Yarra Ranges Council builds disability confidence with support from JobAccess

Yarra Ranges Council is a local government council in Victoria. The Council wanted to improve access to jobs for people with disability. As part of its partnership with JobAccess, the organisation’s full recruitment process improved.

Improving accessibility

The Council worked with JobAccess to make it easier for people with disability to access jobs within its organisation. The People and Culture team wanted to learn more about disability in the workplace and get advice from experts. That’s where the National Disability Recruitment Coordinator (NDRC) stepped in.

The NDRC is JobAccess' service that works with employers. It partners with organisations to improve their knowledge and confidence about disability. The aim is to create a disability-inclusive workplace. This involves removing obstacles from current processes and policies. NDRC partnerships are for 12 months and are available at no cost to employers.

Kate Freeman is a Talent Acquisition Advisor at Yarra Ranges Council. She shares, “Our goal in engaging JobAccess was to improve disability awareness. We wanted to apply a disability perspective to our services. This includes our recruitment processes, policies, and procedures. Our aim was to improve our disability employment accessibility.” 

Enhancing the hiring process

The Council worked with an NDRC Professional Adviser to look at their hiring practices. They received advice on how to make applying for jobs an accessible and inclusive process for candidates with disability. The adviser also worked with the team on the Council’s goals for hiring people with disability.

After a full recruitment review process, changes were made to job ads, systems, policies, and interview materials. The adviser also trained more than 45 staff on disability awareness and inclusive employment practices. 

“Our recruitment team now feel much more confident in applying a disability perspective.” 

Nathan Deslandes
Head of People and Culture Operations
Yarra Ranges Council

Nathan Deslandes is Head of People and Culture Operations at Yarra Ranges Council. He says, “Our recruitment team now feels much more confident in applying a disability perspective. Job ads are more inclusive. There’s increased confidence in supporting candidates. And we advise hiring managers about inclusive interview practices.”

Building disability-confident workplace 

The team is still working on improving their practices by taking courses on writing accessible content. They are also making other changes to improve inclusivity in their processes. 

“The adviser’s feedback has encouraged us to continually improve our approach to recruitment. His training provided some great insights. We’re now better at handling reasonable adjustment requests,” Nathan adds. 

Expert advice and support with workplace adjustments are another service that JobAccess provides. These adjustments can be funded through the Employment Assistance Fund (EAF). The EAF gives financial help to employers and people with disability to purchase work-related modifications and supports.

The Council encourages other organisations to work with the NDRC to become disability confident.

“It’s an excellent first step. The NDRC will provide you with a new perspective and appreciation for employment accessibility. The adviser has a wealth of knowledge and experience. He was always available for any questions that we had,” concluded Kate and Nathan.

Are you looking to build a disability confident workplace too? Talk to the experts.

The National Disability Recruitment Coordinator (NDRC) works with employers, big or small, to help create inclusive workplace policies. They educate on good practice to support people with disability.

The NDRC provides a vacancy distribution service to employers, workplace training and employer seminars on disability awareness.

Call JobAccess at 1800 464 800 to connect with the NDRC. You can also submit an online enquiry form through the JobAccess website.