Equalising Employment
Making diversity work for all
We follow an evidence-based and co-designed methodology to increase sustainable employment for people with different abilities. Social Scaffolding will focus our efforts and resources on four areas of specialisation, providing an innovative approach to delivering supports for both people with different abilities and businesses. These include: career profiling, career planning, industry networking and building disability confidence.
Pathway to Equalising Employment
Supporting people with disability and employers to think differently about inclusion and diversity
Career Profiling
Providing individuals with disability access to specialised career assessment and profiling tools.
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Activities
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Individuals complete a suite of online skills assessments.
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Our team works with individuals to discuss the results and develop the next steps in their career journey.
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Benefits
Individuals with disability will:
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Obtain an individualised profile of their job preferences and interests, skills sets and capabilities.
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Gain an understanding of the industry/s and roles that they are interested in.
Employers will:
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Have access to detailed applicant information to support the match within their organisation.
Career Planning
Providing individuals with disability specialised career pathway planning.
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Activities
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One-on-one support to review and develop career aspirations, interests and goals.
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Exploration of career options, matched with career profile and individual preferences.
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Benefits
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Comprehensive understanding of skills, capabilities, work preferences and interests.
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Focused career goals and planning for the next steps.
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Clear understanding of the opportunities and options to consider for their next career stage.
Industry Networking
Providing a vehicle for people with and without disabilities to meet and form connections with industry influencers.
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Target groups
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People with and without disability – looking to provide mentoring or be mentored.
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Activities
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Regular face-to-face mentoring events.
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Presentations at events.
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On-line mentoring .
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Subscription based.
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Benefits
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Providing valuable insights into different industries.
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Providing inspiration and motivation.
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Making connections with other influencers.
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Sharing knowledge.
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Keeping abreast of trends.
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Providing unique career opportunities and connections.
Inclusive Employer
Working in partnership with employers to develop and deliver tailored solutions aimed at building a strong and diverse workforce, and building a workforce that reflects the community that we live in .
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Activities
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Review existing access and inclusion policies, procedures and practices.
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Assess organisations disability confidence.
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Provide information, support and advice to increase knowledge and awareness
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Develop individualised. business strategies that can be used to evaluate progress in becoming an accessible and inclusive employer.
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Our method
Our team consists of both people with and without lived experience of disability to support businesses through this change process.
Equalising Employment Forum - Outcomes
At the end of 2020, Social Scaffolding together with our co-design partners; held the Equalising Employment Forum. This forum brought together people with disability, employers and industry partners to engage in thought provoking discussions aimed at creating positive and innovative solutions for increasing and equalising employment opportunities.
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First of all, we would like to send out a huge thank you to all the attendees for participating in the Forum. The level of enthusiasm and passion in the room to create meaningful change that would lead to equalising employment for all members of our community was fantastic.
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It is a sobering and disheartening fact that in 2020 people with disability in Australia continue to be less likely to be participating in the labour force than those without (53.4% to 84.1%). Despite these facts what we saw at the forum was a high level of resilience and innovative thinking to go beyond these statistics to create change.
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As one of the forum facilitators so beautifully said, “We are aiming for:
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Everyone who wants a job to be able to obtain one
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Increased update of higher skills jobs and more flexible opportunities
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Workplace discrimination to be a thing of the past with higher participation rates of people with severe and profound disability
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Diversity being encouraged with specific strategies in place
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Reasonable adjustments in place with specific strategies to recruit and attract employees with disability.”
These are not unrealistic expectations!
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As we move forward, our question is – What can we all do to remove the physical, technological and attitudinal barriers for people with disability so that we can achieve true inclusiveness?
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Social Scaffolding compiled an analysis and review of actions that came out of the forum shortly.
Read the Equalising Employment Opportunities paper here.
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