It proved a great choice. “I worked my way up through a variety of roles. In 2000 I moved into the area of disability services and, when the opportunity came up to join Enable Ireland, I grabbed it. Initially I had a regional job, which became a national job and, when the then CEO retired in 2018, I was lucky enough to get this job,” he says modestly.
“One of the big decisions I had to make when I joined Enable Ireland was around my pension. I had to do the maths and project forward to see what difference the move would make to my pension. I was very cautious,” he admits. He admits that it can be tricky to entice staff into the organisation with competition from within the wider Public Sector. Candidates are often concerned about pension implications but these days the gap between its pension scheme, and those in the public sector has narrowed.
Enable Ireland operations manager, Garth Macmillan, and CEO, John O’Sullivan in the pool house, one of several facilities on the premisesEnable Ireland offers a range of employee benefits, including generous annual leave entitlements, training opportunities and an employee assistance programme. “We did a root and branch review. Where previously we had one pension trustee, we brought in two directors and two employee representative trustees as well. We got a new pensions administrator and we met with five or six pension providers, ultimately changing to Zurich,” says O’Sullivan.