Staff Appreciation Post: Cheryl Smith

It takes no small team to keep our residential home in Ilam Road running, all of whom are essential to maintaining a high quality of life for our residents. One of the crucial teams is our Household Services team, and today we’d love to celebrate Cheryl Smith, who leads our wonderful team of Cleaners, General Hand, and Laundry Assistants!

Cheryl’s pathway to becoming a Team Leader is highly admirable. After leaving school, and not finding herself in the right mindset for work, Cheryl spent a few years unsure of her path. She then got into cleaning and spent fifteen years in hotel-based cleaning.

“The hotel was a very toxic environment to work in, there was a lot of unhappiness,” says Cheryl. “I was quite depressed working there. So, I left, I had enough of it. I was unemployed for six weeks and tried to apply for work, and then I applied at LFBIT.”

Cheryl got the job. At the time the team was much smaller, with one other full-time cleaner and another who worked weekends. In the few years since Cheryl joined, the team and her own responsibilities have grown rapidly. Cheryl grew in her role, gaining her level two certificates. She was also appointed team leader, meaning she now takes one day a week for admin, rather than slotting admin around working for the residents.

“It was really nice when I got offered to be a team leader. To have some of that dedicated time to do the stuff I was struggling to find the time for. It was nice to be recognised, to be told what I do is important, it made me feel validated because I’ve got that allocated time.”

As a team leader, Cheryl works closely with the team, understanding their needs and knowing fully what needs to be done for the benefit of the residents. Cheryl has even been able to hire a casual worker to join the team so that their standards can be maintained to high levels.

“A lot of our other staff have got kids and other commitments, and I was like, we're kind of falling here. I talked with Sarah (Household Services Manager), and she was supportive of the idea. We hired someone and she has worked out awesome, picking up so many hours. It is her first work in New Zealand too, which makes you feel quite humbled - that you can just change people's lives outside of the residents here too.”

After not finding much support or room to grow in her previous work, Cheryl has appreciated the chance to grow in her career.

“I didn't care about education when I was at school. Now it's nice to have Sarah supporting and pushing me in the right direction. I probably wouldn't necessarily go for it, but she's encouraging and says, ‘Do it, you can do it.’ To work for a company also that provides training at their own cost, getting educated on the job and I'm not even paying for it myself, it is just awesome.”

“Cheryl is one in a hundred,” says Sarah Barham, Household Services Manager. “Right from the get-go you never have to explain to Cheryl what our values are, she always treats everybody with respect. It would not be unusual to hear her going out of her way to speak to clients, or push a wheelchair - because she is there, she will help you out. She lives and breathes our values, and because she is like that, all of our team follow suit. They see her and know that is how we operate.”

“I'm just really proud to have Sarah as a manager. And the team under me are all awesome. It takes a whole team to run this place, we work well together. I'm excited to see what the future holds for everyone and all the growth that's to come.”

A massive shout-out to Cheryl and the team for their incredible work. Cheryl brings so much to the table, and her work and dedication to the residents can not be understated. Thank you so much for your incredible work!