4.5 million people in Australia have a disability (1 in 5) and the unemployment rate for people with a disability is 9.4%. Yes, that’s right, in Australia, in 2018, a large percentage of people can’t find work because they identify as having a disability.
Organisations are either under-educated or choose to be ignorant because the challenge is seen as too daunting. We can do better.
I’m thrilled that Randstad is a partner of getting Skilled Access, a training and consulting company set up to help organisations learn how to break down the barriers and stigmas to disability employment. Get Skilled Access was co-founded by Dylan Alcott and is designed to give a real-life experience, delivered by people living with a disability, to help organisations achieve tangible outcomes.
If you are going to talk about disability in your organisation, make sure someone with a disability has a seat at the table.
so how can you take action now:
- Something as simple as adding “accessible friendly employer” at the bottom of your job adverts will make your company far more attractive than your competitors
- Implement a tailored training program that speaks your industry language not only for your internal staff but for your staff to engage with your customers
- Create a Disability Action and Inclusion Plan that supports an inclusive culture to create equal touchpoints across your organisation
- Effective onboarding by making sure workforce adjustments are in place for the employee. These can cost as little as $500.
To be able to work with experts who can help Randstad and our clients learn to engage people with a disability is going to be incredibly productive. My hope is that our work will be beneficial to all involved: our employees, candidates and our customers.
To celebrate, we recently held a client Tennis Day where we invited CEOs & MDs to come and play Tennis, with the Get Skilled Access and Randstad team, whilst also raising awareness and providing them with some advice for their organisations.
See the video here with the CEOs talking about their organisations and why it is important for them.
one in five people in Australia have a disability, and the unemployment rate for those with a disability is 9.4%
see the videoare you looking for work and need an accessible friendly workplace?
Please contact me directly via LinkedIn or email me at kerry.mcquillan@randstad.com.au
Kerry McQuillan
state director qld & national lead d&i
Kerry is responsible for Randstad’s QLD business. She worked in the HR and Recruitment industry, both in the UK and Australia for 17 years. Her focus is to support and encourage my teams to be successful, help grow their drive and ambition and foster inclusion, promote broader perspectives and drive diverse thinking and business results which will help Randstad deliver a distinctive experience for our clients, candidates and for our employees.
Kerry is passionate about inclusion and supporting people in obtaining meaningful employment and reducing as many barriers as possible.