Company Secretary

Job Information Pack

This information package contains the following information:

  • Employment conditions
  • Position Description
  • Selection criteria
  • Application and recruitment process

Employment Conditions

Employment basis: permanent part time appointment (0.8 FTE upon commencement for minimum six-month period, moving to 0.6 on a permanent basis thereafter).

Remuneration:circa $70K, dependent on experience. PBI salary packaging available.

Commencement: January 2018

About The Wayside Chapel

The Wayside Chapel has provided unconditional love, care and support to people on and around the streets of Kings Cross since 1964. Today, under the banner of love over hate, The Wayside Chapel strives to create a community where there is no ‘us and them’ by breaking down the barriers of judgment and providing a safe place where people are welcome just to ‘be’.Our community services centre, youth space and outreach service, mental health program, community cafe and our Aboriginal project are all designed to ensure the most marginalised members of our community have access to essential health, welfare, social and recreational services. Our community development program reaches out to the wider community to ensure that The Wayside Chapel is a place for people from all walks of life.

Vision: Love over hate.

Mission: Creating community with no ‘us and them’.

Values (visitor and community relations):

Openness (No secrets): We have a profoundly simple mission, which is to create a community, and our message and work are undiluted with other agendas.

Teamwork (No cowboys): Our goal of creating community is also our method. We work in a collaborative way to invite people out of singular, individual life into the risky and healing place of community.

Patience (No rush): We cannot make people change. If we could, we’d be guilty of manipulation of some kind. Instead we are on the lookout for sparks of life, signs that people long for better, and we look to engage and help people move to better days and better health.

Courage (No complacency): It takes courage to confront people who’ve lost hope and invite them into the world of relationships with responsibility. Wayside is not an intensive care unit but an invitation into life and community.

Respect (No Judges): People have the right to make their own decisions. People have the right to make bad decisions. People who choose singular misery or even death deserve to have their rights respected. Wayside’s mission is not to fix people but to love them and be with them, knowing that if they are really met, they’ll really move toward health and life.

Values (staff and volunteer relations):

Stand Back: recognise that we are each necessary andsignificant but not central. Take a step back when our emotions are high and cool off. Remind ourselves that we don't know all the facts, and look for ways to move forward together.

Speak Well: identify and appreciate the strengths in colleagues.​Recognise that every-one’s strengths are also their weaknesses, when we see weakness in our colleagues assist and teach each other.

Embrace Errors: accept when you have made a mistake, and work with your colleagues to find a way to move forward together.

Be Kind: we do anexcellent job of being kind with our visitors, lets also be kind with each other. We are after all, all human.

About Wayside’s Board

Wayside is privileged to receive the service and commitment provided by our Board members whose extensive experience in governance covers the corporate, government and NGO sectors. To meet our Board, visit this link:

Position Description – Company Secretary

Position Summary

The Company Secretary is responsible to the Board, through its Chairperson, for all governance matters impacting the Wayside Chapel. The Company Secretary will collaborate closely with the Board Chairperson, Chief Executive Officer and Board sub-committee Chairs to develop, implement and manage key corporate governance policies, procedures and systems.

Key Accountabilities & Responsibilities

Governance

  • Act as Wayside’s chief governance officer and ensure compliance with all statutory requirements pursuant to the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and the Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission Act 2012 (Cth); and provide advice to Board members on all aspects of relevant statutory requirements, as required.
  • Collaborate with the Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer to design, implement and manage all Board governance processes and systems.
  • Ensure compliance with statutory requirements and Wayside’s constitution with respect to the conduct of Board meetings.
  • Collaborate with the Chief Financial Officer to ensure necessary registers and financial records are maintained and reported in accordance with statutory obligations

Board relations and support

  • Advise the CEO, Chairperson and Board members on all governance matters to ensure Wayside continuously improves and strives for best practice.
  • Collaborate with the Chairperson, Chief Executive Officer and subcommittee Chairs to ensure meetings of the Board and its subcommittees are conducted efficiently and effectively, and that agendas are appropriately prepared and all meeting documentation disseminated in a timely and efficient fashion.
  • Actively manage the resolution of Matters Arising.
  • Ensure the effective taking of minutes and record keeping for the Board and sub-committees.
  • Manage all Board documentation and communications through the online platform, Diligent.
  • Manage the induction of new Board members and the training of continuing members.
  • Assist the Chief Executive Officer in all corporate secretarial and regulatory responsibilities on behalf of the Board to either the Uniting Church in Australia NSW.ACT Synod and the Australian Not-For-Profits and Charities Commission (ACNC).

Planning

  • Utilising the existing ASES Accreditation work develop an overall plan to implement and manage the identified improvements to the existing Corporate Governance systems.
  • Develop a Continuous Improvement Plan in relation to Board Governance.
  • Actively participate in team meetings
  • Attend all organisational and external meetings as required.
  • Actively participate in service and organisational planning.
  • Participate in the review and further development of policy and procedures

People

  • Maintain work-life balance by practice appropriate self-care on an individual, team and organization-wide basis.
  • Promote the objectives of Wayside’s Supported Employment Program by walking alongside Wayside supported staff with sensitivity to the barriers they face to open employment and celebrating contribution to community.

Workplace Health & Safety

  • Actively promote health and safety, and take reasonably practicable steps to control risks, ensuring a safe workplace for visitors, staff and volunteers.
  • Comply with legislation and all Wayside OHS policies/procedures and instructions, reporting any hazards or safety issues and performing all tasks in a manner which guards against risk to self and others within the workplace.

Other

  • Any other operational duties as directed by the Chief Executive Officer.
  • Any other duties related to the Board as directed by the Board Chairperson.
  • Undertake training as required and directed.

Key Internal/External contacts and purpose

Internal

  • Board Chairperson
  • Wayside Board members
  • Board sub-committee Chairs
  • Chief Executive Officer
  • Chief Financial Officer

External

  • Uniting Church in Australia Synod
  • Australian Not For Profits and Charities Commission (ACNC)

Key Performance Indicators

  • Development of a Board Governance Implementation Plan.
  • Finalisation of outstanding Board Policies and Procedures.
  • Design and implementation of a Board performance review program.

Note

This position description and associated information should not be considered as comprehensive in its description of responsibilities, criteria or outcomes. It is indicative of the position. The Company Secretary can and will be asked to undertake duties within their competencies, skills and abilities and training that may not be mentioned in this document. The Company Secretary should be aware that their position within The Wayside Chapel is dynamic. The Wayside Chapel expects continuing development, change and improvement of processes, practices, knowledge and skills.

Selection Criteria

Applications should address each essential selection criteria individually.

Essential Criteria:

  • Degree in Business, Law, Corporate Governance, Risk Management or substantial demonstrated experience within a corporate secretarial environment.
  • Understanding of the ACNC Act and the regulatory requirements detailed within it.
  • Ability to manage multiple projects.
  • Highly developed written and oral communication skills
  • Strong team player and a commitment to collaborative working practices;
  • Willingness to work within the ethos of The Wayside Chapel mission, vision and values.

Application and Recruitment Process

  • Applicants should provide a copy of their resume, a covering letter and a written response separately addressing all the essential and desirable selection criteria by 9am Monday 4 December 2017.
  • Applications should be submitted via The Wayside Chapel’s applicant portal:
  • Applicants should provide two (2) work related referees with their application.
  • Applicants with a disability should disclose in their application any special requirements upon contact to arrange an interview.
  • A short-list of successful applicants will be created. Referees will be checked at this time to substantiate information provided by successful applicants.
  • An offer will be made to the successful candidate pending the satisfactory completion of a police criminal record and working with children check.
  • Unsuccessful interviewees will be contacted personally and informed of the outcome of their application.

The Wayside Chapel is a fast-growing not-for-profit organisation. Over the last three years Wayside has transitioned from a small to medium sized organisation. Alongside growth in staff numbers, program delivery and the assumption of management responsibilities from mid-2015 with its sister organisation, Bondi’s Chapel by the Sea, the volume and breadth of work and responsibilities which now rest with Wayside’s board has significantly expanded.

We are seeking a Company Secretary who can coordinate and manage all asepcts of board and committee processes. The Company Secretary role is a key and dedicated resource to Wayside’s Board, reflecting the Board’s commitment to positioning Wayside to maximise its growth opportunities and continue to work towards its mission to create community with ‘no us and them’.

The Company Secretary will equip Wayside’s Board for the future by collaborating closely with the Board Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer to develop, implement and manage key corporate governance policies, procedures and systems. It is envisaged that an intensive period of work at four days per week over six months will achieve this objective, and that an ongoing permanent appointment at three days per week thereafter will be made to the successful candidate. To be considered for this role, you will have extensive experience in a company secretary or equivalent role and possess the relevant subject matter knowledge and drive to hit the ground running and provide superlative support to Wayside’s Board. Specifically, you will possess the following:

  • Degree in Business, Law, Corporate Governance, Risk Management or substantial demonstrated experience within a corporate secretarial environment.
  • Understanding of the ACNC Act and the regulatory requirements detailed within it.
  • Experience as a Company Secretary
  • Ability to manage multiple projects.
  • Highly developed written and oral communication skills
  • Strong team player and a commitment to collaborative working practices;
  • Willingness to work within the ethos of The Wayside Chapel mission, vision and values.

This role will be well suited to a Company Secretary experienced in the corporate sector and seeking a move into the not-for-profit sector and/or a paternal; permanent part time appointment (0.8 FTE upon commencement for minimum six-month period, moving to 0.6 on a permanent basis thereafter