Employment Benefits

Benefits of working at Accord

An Attractive and Principled Employer

A key goal of St John of God Accord is to be an Attractive and Principled Employer. This means having a culture which is supportive of, and values, its support workers. We do this by having employment relations based on trust and principles centred on and aligned with our Mission and five core Values of Hospitality, Compassion, Respect, Justice and Excellence. We provide guidelines for our support workers who are striving to express these Values in their particular area of work, and assists in clarifying the organisation's expectations for new support workers.

Being an Attractive and Principled Employer means:

Providing a high level of service excellence to the people we support and to staff
Having a culture that supports and holistically develops our support workers and encourages them to stay
Ensuring our employment relations are governed by principles centred on our Mission and Values and supported by policies
Ensuring our support workers are able to work in a safe and healthy environment
Offering competitive and just remuneration and benefits
Encouraging a culture of recognition and reward for our support workers
Striving to promote work/life balance strategies
Offering opportunities for support workers to contribute to the wider community through our Social Outreach and Advocacy and other programs
Being seen as an attractive employer to prospective support workers
Acknowledging that it is a combination of these factors and the ongoing review and development of appropriate policies and initiatives that make Accord an Attractive and Principled Employer.

Further details regarding specific benefits are outlined below:

Competitive salaries, conditions and benefits

We continually review salary levels and general conditions of employment to ensure we remain an attractive employer. Not only are our rates of pay competitive within the relevant market, but we are continually reviewing general employment policies and benefits to ensure we can meet the expectations of our support workers.

A supportive environment

Accord is an organisation built on a passion for supporting people. A wide network of support services are available in the workplace for general advice and assistance for support workers in addition to the support provided by supervisors and managers. These include our General Manager - Mission, Human Resource Manager and affiliated advisors and external assistance through our Employee Assistance Programs.

Family friendly workplaces

Balancing the demands of work and family is one of the challenges facing many employees. That's why at Accord, part-time employment, flexible rostering and flexible leave arrangements are just some of the options to assist in balancing work and family.

Paid maternity leave

Accord offers paid maternity leave. Arrangements can be made through our HR Unit (03) 8804 4667.

Availability of salary packaging

Salary packaging is an optional benefit available to all permanent support workers. This benefit arises because Accord is considered a Public Benevolent Institution for Fringe Benefits Tax purposes. Salary packaging allows support workers to forego part of their taxable income in return for other benefits (eg mortgage payments or additional superannuation payments). The amount foregone is a reduction in the support worker's gross salary, thus resulting in a tax saving.