Employers may have a misconception that people with disability can only work in simple or base grade jobs. This is not the case as people with disability work across a wide range of occupations, including in apprenticeships and traineeships, and at all levels of competency:
- 37 per cent of employees with disability are professionals, managers and administrators
- 30 per cent of employees with disability are clerical sales and service workers
- 33 per cent of employees with disability are from remaining occupational categories including tradespeople, production, and transport workers as well as labourers and related workers (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004).
Marketing material
A good approach in addressing this concern is to develop marketing material that highlights the diverse employment of people with disability photographically and/or through lists of jobs, employers and the types of people with disability working in them.
Storytelling about a wide variety of successful job placements is one of the best ways of educating employers about the potential of job seekers with disability.
The following page contains links to several case studies and success stories that have been developed for employers. The pages on our web site all print out in a user friendly format so that you can hand them to employer in hard copy:
Numerous resources have been designed to help you engage employers and speak with them about the benefits to their business of employing people with disability. These resources include the following fact sheet, which you may like to print and provide to employers in hard copy:
Assisting job seekers with limited competencies
If you are assisting job seekers with more significant disability and limited competencies talk to employers about modifying positions and the mutually beneficial nature of creative job redesign. Restructuring positions by carving off less complicated or mundane duties can free up staff to concentrate on more skilled areas of work and boost staff morale.
Also consider providing employers with success stories often in conjunction with information on the supported wage system if relevant, and introduce them to employers who have successfully tried this approach.
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of Findings 2003, Cat. No. 4430.0, viewed 23 May 2006, <http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/Lookup/978A7C78CC11B702CA256F0F007B1311/$File/44300_2003.pdf>.