Multhana a finalist in 2022 NESA Awards

Multhana’s commitment to providing employment, upskilling and progression opportunities for Indigenous and disadvantaged Australians has seen them named a finalist in NESA’s annual employment awards.

MAX is privileged to have been shortlisted alongside employer partner Multhana Property Services for NESA’s (National Employment Services Association) prestigious 2022 Champion Employer of the Year award. 

NESA’s National Awards bring employment services providers, employers and allied services together to honour and acknowledge exceptional achievements in the realm of employment. 

The Champion Employer the Year Award recognises employers who go the extra mile to offer employment opportunities to disadvantaged Australians.

Multhana was founded by proud Indigenous man, Joseph Wallace [pictured] to provide secure, long term job opportunities for Indigenous and other socioeconomically disadvantages individuals. 

Multhana supports the recruitment, retention, and development of disadvantaged employees in four key ways:

• Low barriers to employment: Multhana’s service offerings – commercial cleaning, landscaping, and maintenance – have low barriers to employment entry making employment accessible to everyone, regardless of prior experience or education.

• Proactive recruitment initiatives: Alongside stable employment, Multhana is dedicated to providing professional development and empowering their team to achieve better professional and personal outcomes. This includes working with leading employment providers such as MAX, as well as Indigenous and youth-oriented organisations such as Gunya Meta Inc., a non-profit Indigenous organisation focused on empowering First Nations families and communities through education, health, employment, and leadership programs.

• Training and upskilling: Multhana provide employees with formal and informal training to assist with upskilling and career progression. Many managers and supervisors started their career at Multhana as cleaners or ground staff, having worked their way up over time. 14 team members are currently completing traineeships to further their careers.

• Personal empowerment: With many team members coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, Multhana have processes in place to ensure team members have access to support services including for family and domestic violence, alcohol and substance abuse, mental wellbeing and more.

MAX customer CJ is a testament to the success Multhana’s model. Employed as a bus sanitiser at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, CJ would wipe down and sanitise buses nightly to help keep the city COVID-safe. 

CJ has since been promoted numerous times, most recently to the role of Team Leader. He now manages 56 bus sanitation team members including seven Supervisors, across seven Brisbane City Council bus depots. 

During the past year, together we have seen 57 MAX customers start work with Multhana including 18 who identify as Indigenous, and 19 living with disability. 

22 recruits continue to receive post-placement health support with MAX Health and our teams connect with the Multhana leadership team to ensure any other supports that will empower recruits are in place. 

Multhana means “coming together to help each other” in the Kalkadoon language and we’re delighted to partner with Multhana in our shared commitment to Close the Gap in employment and wellbeing. 

We would like to congratulate all the finalists and wish Multhana every success.

The winner of this year’s NESA awards will be announced on October 5, 2022. 

Read more: Teska's Multhana success story.