An inclusive workplace enables innovation and meaningful people-to-people connections.
For Edith Cowan University (ECU), the ‘Best in Class for Customer Experience’ award winner and one of the nation’s Top 10 Performers on the Access and Inclusion Index, diversity and inclusion are more than celebrating differences. The university’s Employability and Graduate Outcomes team has showed a way forward to amplifying the prospects for growth through empowerment.
“You don’t need to create a special job for a special person, that thinking is long past,” says Professor Justin Brown, University Lead, Employability Team at ECU. Professor Brown and the ECU team have demonstrated a relentless focus on accessibility, not only for students, but also in the staff recruitment process.
“Our students have an increasingly diverse population with diverse needs, and the resources and services we wish to provide need to speak to all our students and not just a cohort of them.”
Professor Brown, who has lived experience of disability, explains that capability is the emphasis when it comes to hiring the right talent.
Referencing ECU’s diversity statement that welcomes candidates from diverse backgrounds, Professor Brown points out that the demand for accessibility was clear during their recruitment process, as applicants communicated the adjustments required.
“[The process] was surprisingly powerful, because I had a number of people tell me what they needed directly,” he says.
Multiple perspectives through accessibility
“The Australian Bureau of Statistics data tells us that about one in five people have disability,” says ECU Inclusive Employability Officer Denise Bertilone.
Bertilone, who has low vision, says disability employment brings added value to the organisation.
“We are able to bring a diversity of perspectives in the team environment. This results in better creativity, innovation, robustness, better decision making and problem solving, and all of these contributes to greater productivity.”
With extensive experience in the education and community sectors, she explains that workplace adjustments for people with disability can be minimal.
“I use screen reader software, and this costs less than $1,000 and in a lot of instances, the Job Access Program can pay for the workplace accommodations,” she says.
Diversity leading to broader thinking
“Having the diverse perspectives also enables us to meet the needs of diverse client groups and student groups as well at ECU,” says Emma Lovegrove, ECU Inclusive Employability Officer.
Lovegrove, who initially wanted to work part-time but applied for the full-time role regardless, was offered a job-sharing arrangement and now works alongside Bertilone.
“Justin had that openness and flexibility to look at how he could combine different sets of experience and skills to ultimately get the best outcome for the role,” she says.
Advice for businesses on achieving growth through diversity
The team encourages employers to look at the value and the experience that people can bring.
“Denise has helped us pick up a number of issues in our own content and resource production that the rest of the team would not have picked up,” Professor Brown adds.
“Just be more inclusive. That’s my advice. Approach it from the perspective of this as another employee doing work they’re qualified to do.”
Lovegrove and Bertilone have also presented their work at conferences, such as the 22nd International Web4All Conference in Sydney, and recently won the Accessibility in Action Award from the Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training .
Contact Ability Link to learn more about how CCIWA can help you achieve your business goals through disability employment.
