the organisation is standing strongly against a changing environment both in the disability sector and commercial business world. The organisation has experienced ongoing challenges like all Australian Disability Enterprises (ADE) across the country.

Synergy Group continues to deliver a supported

employment environment that enables people with a disability to contribute, learn and grow their professional skills. This year has seen individuals reaching new goals in education and trades.

Whilst Synergy Group may not be the biggest in the field the ongoing committment of our Supported Employees and commercial contracts proves that size does not matter, it is the quality service that is of importance.

Jewel Brown General Manager

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Australian Disability Enterprises are commercial businesses that provide employment for people with disability. Previously called Business Services, the Australian Disability Enterprises name, logo and an Australian Disability Enterprise Business Directory were launched on 28 November 2008 at an Australian Disability Enterprise in Melbourne. The new name brings together all Australian Disability Enterprises under a unified national brand.

There are 325 Australian Disability Enterprise outlets across Australia, providing supported employment assistance to approximately 20,000 people with moderate to severe disability who need substantial ongoing support to maintain their employment. Australian Disability Enterprises are funded by the Department of Social Services.

What Australian Disability Enterprises doAustralian Disability Enterprises are commercial enterprises enabling people with disability to engage in a wide variety of work tasks such as packaging, assembly, production, recycling, screen printing, plant nursery, garden maintenance and landscaping, cleaning services, laundry services and food services. Employees of Australian Disability Enterprises enjoy the same working conditions as those in the general workforce. The Australian Disability Enterprises website, launched by the Hon Bill Shorten MP, former Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services, on 24 April 2009, makes purchasing products and services from Australian Disability Enterprises quick and easy!

Background

The Australian Disability Enterprise sector in Australia has its roots in the early 1950s when families of people with disability established sheltered workshops to provide vocational activity for people with disability. At this time employment opportunities for people with disability were extremely limited.

The introduction of the Commonwealth Disability Services Act (1986) enshrined principles and objectives for disability service delivery into legislation. From this time, the older style sheltered workshops moved into a business services model, as employment for people with disability emerged as a national priority for the Australian Government.

Nearly ten years later in 1996 the Australian Government announced further reforms to improve service quality, to match service funding to the support needs of people with disability receiving assistance, and to link funding to employment outcomes.

Since that time an agenda of reforms have been introduced to the Australian Disability Enterprise sector. The mainstays of the reforms are the introduction of legislated Quality Assurance standards that must be independently assessed as met as a pre-condition of ongoing funding from the Australian Government, and a funding model that links payments to individual support needs.—————————

“I see what the product is like before it goes out to shops. This is why QA is so important.”

Greg Ahrens

Supported Employee

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Synergy Group accreditions:Ensuring we keep up with industry standards.

Each year Synergy Group must pass numerous accreditations to continue its operations both in the Disaiblity Sector and commercial food industry.

Department of Social Services DSS helps to support people with disability through programs and services and benefits and payments. DSS also helps to support Australians’ mental health. Further support is provided through grants and funding for organisations delivering services for people with disability and people with mental illness.

Institute for Healthy Communities Australia IHCA – Institute for Healthy Communities Australia Expert consultants within the health and community services sector, that combine a strong commitment to social justice, ethics and impartiality with an understanding of services to help organisations grow, develop and respond.

SGS - HACCP HACCP - Hazard analysis and critical control points or HACCP is a systematic preventive approach to food safety and biological, chemical, and physical hazards in production processes that can cause the finished product to be unsafe, and designs measurements to reduce these risks to a safe level. In this manner, HACCP is referred as the prevention of hazards rather than finished product inspection.

ACO - Australian Certified Organic

Australia’s largest certifier for organic and biodynamic produce and has over 1500 operators within its certification system. ACO is a not for profit fully-owned subsidiary of Australia Organic Ltd.

ACO provides certification services to operators from all sectors of the organic industry. Certification ensures compliance with national production standards and allows trace back of all products to their origin. ACO is a not for profit fully-owned subsidiary of Australia Organic Ltd.

Governance and accreditation in 2013/14


1 in 3 people

either has

disability or is

likely to be close

to someone

who has.

3.4 million

(15%)

Australians

have a physical

disability.


2013/14MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

The Management Committee is made up of talented mentors who contribute their priceless skills to the organisation through governance and assisting the Management team to lead us into the future.As voluntary positions their committment and hours of service are appreciated by all who are involved with Synergy Group and we thank each one for their contribution.

CHAIRMAN: Mr Ian Walker

VICE CHAIRMAN: Mr Ross Ingliss

TREASURER: Ruth Philip

SECRETARY: Alex Li

ORDINARY MEMBER: Janice Read


CHAIRMANS REPORT

We have just finished a very successful year. The new packaging machine is installed and operational. Whilst there have been some teething problems, Jewel and her team have persevered and we are starting to see some excellent results for all the effort that has been put in.

It was great to see Ruth return to the committee and we have enjoyed both her presence and her input. Our somewhat diminished team has turned in an excellent effort and I would like to pass on my sincere thanks for their input in 2014.

Once again Jewel, Katie and the rest of the team have had a great year. There have been many distractions, but they

have kept their eye on the ball and managed to overcome many difficulties to turn in a stellar performance.

We are looking forward to 2015, with the opportunity to set the business on track for many years to come. This will involve many challenges including selling our existing site and acquiring a new site. We have the team and the machinery, the only missing component is having suitable premises.

I would like to again offer my thanks to the entire team and I am sure that we are all eagerly looking forward to the challenged that 2015will have on offer.

Chairman

Ian Walker Chairman

Once again Jewel,

Katie and the rest

of the team have had

a great year. There

have been many

distractions, but they

have kept their eye on

the ball and managed

to overcome many

difficulties to turn in a

stellar performance.



2013/14 SUPPORTED EMPLOYEE COMMITTEE

Supported EmployeeCommittee

Synergy Group is proud of its committment to ensuring the safety and education of all employed or volunteering the organisation.

The SE Committee met frequently during 2013/14 to identify and suggest improvements to the employees, staff and Management along with any other matters relating to the workplace including social matters.

As a group identified hazards were dealt with quickly and training provided to those involved.

Identified improvementswere completed during 2013/14 .

98%

2013/14 Supported Employee Committees

Supported Employee inclusion through Committees in the improvements and direction of Synergy Group are critical to the quality service the we provide.Each year a vote is taken and Supported Employees are chosen by their peers to be part of the committees.

2013/14 SE Committee Members

Greg Ahrens

Craig Read

Jayson Adams

Tabatha Sercombe

Melissa Nennas


SupportedEmployee Committee

Supported Employees selected by their peers to be on committees


“After 21 years of employment, I still enjoy coming to work.”

Craig Read - Supported Employee


HONOURARY EMPLOYEES FOR LENGTH OF SERVICE

Synergy Group is proud to have long standing Supported Employees who have provided an ongoing committment to the organisation.

Rebecca CrossJewel Brown

10 YEARS OF EMPLOYMENT

Addam Rust12 YEARS OF EMPLOYMENT

Louise McKinnon14 YEARS OF EMPLOYMENT

David Irby16 YEARS OF EMPLOYMENT

Greg AhrensWillie FarrellCraig ReadDanny KiddSusan Philip

22 YEARS OF EMPLOYMENT

Rani Singh23 YEARS OF EMPLOYMENT


Definition of Synergy: the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.

475,462

$7.41

$ 8 6 7 , 8 6 6 . 0 1

Challenge Tweed Inc t/as Synergy Group2013/14 Annual Report

Sales units 2013/14

Average hourly rate

Total Revenue 2013/14

In 2013/14 we provided packaging to 6 ongoing customers. Services provided included food packaging, box making, mail outs and adminstration file creation.

The average hourly rate for a Supported Employee during 2013/14 was $. This is in comparison to the national Australian Disability Enterprise of $3.29 per hour (DSS reference).


Financial overview

Gender Demographics

Total Revenue 2013/14

68% 32%

General ManagerAnnual Report

STRATEGIC HIGHLIGHTS

2014 was a year of development and implementation. With the conclusion of the strategic plan we were pleased to have actioned all items identified in this plan. Strategically all stakeholders improved our existing systems and introduced new ones to provide a greater service to people with a disability and their support teams.

As we watched the BSWAT court case unfold over the last twelve months with a freeze on all assessments until the final High Court decision was made, we saw what would become I believe the greatest change to the sector. The BSWAT is no longer to be used as an assessment tool of an individuals work and ADE’s were to seek themselves a new tool and assessments for all Supported Employees over 10,000 employees across Australia. Strategically the organisation has had to prepare itself for the multi-layered effects of this ruling whilst being transparent to all stakeholders with the ever-changing decisions regarding this matter. In addition to this the sector saw the trials and issues of the NDIS scheme. A Scheme that has fallen off the podium of politicians and is experiencing ‘teething’ issues with cost blowouts and protocol discrepancies.

The transition towards the new Disability Standards brought a simplified guideline that will commence in 2015. The organisation has made strategic plans to ensure that all are aware of how this will effect them, but I am pleased to report that our organisation has lived by these standards well before they were drafted on paper and one would expect that all ADE’s adhere to these standards on a moral basis.

The strategic development of the Human Resources division through the online reporting and management system was implemented in 2014. Limited staff and Managers did not restrict the capabilities of such a system and is keeping the organisation in line with Fairwork and industry legislation. The growth of some Supported Employees is reflected in the completion of Certificate II in Food Processing through the in house TAFE course. These valuable skills will not only service the organisation but gave the individual the confidence to excel in their current role and to aspire at higher ranked positions. This year we employed our first full time Leading Hand that was successfully appointed to Greg Ahrens a long serving employee. We are pleased that in line with our new strategic focus we are upskilling the existing supported employment division rather than outsourcing or employing able-bodied people. Whilst we have limited employees the caliber of the majority of our workforce is envied by other ADE’s across the country.

Our strategic focus of increasing our commercial venture showed promise of the year to come. We have expanded our market share to position ourselves to take on some large players in the packaging sector.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

Whilst the organisation has been established for over forty years the last twelve months has placed a new direction on who we are as a organisation and what our focus is to maintain viability. To achieve such financial viability we no longer are to rely on the Government as the ‘main funding stream’ and are being moved into producing financial reporting equal to that of a commercial business in today’s market. The commercial business of every Australian Disability Enterprise (ADE) is what will set it up for either success or failure as the Government changes the funding in coming years.

All ADE’s this year started to receive the Activity Performance Indicator (API) reporting from the Government. This has placed increased pressure on the financial operations of the organisation to ensure that we are meeting these indicators. The increase in wages for Supported Employees and Superannuation requires additional revenue to minimise the impact of these growing costs. As you can see below not only do the financial requirements cause strain on an ADE but also the requirement of such indicators in the current business model. The commercial business needs to have the work to provide to Supported Employees to justify employment on a fulltime basis:

* the % of your supported employees working fulltime (at least 35 hours per week);

* the average number of hours worked per week by your supported employees; and

* the % of your supported employees who exit supported employment to work in open employment.

(The report is derived from information recorded on FOFMS by your organisation about your supported employees.)

I am pleased with the foundations that we have made for the organisations commercial business model. It was no ‘fluke’ that we have created a niche market in both the organic and non-organic packaging sector and all Managers are to be thanked for the efforts to help build the Synergy Group brand in this industry. Whilst we acknowledge that we inherited a building that would continue to allow us to work in the food sector, we have built a brand from scratch and created a business model that will generate the required positive financial reporting in the coming year.

The very vigilant financial management of the organisation this year has allowed us to continue to develop this business model to the point at which we sometimes never thought we would reach. Once again I thank Katie Harley for her efforts and support during some difficult times over the last twelve months. As we both saw the building showing its age and this being reflected in the expenses for repairs of the building we had a new level of strain on the financial management. I also thank the Management Committee for their support during lengthy discussion regarding our financial position and future reporting.

we are able to continue on the path that we have layed out for the organisation.

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Two new systems were introduced which have changed the operations of the organisation for the better. Trade Gecko the production system is now delivering an electronic service that would have taken two staff to do previously. The success of this program has even brought some of our customers to use the same systems. The second program is utilised in the Human resource division and again has improved the way we operate daily.

LOOKING AHEAD

2014 brought many changes to the Supported Employment sector and no doubt there will be more to come. Whilst it is easy to get caught up in the concern that is being felt by all across the sector until we are advised of a definitive change we must get on with the job at hand. As previously stated we are in a unique and enviable position where we have the innovative business model, the customers to service and the strong Management team to ensure that we are providing an employment environment of choice. We have little to complain about and must look ahead to ensure that

As we grow the commercial venture the changes to how we operate will become part of our strategic plan. With growth comes increased costs on all levels and the careful planning for this is required to ensure viability. I have every confidence in our Management team to implement what lies ahead. As I move into my eleventh year with the organisation I am very proud to say that never before have I seen such positivity and forward planning from all stakeholders. At a time when the disability sector is experiencing uncertainty, Synergy Group has managed to cocoon ourselves from the changing issues faced by some ADE’s. As we watch many of our neighboring ADE’s downsize or close operations I reflect on what a fantastic and applaud able effort all involved with Synergy Group have contributed over the last twelve months. I look forward to working with the Management Committee, Managers, Staff, Supported Employees and support persons in the coming year to strengthen our unique organisation.

Kind regards,

This year I made efforts to attend industry seminars across the country and was pleased by the financial position that we are in compared to that of other ADEs. Yes the large corporations project an image of grandeur but closer reviewing of their commercial ventures and annual reports shows that they are in fact experiencing financial difficulties. One of the biggest concerns of all ADEs is that of low employment numbers. Whilst the government acknowledges the frustrations of ADE’s not being able to source people with a disability they encourage us to become employers of choice to entice individuals into the workforce. This is something that the organisation has seen become a leading issue in recent months. Low employment numbers reduces our government revenue and impacts financial reporting. The last twelve months we have focused our attentions on providing a solution to reduce the decline in this stream of revenue until the commercial stream is able to support the organisation as a whole.

I am confident that whilst we are not one of the big players in the ADE sector we can provide the required financial reporting to place us in a comfortable position for the future.

OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS

After what seemed like a never ending testing run of the Emrich processing machine we are finally in operation on a daily basis. As we have learnt over recent months a machine is never ‘automatic’ regardless of what the sales men may say. The equipment requires the initially forecasted seven supported employees to complete the packaging and this does not include the support roles such as labeling, box making and dispatching of the orders. When we are running smoothly we are producing in excess of 400 units per hour. An impressive feet, but a necessary requirement to meet the commercial orders.

Again I congratulate the team on a consistent effort of current customer relationships and demands. In particular Kayla McLean our Business Development Manager who has worked with both existing and new customers to strengthen and improve the professional-ism of our relationships with our customers who at times require considerable support from her role. As Kayla has grown in her role she is bringing to Synergy Group a confidence to all external stakeholders that we will get the job done which has generated interest from potential customers who are looking for large orders.

Through a consistent and very focused effort by all Management, Synergy Group has found its niche with the co-packing service offered to organic and non-organic commercial customers. 2014 has enabled the team to refine this service and work on systems to create greater productivity both internally and externally.


Jewel Brown General Manager

It gives me pleasure to present the Finacial Report for

2013/2014 showing a positive bank balance.

The year certainly has had its challenges and i thank the

staff for their dedication in meeting each challenge.

I also thank the other members of the committee for

their time and Ian Walker for his chairmanship.

Thanks go the financial auditor Mr J Murray Stone.

I look forward to the upcoming year.

Ruth Philip

Treasurer

Treasurers Annual Report


It gives me pleasure to present the Finacial Report for

2013/2014 showing a positive bank balance.

The year certainly has had its challenges and i thank the

staff for their dedication in meeting each challenge.

I also thank the other members of the committee for

their time and Ian Walker for his chairmanship.

Thanks go the financial auditor Mr J Murray Stone.

I look forward to the upcoming year.

Ruth Philip

TreasurerVALE Vickii Basille


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Synergy Group is proud of the work that we do and the people who do it.

5 Kay Street

Murwillumbah

NSW 2484

(T) 02 6672 2834(F) 02 6672 [email protected]

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