Collie Hills Accommodation Village is now 100 per cent locally staffed after it decided to bring its catering and housekeeping services in-house.
Manager Anne Wheeldon said the accommodation village’s contract with ESS had expired at the end of January, and they had made the decision to hire locals to ensure all the services provided at the facility were being provided locally.
She said it was a ‘big move’ for the facility, which is now completely staffed by people living in the local area.
“ESS were great and they did have some locals working for them, but they also had some people who were drive in, drive out,” she said.
“We’ve got a staff of about 12, with three chefs, who are all locals now which is really good for us.”
Ms Wheeldon also said they had worked with disability employment service Forrest Personnel to fill almost half of the roles.
“We’ve employed five people through Forrest Personnel, which helps people with barriers find jobs,” she said.
“We think everyone has some kind of barrier (in gaining employment) so we can work with these people and offer shifts will work with them.”
Ms Wheeldon said the accommodation village would now start looking to getting more local people to use the facilities available.
“Moving forward we want to encourage local people to come out here and enjoy the facilities as well,” she said.
Ms Wheeldon said she was hoping the facility would host more functions in its dining room, and it was looking to host Sunday morning breakfasts and fish and chip nights.