Who is this for?

Senior managers and CEOs, operational managers, organisational development professionals, HR managers, people and culture leads and anyone involved in strategic direction planning for disability employment providers.

About the resource

Building upon international expert Sara Murphy’s webinar Employment Service Transformation in 2023 about service transformation for disability employment providers, NDS Victoria ran a workshop to showcase the journeys of several Victorian disability providers towards transforming their employment services in late 2023, and in early 2024 hosted a session exploring the challenges of providing more contemporary employment pathways for people with disability. This discussed how to engage everyone from the board to support workers, families, and participants, and addressed challenges related to funding and the likely impact of reforms on employment services.

Key findings from the workshop included:

Challenge: Resources

• Upskilling staff,
• workforce challenges,
• lack of expertise,
• lack of employment funding in NDIS plans,
• supporting persons on the job

Challenge: Financial

• Start-up costs,
• budget constraints,
• cost of research data collection,
• dealing with LACs,
• specialized training or staff

Challenge: Employers

• Managing employer expectations and
• requiring more willingness from employers to employ people with disabilities to achieve employment outcomes

Employment Pathways

• Limited work experience options,
• lack of open employment specialization and knowledge,
• moving employment service staff mindset from ‘carer’ to ‘capacity building’ for people with disabilities

Suggested solutions

Suggested solutions included:

1. Capacity Building of organisations to support employees with disability more effectively
   • Developing customized training programs, utilizing micro-credentials for staff, and specifically aligning existing team members with new methodologies and shared values during recruitment.
   • Developing an understanding of a person’s capacity when employing someone with a disability and then providing career growth opportunities.
2. Addressing Fear of the Unknown
   Post-COVID anxiety and discomfort with social interactions for supported employees and their willingness to try new things are major challenges. Suggestions include:
   • Building on positive experiences, adopting a holistic approach and engaging corporate customers through success stories.
   • Supporting older families through trying new options for the person with disability.
   • Engaging school students early to explore different directions are also key strategies.
3. Financial Constraints
   Participant plan limitations for employment support and the NDIS pricing guide constraints can hinder innovative service provision. Suggestions include:
   
   • Asking better financial questions in conversations with participants and their carers about the availability of funds within their plans
   • Diversifying income streams in employment services
   • Having a blended and diverse marginalized cohort accessing different funding streams
   • Viewing employment as integral to life to ensure it is included in participant plans and encouraged with staff to discuss with participants
   • Sector-wide lobbying for better funding
4. Implementation
   Navigating the funding environment and implementing organisational change are significant challenges. Suggestions include:
   • Creative support provision
   • Ensuring appropriate employment support for NDIS plan inclusions
   • Engaging with plan managers
   • Offering employment service information and understanding of the different employment programs available to people with disabilities
   • Continuous education on employment policy and strategic planning within organisations fosters adaptability.
5. Innovation
   • AI can enhance training and job performance by complementing human skills, not replacing jobs
   • Inclusive recruitment methods, by including current employees with lived experience in the process to drive better staffing outcomes
   • Innovation in operational practices can remove barriers and open new opportunities. Ask the question across the whole organisation: “How can we do better?”
6. Leadership and Change Management
   • Adapting to a changing environment through consultative change management and combining lived and industry experiences are key.
   • Consultative change management engages and energizes stakeholders.
   • Leadership must articulate gaps and embrace values at all levels.
   • Embedding values at all organizational levels ensures consistent and authentic practices
7. Overcoming Low Expectations
   Low expectations can be addressed through:
   • Buddy systems with staff demonstrating good practice and values
   • Network building across the sector, employers, community, and other disability service providers
   • Comprehensive career planning and educational initiatives that enhance employability
   • Educational programs about employment can build confidence and raise expectations amongst staff, participants, and employers
   • Engage staff that will help shift the narrative and promote them to lead others. Sharing success stories and promoting inclusive pathways are essential for shifting narratives and promoting positive perceptions.
8. Partnerships
   Effective partnerships with families, participants, employers and communities lead to supportive environments and new opportunities. Some suggested solutions included:
   • Collaboration within the sector and with like-minded organisations enhances opportunities and resource allocation.
   • Collaborating rather than competing within the sector maximizes resource use and shared success, offering more choice for participants.
   • Alignment of values among partners ensures cohesive and effective support for the participants.
9. Staffing
   • Challenges in staffing include aligning support strategies and hiring staff focused on capacity building.
   • Inclusive recruitment that involves supported employees provides better candidate insights.
   • Solutions involve mentorship, inclusive recruitment processes and ongoing training to ensure staff remain capable and effective in their roles.
10. Working with Employers
    Employers' fear of the unknown and perceived difficulties are major challenges. Suggestions include:
    • Aligning with employers who share similar values fosters better working relationships
    • Providing clear support plans to manage expectations and facilitate smoother transitions
    • Promoting job customization opens more employment opportunities and fits diverse needs
    • Looking within to see what companies we deal with in commercial arrangements that could be leveraged for open employment opportunities

NDS welcomes further suggestions to support organisations to more transform their employment services, and provide greater options to people with disability in employment.

Related Resources

• Employment Service Transformation
  
• Members share insights at recent NDS employment workshop
• NDS Customised Employment Project