Leigh, who has Asperger’s syndrome (a form of autism), has recently been promoted within Centrelink, thanks to his own determination and some innovative workplace solutions implemented by his employer and Disability Employment Network member, Advance Personnel.
Leigh’s attention to detail made him the perfect choice for reviewing data and files at Centrelink to ensure that customers were receiving the correct payments. He has a natural ability for this type of work.
Leigh’s role also includes speaking regularly to customers over the phone, something that he found a bit more challenging.
‘At Centrelink we often get phone calls that are difficult to manage’, said Leigh’s supervisor, Trish. ‘All our new staff find this a little bit confronting and need to learn strategies to manage a phone conversation if it starts to become difficult. Advance Personnel came in and helped us develop strategies to help Leigh with this part of the job. We will now be able to use those strategies to assist other staff members’.
Trish worked with Leigh to develop a script for managing difficult phone conversations. The scripts allow Leigh to read statements if he is finding it difficult to find the right words and can now be used by all new staff who find this part of the job challenging.
‘I can tell the customer politely that I need to gather my thoughts and that I will ring them back shortly if I feel that I’m getting frustrated’, said Leigh.
Trish also used a second head set while the scripts were being implemented to prompt Leigh if needed. ‘After the call, Leigh and I would discuss how it went. We talked about ways we could improve our communication with the customer’.
‘The last thing we wanted was for Leigh to lose his confidence after his first bad phone call. The best thing to do was to take him off the phones for a short time for some training with the scripts and then get him back on the phones so that he could practice and develop his skills’.
Since implementing the scripts and providing a bit of training, Leigh has received several customer compliments on his helpful and courteous telephone manner.
Advance Personnel also provided some disability awareness training to Leigh’s employer and co-workers during his induction process.
‘The training with Advance helped us understand how we could support Leigh on the job. It really just reinforced the fact that everyone is different in a workplace and we all work better when we appreciate and accept each other’s differences’, said Michael, Leigh’s co-worker and previous supervisor.
If you have a job seeker like Leigh, providing on the job support and solutions can lead to increased confidence and performance—creating benefits for the employer, the employee and their co-workers.
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