Plant nursery finds that disabled staff enhance work atmosphere

"Two absolutely wonderful people," is how branch manager Alexis Middleton of King's Plant Barn in Auckland's St Lukes described his two disabled employees, James and Michael. "Having them around is very good for the rest of the staff. It helps them to be more understanding of people in the community who have special needs."

James has Williams syndrome, a rare genetic condition (estimated to occur in one in every 20,000 births). Williams syndrome is present at birth, and affects males and females equally. It can occur in all ethnic groups and has been identified throughout the world. Adults with Williams syndrome often exhibit intellectual strengths and weaknesses. They can perform well in areas such as speech, long-term memory and social skills, while other areas, such as fine motor and spatial relations, can be weaker. Distractibility can also be an issue. James's weak heart condition limits his physical capabilities.

"He has tremendous rapport with customers," says Alexis, "and an amazing memory for specific things. James is very skilled at remembering the names and faces of customers and past conversations, although he has a short attention span. He's very affectionate and this contributes towards a warm, friendly atmosphere for staff. He would be perfectly happy to hug everybody as they arrive at the garden centre. Naturally, the general public doesn't always understand why he's like this - it's not immediately obvious. His affection has resulted in the odd embarrassing moments when it's been directed at a complete stranger.

"James has been working at the garden centre for eight years. He loves coming to work, it provides a lot of stability for him. His enthusiasm and willingness to help can be touching. He's good at welcoming people and he takes trolleys to customers' cars.

"He is funded by Workbridge because he still requires considerable supervision. He's totally accepted by other staff and everybody takes this on. It can involve helping him to focus on the task at hand, not to get distracted, and making sure that he doesn't overstep the mark. We're continually redefining boundaries. This is done in a formal way on a monthly basis. Overall, James has very positive attributes."

Michael worked with the garden centre for more than two years before moving on to a job nearer his home. He has a physical impairment as a result of a car accident which resulted in severe head injuries and mobility problems. Initially Michael joined the centre through a community agency-funded job scheme. His first few months were partially funded.

"He has a brace on one of his legs, which means he couldn't do as much as other staff," says Alexis. "However, this was more than compensated for by the fact that he was one of the best communicators with customers. He'd talk to anybody, of any age, and any background.

"He didn't know much about horticulture when he first arrived here. We trained both Michael and James on an informal basis. We have weekly staff training sessions. Other staff were very receptive to both men and were happy to teach them on the job.

"As with James, Michael greatly contributed to the warm and friendly atmosphere at our centre. He was happy to talk with customers all day, to the extent that sometimes we had to rein him in."

Productivity levels dropped for both Michael and James when they got tired. They came in during the busy periods each day, working from 10 - 3pm, five days a week. Apart from that, they were both treated like any other staff member.

King's Plant Barn has been operating for about 12 years and has six branches throughout Auckland with an overall staff of about 150, of whom 30 work at St Lukes, 14 of them on a full-time basis.

To give an idea of the scale of the business, the St Lukes branch stocks up to 20,000 different garden product lines.