Supported Employment in Australia

1
Supported Employment in Australia
Dr Greg LewisEdge Employment SolutionsPerth,
Western Australia
2
Labour Market Conditions

• proportion of non-disabled working-age people in
  OECD (30 countries - 22 in Europe) increased
  significantly through 1990s
• employment in 15 European countries rose by
  average 1.5 through 1990s

OECD Social Indicators 2002
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Proportion of employed people to total
working-age population (2001)

• Australia 0.69
• EU 0.66
• USA 0.73
• OECD 0.66

OECD Social Indicators 2002
4
Unemployment rate (2001)

• EU 6.2
• USA 4.8
• OECD 6.7
• Australia 6.7

OECD Social Indicators 2002
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Employment participation rate of people with
severe disabilities relative to that of
non-disabled people

• EU 0.36
• USA 0.31
• OECD 0.35
• Australia 0.41

OECD Social Indicators 2002
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International supported employment situation

• The low employment rate of people with
  disabilities reflects a failure of government
  social policies. Societies hide away some
  disabled individuals on generous benefits. Others
  isolate them in sheltered work programmes.
  Efforts to help them find work in the open labour
  market are often lacking. The shortcomings affect
  moderately disabled individuals, as well as those
  with severe handicaps...

OECD Policy Brief, 2003
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International supported employment situation

• only 21 of 52 respondent countries believed that
  sheltered workshops or centres had closed over
  previous five years to make way for supported
  employment
• nearly half of all respondents reported an
  increase in segregated services
• supported employment services have been slow to
  expand in most countries during the 1990s

Inclusion International, 1999
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European supported employment situation

• Global policies, regional funds, national
  mainstreaming, local know-how and individual
  motivation are the winds that blow in favour of
  supported employment. And yet it is becalmedan
  option for only a minority in most European
  countries.

Walsh Beyer, 1999
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European supported employment situation

• Despite the EUs history of funding innovation,
  funding at a national level for employment of
  people with disabilities still remains heavily
  and disproportionately invested in sheltered
  employment options.

Walsh Beyer, 1999
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Life Cycle of an Organisation
Employment Reform
DEATH
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Australian supported employment situation

• people with disabilities in supported
  employment 40,360 (67)
• people with disabilities insheltered
  employment 19,992 (33)

Commonwealth Disability Services Census, 2001
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Supported vs sheltered employment places in
Australia and United States (as a proportion of
total population)

• TOTAL PEOPLE IN FUNDED 0.3 0.35EMPLOYMENT
  PROGRAMS
• TOTAL PEOPLE IN 0.1 0.3SHELTERED EMPLOYMENT
• TOTAL PEOPLE IN 0.2 0.05SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT

AUST USA
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Supported vs sheltered employment places in
Australia and United States (as a proportion of
total population)
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Relative growth of supported and sheltered
employment places in Australia (1995 - 2001)
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Primary disability of Australian disability
employment users
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Post-training production rates(all workers on
all tasks)
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Early drivers of supported employment development
in Australia (1981 - 2001)

• growing acceptance/adoption of Normalisation
  principles
• promising integrated employment research findings
  in USA
• successful residential de-institutionalisation
  programs
• coalition of professionals and self-advocates
  seeking change
• United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons (1983
  - 1992)
• responsive bureaucracies at State and Federal
  levels
• Disability Services Act (1986)
• Disability Discrimination Act (1992)
• Commonwealth Disability Strategy (1994)

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EARLY DRIVERSDisability Services Act (1986)

• values-based and rights-based legislation that
  covers all working-age Australians with severe
  and moderate disabilities
• provides a consistent set of rules for the
  administration and delivery of specialised
  disability employment services throughout
  Australia
• includes a set of Principles and Objectives to
  which service providers must commit before
  receiving funding

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EARLY DRIVERS Disability Services Act Principles

• Right to be treated as an individual, respected
  for their worth and dignity.
• Right to realise their individual capacities for
  physical, social, emotional and intellectual
  development.
• Right to services which support a reasonable
  quality of life.
• Right to participate in decisions which affect
  their lives.
• Right to receive services in a manner which
  results in the least restriction of rights and
  opportunities.
• Right to pursue grievances in relation to
  services.

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EARLY DRIVERS Disability Services Standards
(1992)

• Established 12 mandatory Disability Services
  Standards and Key Performance Indicators which
  operationalised the Principles of the Act

• Std 1. Service access Std 7. Complaints and
  disputes
• Std 2. Individual needs Std 8. Service
  management
• Std 3. Decision making choice Std 9.
  Employment conditions
• Std 4. Privacy, dignity Std 10. Service
  recipient
• confidentiality training support
• Std 5. Participation integration Std 11. Staff
  recruitment,
• employment training
• Std 6. Valued status Std 12. Protection of
  human rights freedom from abuse

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EARLY DRIVERS Sample Disability Services
Standard

• STANDARD 9 EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
• Each person with a disability enjoys working
  conditions comparable to those of the general
  workforce.

KPI 1 The service ensures that, when people
with disabilities are placed in employment, their
wages are paid according to a relative award.
When a person is unable to work at full
productivity, the service ensures that a pro-rata
wage based on an award, and assessed through an
approved assessment process, is paid. KPI 2 The
service ensures that, when people with
disabilities are placed in employment, their
conditions of employment are consistent with
general workforce norms and relevant industrial
legislation. KPI 3 The service ensures that,
when people with disabilities are placed in
employment, they are informed of how wages and
conditions are determined and the consequences of
this.
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EARLY DRIVERS Disability Discrimination Act
(1992)

• rights-based access to labour market for all
  people with disabilities
• outlaws both direct and indirect discrimination
  in areas of work, accommodation, education,
  sport, recreation, transport, access to premises
  and provision of goods and services
• makes provision for, and clearly specifies,
  exemptions based on unjustifiable hardship or
  unreasonable burden
• includes standards that establish benchmarks for
  acceptable actions by governments and society
• does not include quota-based access to the labour
  market for people with disabilities

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Quota systems

• have not proven beneficial to people with
  disabilities (especially people with more
  significant disabilities) in most countries
• difficult to classify/assess breadth and severity
  of disabilities eligible for set-aside positions
• difficult to police compliance and to impose
  sanctions/fines
• potential negative attitudes of employers to
  quota systems that remove their discretion to
  select the best person for the job
• potential difficulties for employees with
  disabilities to establish their credentials as
  productive and valued workers
• reduced pressure on supported employment
  providers to effectively promote job seekers with
  disabilities as competitive candidates

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EARLY DRIVERS Commonwealth Disability Strategy
(1994)

• 10 year plan to ensure people with disabilities
  have equal opportunity to access all federal
  programs, facilities and services
• sought to integrate the UN Standard Rules on the
  Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with
  Disabilities (1993) with Australias Disability
  Discrimination Act (1992)
• has since been implemented by most
  state/provincial governments in Australia

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Employment Solutions
Employment Outcomes 1984 -2002
TOTAL JOBS SECURED
2664 1066
TOTAL WORKERS PLACED
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Registrants and Workers

• of Register Employed
• Intellectual Disability 54 76
• Physical Disability 18 76
• Sensory Disability 15 89
• Psychiatric Disability 6 64
• Neurological Disability 4 43
• Acquired Brain Injury 3 50

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Employer Type
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Hourly Wage Rates (AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS)
State Minimum Wage
10.34
All EDGE Workers 10.83
PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYERS Small
Medium Large Average EDGE
Workers 8.67 9.32 11.70 10.21
PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYERS Local
State Federal Average EDGE
Workers 12.70 14.40 14.90 14.40
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Same Job Tenure

• gt 1 year 70
• gt 2 years 55
• gt 3 years 42
• gt 5 years 30

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Key Success Factors within EDGE

• clearly enunciating the values of EDGE to
  funders, consumers and staff
• selecting, training and supervising staff in line
  with EDGEs values system
• promoting EDGE to prospective users as long-term
  career service not a short-term job placement
  service
• making EDGE look, feel and operate like a
  business (rather than a welfare service)
• establishing a corporate Board comprising
  high-profile leaders in business, government and
  the professions

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Key Success Factors within EDGE

• identifying our competitors as mainstream
  recruitment agencies promoting candidates without
  disabilities
• matching jobs to people, not people to jobs
• targeting major corporations and government
  agencies to supply the majority of all positions
• where appropriate, seeking positions that offer
  formal work-based training (eg. apprenticeships)
• employing and training specialist marketing
  personnel to promote job seekers with
  disabilities
• employing and training specialist support staff
  to provide on-the-job support and co-worker
  training

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Key Success Factors within EDGE

• promoting each job seeker with a disability as an
  attractive commercial proposition
• keeping and publicising the superior performance
  of workers placed by EDGE in areas of job tenure,
  attendance and safety
• establishing an enduring partnership between the
  employer, the employee, the support network and
  EDGE
• providing full-time on-the-job support to all new
  workers for as the long the partnership considers
  it necessary
• providing free off-site training to company staff
  in mentoring co-workers with disabilities and
  maximising natural supports in the workplace

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Key Success Factors within EDGE

• fading on-the -job support gradually and
  providing ongoing back-up to workers and
  employers
• securing maximum repeat business with employers
  by being able to offer a continuum of workers
  from unskilled to university graduates
• ensuring workers are able to change careers or
  employers as their needs and preferences change
• maintaining a quality assurance system and a
  commitment to continuous quality improvement
• maintaining focus on EDGEs core business of
  getting people with disabilities into quality
  mainstream employment

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Supported Employment in Australia
Dr Greg LewisEdge Employment SolutionsPerth,
Western Australia