There’s one aspect of diversity, equity and inclusion in ESG that seems to be an afterthought.
Part of the 'social' pillar of ESG, disability inclusion seems to fall short in DE&I, with most organisations sitting at a small fraction of representation of people with disability in their workplace.
The state government, WA's largest employer with more than 150,000 people on its books, has a strategy to increase the representation of people with disability employed in the sector to 5 per cent by 2025.
Kane Blackman, Good Sammy Enterprises’s CEO, said a target of 5 per cent representation falls too short and stressed that all organisations need to think bigger about being more inclusive with disability employment.
“I worry greatly that, as a society, we’re still at the thin edge of the wedge on disability employment, where we’re hiring and progressing people who are the easiest to hire and progress, rather than rolling our sleeves up and saying, how do we actually bring everybody along to employment,” he said.
There are 100,000 Western Australians with disability of working age not in employment, with the unemployment rate of people with disability more than double compared to the rest of the population.
“A person with disability is facing 10 per cent unemployment in WA, and a person with intellectual disability is facing 20 per cent unemployment,” Mr Blackman said.
“We’re in the lowest unemployment setting in the state’s history at 3.5 per cent in WA, almost the lowest in Australia. Despite having the lowest unemployment rate in the state’s history, we have a cohort of people with disability facing significant disadvantage.”
All-abilities pathways
Good Sammy is an “all-abilities employer”, where people of all intellectual and physical abilities can be helped to find employment through several pathways.
“We believe in people's inherent ability. Our core mission is to increase the number of jobs for people with disability," Mr Blackman said.
More than half of Good Sammy’s workforce are people with disability, which far exceeds most organisations. “Of our workforce of almost 750 people, 52 per cent or almost 400 people have a disability in Good Sammy. We’ve got people with disability on our board and our management teams right down to the frontline," he told Business News.
“You might think of people's workforce diversity report striving for a 5 per cent uplift in a certain diversity cohort where we've shot the lights out there."
The charity creates training opportunities and development pathways for people with disability through its Good Sammy Academy. It also partners with businesses including Woolworths to help people with disability find meaningful employment, through the Australian Human Rights Commission’s national IncludeAbility project.
“We had 15 young Good Sammy employees with intellectual disability who wanted a job in Woolworths outside of Good Sammy, so we worked with Woolworths and provided staff training. Of the 15 people, 12 obtained employment. We’re doing that as part of our mission," Mr Blackman said.
Over the last 12 months, Good Sammy employed 361 people with disability, trained 210 people through its internal training academy, and helped 23 people obtain open employment with businesses outside Good Sammy.
“We get to improve the lives of the people we work with, and you can see how important that is to them so that’s really rewarding,” Mr Blackman said.
Pathways for PWD
Michael Heath, Activ Foundation’s CEO, agrees that every person should be given an opportunity of employment regardless of their abilities.
“I just don’t understand why people with an intellectual disability shouldn’t have the same opportunity as everybody else and to be a part of helping to shift perceptions and opportunities is incredible,” Mr Heath said.
“We really want people with intellectual disabilities to be able to go into an open workforce. We talk to a lot of corporates about it and Chevron have been good in the space,” he added.
Chevron, the major sponsor for the Chevron City to Surf for Activ, has had a strong partnership with Activ for over a decade, which has enabled Activ to support thousands of Western Australians with disability to achieve greater independence.
Mr Heath said there are a number of ways corporates can actively employ people with disability and get support doing it.
"With a lot of corporates I think there is a desire to do something in the space and they talk a lot about it because everybody is trying to get their diversity and inclusion plan together," he said.
“Quite often it doesn’t include people with intellectual disabilities and I find that quite frustrating that we can’t get ourselves on the agenda."
Activ Foundation offers diversity and inclusion training for workplaces through its RTO, Activ Pathways, which readies teams for welcoming a person living with disability into their workplace.
"We’re happy to train your organisation and we’re happy to help assimilate them into your workforce, but we’re still not getting there and that’s frustrating," Mr Heath said.
Graeme Govan was a supported intern at Nova 937 for three months in 2023 through Activ Pathways, where he was welcomed into the studio to help with a range of tasks which included tidying and cleaning, checking and stocking office and kitchen supplies, and learning skills from team members.
Mr Heath said days spent with people with disability is a rewarding part of his job. "You meet people who are amazing and do amazing things. They love to talk about footy and share their story with you and the things they’ve been working on and it’s great to have that interaction," he said.
Bridging the gap
Good Sammy has created social enterprises to provide more employment opportunities for people with disability, including its recently launched Good Thanks café, and a gardening service that employs people with disability.
“We’re an employer of first choice but we’re an employer of last resort in some cases because people have faced difficulty getting jobs elsewhere. We must turn this around – it has too much societal importance for those individuals and their families," Mr Blackman said.
"As an employer of last resort, I'm very sensitive that we need to exist for somebody with who needs significant support. We exist for all people with disability, this includes people with nonverbal disabilities and their families and carers and people across the entire spectrum.”
Mr Blackman encourages businesses to think about ways they can support employment of people with disability, including participating in its Container for Change recycling program which further creates employment opportunities for people with disability.
“You can achieve the ‘S’ in ESG by engaging with Good Sammy in a number of ways,” Mr Blackman said.
“You could hire Good Sammy for your external gardening or your internal plant maintenance. You could have a Container for Change recycling bin where you’re putting containers right now in the comingled recycling, Good Sammy can provide you with a bin.”
Good Sammy works with businesses to refine their disability strategy, recently engaging with the Department of Justice to oversee its employment disability plan. "You can work with us on an access and inclusion consulting basis,” Mr Blackman said.
“We’re running consultations statewide to hear people's experience with disability accessing Public Justice Courts and what improvements does the department need to look at as part of its own planning.”
Good Sammy also offers corporate volunteering which exposes people to disability and gives them a greater appreciation of the challenges and barriers people with disability face, as well as being able to see their potential for the workplace.
Corporates are encouraged to get in contact with the team at Good Sammy to get involved in its disability employment pathways including disability awareness training and corporate giving. To find out more about opportunities for employers or if you are considering enriching your workplace by providing opportunities for a person with disability, please call Good Sammy on 9463 0500.
Businesses wanting to embark on Diversity & Inclusion training with Activ Foundation or hire a person living with disability can get in touch with Activ at hello@activ.asn.au.
