Recognition coming to life at OAC Haberfield

We believe our people are worth more. Whether that be more pay and benefits, more wellbeing, more development or more recognition, and these aspects form the pillars of our people promise. Here at Only About Children (OAC), we empower you to thrive professionally and personally and one of the keyways we do this is through recognition. We have a variety of ways in which we recognise team members and in this spotlight series we chat to our team members directly about why recognition is important to them and how they see recognition show up day to day at OAC.

In this edition of our employee content series we hear from Stephanie Pappas who is the Assistant Director & Educational Leader at our Haberfield campus, located in New South Wales.

Stephanie shares with us the importance of recognition, how recognition shows up at the Haberfield campus and how recognition personally impacts her and makes her feel.

“I’ve been with the Haberfield campus over 11 years which I can’t believe, and I was initially attracted to the early childhood and education sector because of my passion for and love of children. A little over a year ago OAC purchased the campus and today 12 months on I’d describe the culture here at Haberfield as a family. For me it is best described as a family because all of our team members are genuinely there to support each other, we celebrate together, and we realise that we achieve greatness when we work together.

Day to day it is the amazing group of Educators that I get to work with and my Director, coupled with the support received from Support Office as well as Educational Partners that keeps me here. When it comes to recognition it is all about the small things and whilst there are broader recognition initiatives at OAC, at our Haberfield campus we find ways to recognise actions through reward vouchers, chocolates (because who doesn’t like chocolates) and we also have a special ‘shout out’ section in our staff room to recognise one another. In my experience recognition plays a really important role day to day in all that we do, as it allows team members to feel like they have been seen and importantly that their amazing work is being noticed and recognised.

Personally for me when it comes to recognition, it helps me to know that I’m doing a great job and that I’m genuinely valued and appreciated. Recently at an educational leaders regional meeting, time was spent reading out and sharing amazing feedback from each Director about the gratitude and appreciation for the job we were all doing! Personally when I receive recognition like this for something I’ve done, it motivates me and encourages me to not only continue trying my best but exceeding my best.

Right now if I had to think of someone to recognise it would have to be Monica Phungsamphan our Preschool Room Leader – she always comes to work motivated and brings in great new ideas and runs the room to be efficient and fun. She has a special relationship with each and every preschool child and their family and she is an inspiration to all other educators including myself!

Our purpose and HEART principles

When it comes to the OAC purpose, personally for me this means that in everything we do at OAC the children are always our priority and we are here to support them in the best way that we can. When it comes to our values at OAC, of which there are five (also known as heart principles), my favourite has to be teamwork and whilst this might seem like a cliché response, for me it is important because without the support of each other we can’t do this role. I love learning new ideas and ways of thinking from different Educators because I believe that this in turn makes me a better Educator.”

If you’d like to learn a little more about how we recognise team members and some of the other benefits that are on offer at OAC, please check out of careers page where we share a list of the perks associated with working here.