Australian Network on Disability

On Tuesday 24th February 2009 the Employers’ Network held a half day seminar in Sydney, generously hosted by Sparke Helmore. 

The seminar’s title, “Action to Strategy or Strategy to Action”, reflects the diverse journeys that our members take on their way towards disability confidence.  Some organisations start with action; implementing a stand-alone program or initiative without having a strategic plan in place, while other organisations develop a comprehensive strategy first, before putting it into action.

There is no right or wrong way, and this seminar provided the opportunity to hear from four very diverse organisations about how they have implemented specific aspects of the Employment Charter for People with Disability .

The Employment Charter for People with Disability was first adopted in Australia in 2004 by the organisations who are now our Platinum members – ANU, Benbro Electronics, Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Compass Group, IBM, McDonald’s, Sparke Helmore and Westpac.

The Employment Charter outlines the international best practice approach to the equitable inclusion of people with disability in business.  It provides a robust and sustainable framework for organisations to follow to build their own disability confidence.  By implementing the Employment Charter organisations will also reduce the risk of relying on short-term programs to achieve diversity goals.

The Employers’ Network’s products and services have been designed to support the 10 steps of the Employment Charter, making it easier for organisations to implement practical and effective strategies.  Our products and services continue to grow and improve based on the experiences of our members and our ever expanding knowledge base.

Hearing about the challenges and successes of other organisations has been a common request from our members, and the “Action to Strategy or Strategy to Action” seminar was held in order to showcase some of the experiences of our long term members.

Sparke Helmore Lawyers

Michael Rosenfeld, Special Counsel at Sparke Helmore, appeared by video link from his Newcastle office.

Michael discussed how Sparke Helmore’s commitment to the inclusion of people with disability came first, which then led to action in the form of participation in the Stepping into... program.  This was then transferred into a long term, sustainable strategy, with the core driver being Corporate Social Responsibility.

Michael outlined some of the benefits Sparke Helmore gains from participating in Stepping into Law, such as enhancing disability awareness in the workplace, and providing opportunities for employees to contribute to the skill acquisition, confidence building and positive experience of the participating students.  Sparke has also found that the program has become a potential recruitment stream, with a few ongoing employment offers made.

Michael gave a specific example of one student who participated in the program, who came away from the experience with greater confidence in his abilities, and tangible results he could include in his resume in the future.

Michael concluded his presentation with a call to action for other Employers’ Network members to consider establishing their own Stepping into... programs – what he described as a “practical, easy to manage program that can help turn policy into action as well as active engage staff in the process of building disability confidence”.

Jonathan Wright, a solicitor in Sparke Helmore’s Workplace team, followed Michael’s video presentation.  Jonathan’s presentation outlined the important aspects of EEO policies, and the various (and sometimes conflicting) legislations concerned.  A key message was that policy development needs to be strategic and deliberate; policies should be consistent and serve a clear purpose.

Jonathan stressed that it is vital that employers do not make ‘blanket policies’, but rather assess each individual circumstance on its merits.

Jonathan also outlined the “inherent requirements” defence, which has three components:

1.    Can the worker carry out the inherent requirements of the position?
2.    Can reasonable adjustments be implemented to allow the worker to perform the inherent requirements?
3.    Would implementing these reasonable adjustments cause the employer ‘unjustifiable hardship’?

Jonathan also discussed unfair dismissal in relation to workers with disability, and the need to manage the risk of direct and indirect discrimination.

McDonald’s Australia

Sarah Woolley, National People Resources Consultant at McDonald’s Australia spoke about how McDonald’s have taken a very deliberate and strategic approach to building disability awareness and changing perceptions within the organisation.
McDonald’s has an outstanding reputation as an employer, and currently employs over 85,000 people in Australia, 50% of whom are under 18 years.  As a Registered Training Organisation (RTO), much of the staff training they provide is accredited.

Sarah outlined McDonald’s two main objectives in relation to disability:

1.    To raise the awareness of issues affecting people with special needs or disabilities amongst Crew, Managers, Licensees and Corporate Staff to provide sensitive, helpful and respectful service to internal and external customers

2.    To ensure access to goods, services and facilities particularly in respect of existing buildings and facilities.
McDonald’s have integrated disability awareness training into all levels of employee education, from junior crew members, right up to senior executive staff.  Disability awareness is incorporated in the McDonald’s corporate policy, with the aim of raising awareness through understanding.

The McDonald’s approach is very much an example of ‘Strategy to Action’ – the integration of disability awareness into all employee training demonstrates a systemised and structured approach to building organisation-wide disability confidence.

IBM Australia

Rosalind Reidy, Diversity Program Manager at IBM Australia, presented information on how IBM has taken a proactive approach to building an inclusive working environment for people with disability.

IBM’s approach focuses on the three ‘A’s:

1.    Building accessibility – ensuring buildings are accessible, including installing ramps, automatic doors, lifts, accessible parking and bathrooms, etc;

2.    Reasonable accommodations (aka reasonable adjustments or workplace accommodations) – providing adjustments such as specialised hardware or software, services or facility modifications to assist employees with disability work to their full potential;

3.    Attitude –raising awareness through education and challenging negative assumptions about people with disability.  IBM encourages all employees to judge a person based on the results they deliver, and always employ the ‘best person for the job’.

IBM is recognised globally as a leader in relation to the employment of people with disability.  Some of the initiatives IBM has implemented include sponsorship of the Employers’ Network “Managers’ guide: disability in the workplace”, and rolling this out to all managers, an internal People with Disability networking group, a Diversity Council, participation in Willing and Able Mentoring (WAM), EXITE Camps for students with disability, and inclusion of profiles and case studies of people with disability on their intranet.

IBM believes that their centrally funded reasonable accommodations fund has been a critical factor in their success; it means that individual business units are not responsible for funding adjustments for team members, and therefore have greater incentive to look past a person’s disability to see their actual abilities.  IBM also has very strong support from the top down in the organisation, with CEO Glen Boreham understanding that a “commitment to diversity gives us access to the brightest and best in the workplace”.

Australian National University

Inge Saris, Workplace & Diversity Inclusion Manager, and Sue Sadauskas, Senior Equity Consultant, co-presented on ANU’s role in the community, and the influence is has an both an employer and an educational institution. 

ANU has over 14,000 students, 4,000 full and part time staff, and another 3,000 casual staff – having such a large number of people on campus can lead to very unique challenges in terms of ensuring accessibility and inclusion.

ANU is currently facilitating consultations in relation to their next Disability Action Plan, which will include specific focus on mental health, ageing and disability, language and communication, and interviewing and recruiting people with disability.

A focus of the discussion was on the missing links in the transition from education to employment for many students with disability.  Often a student will have had a strong support system in place during their university years, with access to assistive technology or special provisions for exams, etc, however once they reach the workplace they are stripped of these supports and left to their own devices.

It is important for government, education institutions and employers to work together to minimise these gaps and smooth the transition from uni to work.

ANU understands the importance of reflecting the community they serve, which includes people from increasingly diverse social, economic and cultural backgrounds, and accepts responsibility as a role model within the community.

Access to Premises Standards – Murray Mountain

Murray Mountain, accessibility expert and Principal of Access Design Solutions, closed the seminar with a comprehensive (and at times overwhelming!) presentation on the proposed amendments to the Access to Premises Standards and the Building Codes of Australia.

Overall, the revised Standards will include more direction for designing with accessibility in mind, and will form a more easily understood framework for builders, designers and architects to ensure compliance with all the relevant legislation.

The proposed new Standards will come into effect in 2010, and will encompass all new building work, as well as any new work in existing buildings.

Thanks to everyone who attended the seminar and made it such a great event.  It was fantastic to see people from such a diverse group of organisations, all with the same goals and aspirations.  The strength of our Employers’ Network lies in the shared knowledge, experience and passion of our members, and networking events such as this seminar are essential for our Network to continue to grow and prosper.

Thanks also to Sparke Helmore for providing such a wonderful venue, catering and technology for the event.