Wednesday, 5 December, 2018 - 09:29

A Greymouth couple who have won a national award for their employment of people with disabilities say they simply thought they were hiring ‘the best people in town.’

Joanne and Dayaram Ganda, who operate BP2Go Greymouth, were named Attitude Employer of the Year at a black tie gala ceremony at Auckland's Sky City.

More than half of their 12 employees have disabilities or long-term illnesses, but when their disabilities are pointed out, their response is often ‘so what’? And they’ve been employing people with disabilities since they went into business 30 years ago.

Joanne says everyone deserves an opportunity to work and she and Dayaram have a great team of people.

"As far as we are concerned they are just the same as everyone else - they don’t have a disability. I must admit they do, but we don’t see them as having a disability so we just work with them to identify the opportunities for them and for us.

"We have the best workforce in town and the reason I say that is because our customers tell us that. When they come in here everyone says ‘hi, hello’, and has a smile and is willing to talk."

Joanne says that she and Dayaram were surprised and overwhelmed to win the award. "It’s something that we have done for a long time and we just see it as part of how we operate. We just do it because that is who we are."

But she hopes their win will inspire other employers, and people with disabilities who would like to be in work.

"I hope that we can show people that everyone deserves a chance, that people with disabilities can be employed and it is very rewarding.

"To other employers I’d say to give it a go and employ someone with a disability. It’s very rewarding and it’s very beneficial and yes, it does take some extra work at times (not all the time) but it is worth it. And for people with disabilities I would say to hang in there because an employer somewhere will give you a go."

Joanne and Dayaram were nominated for the award by Debora Pedersen-Gould, the West Coast employment consultant for Workbridge - an employment service that connects employers with a talent pool of people with disabilities or health conditions.

The Gandas have been working with Workbridge for 27 of their 30 years in business, and with Debora since she joined Workbridge in 2011.

Debora said she had been inspired by Joanne and Dayaram and grateful to have had the opportunity to work in partnership with them.

"They always put ability first," Debora said.

"Joanne and Dayaram look beyond the disability, illness or injury to find what a person can do rather than what they can’t do.

"They have been an amazing influence, support, and motivator for our jobseekers, always going the extra mile."

The annual Attitude Awards celebrate achievements in the disability community. The Awards are run by a charitable trust (The Attitude Trust), which seeks to increase awareness of the benefits of the integration of people with disabilities into every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.

Joanne and Dayaram are the fourth winners of the Attitude Employer Award in the past five years nominated by Workbridge, and Workbridge Chief Executive Grant Cleland says that’s something Workbridge is very proud of.

"It is a tribute to the great employers that Workbridge is working with, and the partnerships we are building with those employers," Grant said.

In the past three years, Workbridge has placed job-seekers with up to 1,800 different employers each year, with 55% of those employing more than one jobseeker through Workbridge. In the past year, Workbridge placed 2,600 people into jobs across New Zealand.