A good news story about being inclusive from co-owner Luke Anderson
J C Williams is a small electrical company, formed by three friends from Corio. With lived experience as an ex-offender Luke was keen to support GROW’s inclusive employment strategies, ‘I understand the value of having strong mentors to guide and influence you, build your confidence and help shape your decisions. Too many young people don’t have positive role models in their lives. We became involved in GROW because to help make change in peoples’ lives is too much of an opportunity for us not to take it up.’
Luke and Josh have been participating in the GWYLF Learning Network, funded by WorkSafe, which aims to help small and medium businesses create mentally healthy workplaces, especially for young workers, ‘I’ve had some tough employers and there’s been some rough lessons learnt, (not because they were mean) but mostly because those managers were ill-informed about how best to manage their workers. Trying to break that cycle by informing and educating managers is important work. You spend a good chunk of your life at work – you want to make sure it’s a good experience.’
Luke and Josh were interviewed for a new audio resource, to talk about their experiences as young employees. The aim is to improve awareness, help supervisors remember their own tough experiences, and empathise with their young workers.
JC Williams Electrical has now agreed to trial the draft website resource in their business over the next six months, to hopefully better support their new apprentices.
Photo is (L-R) – Luke Anderson, John Williams & Josh McKay
