When two of her staff members called in sick recently, Daniëlle Du Plooy decided that instead of overworking her remaining staff she would close Serendipities for the day.
For the 32-year-old manager and founder of Uppertunity, the social enterprise to which Dundee café Serendipities belongs, this decision was not easy but felt the most fair to her team.
With a team of 17 staff members, Uppertunity, based in Dudhope Castle, provides opportunities to people who face barriers due to learning disabilities, autism and mental health through Serendipities and upcycling store Reboutique.
The aim is to help these individuals gain experience within hospitality, develop key life skills and give them a chance to meet new people and socialise with the community.
With more 40 volunteers, including those who face barriers and need support and people who wish to support those individuals, the enterprise hopes to encourage others to put their staff first.
Avoiding burnout
Daniëlle talks about many of the staff working across the three bases, with four staff working on rotation shifts at Serendipities along with two volunteers.
“Two of the staff were unwell last week. If we had remained open the remaining two, including myself, would have had to work seven days in a row”, she said.
“I don’t think it’s fair to ask staff to work all these hours for the sake of being on-demand for the public.”
With the volunteers who have additional needs requiring one-to-one support from the staff, it can be a heavily demanding environment and stressful at times.
Daniëlle is keen to support her staff and look after them when necessary, including closing the café when there is business to be had, even during a cost of living crisis.
She added: “So many people go off with sickness from stress and that can be avoided if there is better support at work to avoid it.
“My team come first for me, customers are important, but for me it’s the team, which is inclusive of staff and volunteers.”
New ways of working
In order to make an inclusive and safe space for individuals to develop, the café has had to create an environment where customers are open minded and understanding.
Daniëlle said: “Many of our volunteers have additional needs that are quite prominent and very visible.
“For example they might stutter, take longer to serve, only be able to carry one cup at a time, or even not be able to write so we have to help.
“We explain to the customers that we work with people with additional needs so it’s not your normal service, and we require a little more patience.”
She has also had to make changes to the café itself to help make the space more inclusive including increasing fonts on cleaning rotas and reducing instructions to make them less overwhelming.
Serendipities also has a check-in board so the staff and volunteers can put in how they are feeling that day. Different cutting tools are available to make working in the café easier, and non-slip trays to help with serving.
Inspiring others
Although it is common to have zero-hour contracts in hospitality, Daniëlle is against this idea and prefers to give her staff long-lasting jobs that give them stability and security.
For the staff, they feel the work environment is more open and understanding at Serendipities making it very different from other establishments.
Daniëlle’s staff acknowledge that she doesn’t put profit before their needs.
Although it is difficult for independent cafes to run the same initiatives, Daniëlle hopes she can inspire others to try and implement changes to make venues more inclusive.
“Communication is really important. Communicate with the staff and the team, see what they need to be the best they can be, and adapt the business accordingly,” she said.
The cafe is open Tuesday to Thursday from 9 am to 4pm and serves hot and cold drinks as well as soup, all day breakfast, and lunch.
