A pilot program bringing employers together with people with a disability is opening the door for South Australian businesses to seize the opportunities created by inclusive hiring practices.
Major Adelaide hotels are now partnering with the Centre for Social Impact team at Flinders University, including a free disability employment mentoring program.
In Australia, 1 in 6 people have a disability, but the labour force participation rate for people with a disability has not changed in 15 years.
The pioneering Adelaide program supporting employers to broaden their workforce is expanding through the city's biggest hotels, with more businesses being urged to consider inclusive hiring practices.
Evidence shows that businesses who hire people with disability experience a number of related benefits across their organisation, including improved profitability.
The researchers behind the initiative - which brings together employers, industry partners and people with cognitive disability - are calling on more big businesses to sign up and take a more proactive approach to inclusive hiring.
The Diversity Pathways group from the Centre for Social Impact at Flinders University offers employer-employer mentoring to co-design practical solutions with employers, industry partners, disability employment experts and people with lived experience of disability.
The project team, led by academics Dr Jung Yoon, Professor Ian Goodwin-Smith, Dr Claire Hutchison, Michelle Strudwick and others from the Centre for Social Impact at Flinders University, also includes four community researchers (photos below).
The program has successfully run at major Adelaide hotels the Sofitel, Pullman, Mantra, Ibis and SkyCity, supporting the employer mentoring and wraparound training, with all the hotels now planning to expand their involvement to hire more people with disability.
Mr Doherty, who recently started work at the Sofitel in Adelaide working in its breakfast service, says he wants to see more people with disability working in open employment.
"There are lots of jobs which people with disability could do if businesses would give them a chance," he says.
"Everyone should be able to work if they want to. This project is helping employers to be more inclusive and hire people with a disability."
Professor Ian Goodwin-Smith, Director of the Centre for Social Impact at Flinders University, says the researchers had found that hospitality businesses were more advanced than many retailers when it came to hiring people with cognitive disability.
"This program raises awareness about the advantages of hiring people with cognitive disability, including tapping into a wider talent pool and having staff who represent the diversity of consumers themselves," says Professor Goodwin-Smith.
"By bringing together employers with experts and people with lived experience of disability, we can bridge the gaps in knowledge.
"This program offers businesses practical tips to build inclusive workplaces and tackle perceived barriers to hiring people with cognitive disability."
A number of countries such as Korea, France and Germany have mandatory policies in place which require businesses to employ individuals with disability to meet a workforce quota, or face a financial penalty.
Funded by the Australian Government's Information Linkages and Capacity Building program, the Diversity Pathways pilot aims to promote greater engagement in employment and social inclusion for people with a disability.
It focuses on:
A cohort of people living with cognitive disability, including intellectual and developmental disability and autism spectrum disorder, who have interests and motivation in hospitality and retail but experience more challenges in finding open employment in hospitality and retail in SA.
Co-designing with people with cognitive disability, employers and industry partners with extensive knowledge and experience in disability employment and the target industries to reflect and mediate different angles of the stakeholders.
Providing employer-employer mentorship program for the organisation participants (e.g. SkyCity, Mantra Hotel, any retail company) until the end of 2024 to build the employer's confidence in creating and sustaining disability employment strategies
