Time to Change the Conversation About Employment and People with Disability

Time to change the conversation about

employment and people with disability...

Lucy Macali

General Manager – National Disability Recruitment Coordinator

National Disability Summit

Wednesday March 13th 2013

“We exist to make a real and measurable impact on

employment opportunities for people with injury, illness, disability or

disadvantage “

Help To Stay At Work

Improve workplace health

Manage injury rehabilitation

Return employees to work after injury or illness

Assist employers in removing disability specific

workplace barriers

Help With Advice

Expert advice & consultancy for:

- Employers & employees

- Job seekers

- Agents & Insurers

Help to develop safer work environments

Help to attract, retain & maintain a productive workforce

Help To Get Work

Develop job readiness

Source jobs

Build employer confidence

Reduce barriers

Our objective is to create employment opportunities

for people with disability nationally through supporting

large employers to develop their overall levels of

‘disability confidence’ and ‘disability competence’...

AND by filling their vacancies with as many candidates

with disability as possible.

The NDRC

• Large companies are largely ‘on board’ with employing people

with disability at a high level

• Significant challenges in turning that good will into actual jobs.

• Wage subsidies are helpful, but not always the deal maker /

breaker

• Strong professional support from Disability Employment

services helps build confidence

• The importance of promoting success

• Strong support for conduit function fulfilled by NDRC (a point of

contact)

• Introduction of a ‘field officer’ role within companies ideal

What have employers told us?

• Is the message filtering down the line?

• Keeping employers engaged

• How much flexibility are employers really willing and able to

offer?

• Many employers are risk averse and time and resource poor

• Quality job matches – key to success

• Recruiters and hiring managers need ‘permission’ to try

different approaches

• Creating positive employer experiences will go a long way

NDRC observations

“Supporting people with a disability to find meaningful

employment continues to be a key focus and we have put a

number of initiatives in place to support our delivery of this.

“Of our current employees, 939 have declared that they have a

disability. This is an increase of 472 people on last year and

attributed to our continued relationship with WorkFocus, the

National Disability Recruitment Coordinator (NDRC).”

Woolworths’ Corporate Social Responsibility Report, 2012

• Support of senior leadership

• A public commitment

• A flexible approach

• Focus on ability

• Ground level ‘buy in’

• Permission to try a range of approaches

• Investing in partnerships

• Willing to review and revise

• Starting early

What can we learn from Woolworths’

commitment?

More partnerships

What did we say?

What do we see as the real

problems?

Minister Shorten’s review

Remember this?

YES to reporting

Employment Support Services;

• Expanded services to more locations with the number of sites

increasing by almost 50% from 1,145 to 1,654

• Expanded services delivered by providers who have achieved

a top rating of four and five-star to 26 providers

• New performance framework: rewards for 12 month outcomes

and no push to place quickly

• “Greater choice, better services and options for job seekers

with disability, in more locations than ever before”.

New Disability Employment

Services

Let’s keep talking!

www.jobaccess.gov.au

[email protected]