“It's a really supportive culture; I think the teamwork is really outstanding.”

How did you come to work for CAF?

As an autistic person, I signed up for the Kent Supported Employment service, as I was looking to get additional help to get me prepared for the world of work after being in education. My employment support officer helped me get work experience at CAF in a role that was suited to my skillset. She also accompanied me on my commute, as getting public transport was quite a big step for me. As I became more comfortable, I started to do the journey on my own and increased the hours and days I was in the office.

My work experience involved data processing for the Give As You Earn (GAYE) team. The managers were informed of what I was comfortable with and they found me a task that relieved pressure on the rest of the team. Data processing is very suited to my skillset. It’s repetitive so I know what to expect each day and enjoy having fixed routines; I can do it with high accuracy, speed and concentration, and it means I don’t have to speak with customers directly, which I wasn’t comfortable with.

How have you developed since joining CAF?

I now have a permanent role at CAF, still doing data processing, but I’ve taken on other tasks to help other teams such as voucher processing, money transfers and emails for a specific client. I also locate and investigate unidentified donors in the system. I’ll soon be receiving further training to process donor instruction forms. My knowledge and understanding has improved a lot, especially with the training on different programmes.

On a personal level, I’ve definitely become a lot more confident and feel like my social skills have improved a lot. I’ve become a lot more comfortable speaking to not just people in my team, but across the division too. So overall I’d say my social skills, my confidence, my communication skills and my overall knowledge of my responsibilities have all improved.

Do you feel supported at CAF?

Definitely, all the training I’ve received has been done in a way that is easy for me to understand. My managers have always provided me with support and I have always felt I can go to them if I ever have any issues.

The flexibility of hybrid working has also helped me to slowly adjust to coming back to the office after working from home for so long. I can be flexible with the days I come in to the office too, so it’s definitely very beneficial.

I’m also currently working four days a week. I’ve worked up to this from a few hours a week during my work experience to three days a week as I became more comfortable and now four days. Having that extra day gives me time to mentally prepare for being more social and doing the commute in the week ahead. I’m also considering expanding to five days a week as I’ve been able to adjust very well to four days.

How would you describe the culture at CAF?

It’s very diverse, there’s a lot of different areas but everyone has the same goal in mind, which is to provide a good service to customers. It’s a very supportive culture; if there’s ever problems, we can go to each other and ensure that we provide the best service.

I feel that my responsibilities have a very important purpose not just within my team but for other teams. This helps me feel that I have an integral role within CAF. I think the teamwork within the division is really outstanding, we all feel we can help each other in any way we can to make things easier.