1. NZDSN National Employment Symposium “Why Work Matters”
Grant Cleland
Workbridge
Achieving Employment for Disabled People, Like Everyone Else

2. Employment Opportunities
Like Everyone Else
Grant Cleland
Workbridge Chief Executive
August 2017

3. Workbridge
Workbridge is the largest NZ owned employment agency for people with a disability, injury or illness.
We arrange around 3, jobs each year
36,857 jobs in the past decade.
We work with jobseekers who have a disability, injury or illness lasting 6 months or more, that creates a barrier to obtaining employment.
We have over 75 Employment Consultants in 22 locations.
Our key role is to get jobs for disabled people.
We also administer Support Funds on behalf of the Ministry of Social Development - covers "disability related“ workplace and training support costs.

4. We Need to Think Differently About the
Employment of Disabled Jobseekers
Instead of considering employing disabled people to be ‘socially responsible’, we need employers to see disabled jobseekers as a talent pool, who can improve their bottom line with the right supports.
Key Messages for Employers:
228,000 disabled people of working age (15 to 64 years) in New Zealand, are not employed
74% of these people would like a job
Only 10% of disabled staff required modifications to their work area or equipment to help them do their job
Only 28% had difficulty doing some tasks or duties
Only 11% said their condition limited the number of hours they could work
There is support when jobseekers and employers need support
The majority of disabled staff require the same workplace support as the general population.
Source: Labour Market findings from the 2013 New Zealand Census

5. Cost Benefit of Disabled People Reaching the Same Rate of Employment
Source: Workbridge/Allen & Clarke (2016). A billion-dollar opportunity: The potential benefits of equal employment for disabled people in New Zealand. Wellington.
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7. Purpose
Partnership between Disability Employment Forum (DEF) and Business New Zealand, with an across agency Governance Group.
To provide a stocktake of information, case studies and analysis about building disability confident workplaces.

8. Disability Employment Forum (DEF)
DEF Working Group: Disabled people, key DPOs and NGOs working in the disability employment space.
What have we achieved …
DPOs and Providers working and advocating together.
Government agreed to an Disability Employment Summit and Disability Action Plan including employment of disabled people.
Disability Confident Employer Research Project.
Advocated on changes to MSD Contracts.
DEF Members have developed the Cost Benefit Paper.
Joint DEF/MSD Work Experience and Internships Project.
National Party agreed to a specific employment strategy for disabled people.

9. Information sources Information search Published literature
Websites – resources for employers, disabled people
Interviews
Disabled employees 5
Small to medium employers 8
Large employers 9
Disability stakeholders and disabled people’s organisations 13
Total 35

10. What we learnt from employers?
There are some very committed employers who actively employ disabled people
Wanting a reliable employee who is the right fit for their job
Supported employment services make a difference
Success stories from already committed employers encourage other employers to employ disabled jobseekers.
Potential opportunities:
Employers are not disinterested but are unlikely to take action alone without support from Supported Employment Services
However there is …
A general lack of awareness by Employers of what disabled people can do, what support is available for employers including funding for wages and accommodations (support)

11. What employers learnt from their experiences?
The value of their disabled staff
It can take longer upfront to build skills but that is ok
One main contact important to make it easier for them
Prepare the team and the line manager
Employers welcome support from others

12. What we learnt from the literature review?
Initiatives
Level of evidence (from strongest to weakest)
Supported employment (i.e. ‘place and train’)
Strong evidence that supported employment is effective and that it is more effective than pre- vocational training.
Support for people who become disabled while in employment
Early intervention is a key factor in successful return to work and it is efficient way to provide support to someone to enable them to stay in work.
Wage subsidies for disabled employees
Time limited wage subsidies can be effective to address some employers’ concern about the extra costs of employing disabled people.
But they shouldn’t be used as a carrot to buy jobs.

13. What we learnt from the literature review?
Initiatives
Level of evidence (from strongest to weakest)
Internships (including wage subsidies)
Moderate level of evidence that paid/unpaid work experience can improve employment outcomes.
Helping disabled youth access internships increases their future job prospects.
Anti-discrimination legislation including requiring employers to make reasonable accommodations
This is useful but insufficient on its own to significantly increase the proportion of disabled people in employment.
Anti-discrimination marketing campaigns
There is evidence that there has been a reduction in discrimination during the time some of these campaigns have been running, but difficult to prove causation.

14. Beating the Barriers
Increasing employment for disabled people requires systemic change
Actions are required from all parts of the system
Some actions are in place but others are not or are not aligned
There are tensions between objectives focused on exit from benefit and objectives focused on sustainable employment
Skilled disabled employees can act as role models and mentors
Funding for outcomes is important, but requires agreed ‘best practice’ standards across the sector
Employers need confidence that they will receive effective support
We need to reduce the plethora of different documents providing information and advice into one site for employers, recruitment companies and promote it within employer networks
Employers having someone to call is important – this could be another employer.

15. Beating the Barriers Funding must be easier for employers to access.
Businesses listen to other businesses and there are businesses advocating to employ disabled people – how can they be supported?
Many disabled people lack confidence to apply for positions. How do we address this as a sector?
We need increased focus on strengths based applications and more disabled role models and mentors in an employment context.

16. Research Project – Key Points
There are a number of employers who are already committed to employing disabled people
There are many good news stories
There are many willing employers who are unaware of the employment potential of disabled people, and the supports available
The responsibility for change does not sit solely with employers
We need to …
Align our efforts from the sector and government to work with employers and their organisations to provide easier access to information and practical support for employers – we need to make it easy for employers
Share information, address any discrimination to lay the foundation for change and ensure disability is part of diversity employment conversation
Provide more specific support for employers as well as individual focused support for disabled people.

17. What is the next stage? We need …
To determine why there is a general lack of awareness by some employers of the support available to assist them to employ more disabled staff
Is it a marketing issue, the impact of the competitive tender environment, lack of coordination across the sector, a confusing marketplace for employers, etc
A sector wide response to resolving the issues in this research, from all parts of the system. How do we do this?
We need to provide simple information and advice to employers through existing employer networks, that meet the needs of small, medium and large employers
Employers supporting other employers.

18. Increasing the Rate of Employment in the Disability Community
With the current conversation about diverse workplaces, there is a real opportunity to increase the employment of disabled people in NZ.
To achieve this, we need:
To advocate for an employment strategy for disabled people which includes government targets, rather than the current Welfare Strategy for the employment of disabled people
Increased investment in the Employment of Disabled People
More collaboration across the sector – do we all need to do the same services?
A sector wide response to resolving the issues in this research, from all parts of the system including MSD, etc
To determine why there is a lack of awareness by some employers of the available support
A coordinated approach with existing employer networks to provide simple information and advice to employers about our services
To determine how we create a pipeline to employers for different segments of the jobseeker market, and the types of jobseeker preparation they require.

19. Workbridge Contacts Grant Cleland Chief Executive
Mobile:
Selwyn Cook
Employer Ambassador
Mobile: