Gken Givens commenced his 37 year career as a retail manager when just 18. He spent 10 years with Coles, 8 years with Woolworths, 13 years with Bunnings and then tried Officeworks, Spotlight and Baby Bunting before relocating from Canberra to Brisbane. Glen would take calls from Disability Groups trying to encourage him to employ a person with a disability and he would politely tell them to “apply online” – who would want to choose someone with a disability over an able bodied person?
In Queensland, Glen had to decide on whether to retire, get back into retail or trying something completely different, which is what he did.
Glen joined a Disability Employment Service company and his role was to help people with varying disabilities, both physical and mental, to overcome obstacles and find employment. Once he had helped coach them to find a suitable job, his role then was to congratulate, celebrate and support them in the new role. He helped the most passionate and hard working people there and couldn’t believe what a shmuck he had been back in his retail days!
At the beginning of this 2023 Glen left the disability sector and joined ICS – a cleaning business located throughout Australia and New Zealand. ICS had the key values of Diversity and Inclusion and as they began looking for employees their first avenue was MAX Employment.
Our team is now stronger and more diverse due to our awesome team and the relationship we have built with MAX.