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Last updated: 30 August 2006

Employment of people with disability in the APS

Chapter 3 Access to APS employment

People with disability have difficulty accessing the open employment market,⁵¹ including positions in the APS.⁵² Compared to other applicants with the same educational qualifications, people with disability commonly are disadvantaged by the lack of accessibility of job advertisements and the recruitment process; employer perceptions of their ability; and a lack of demonstrated experience in the workplace.

The APS could do more to develop strategies to address this particular disadvantage. In 2004–05, 80% of agencies reported using at least one measure to attract people with disability (compared to 85% in 2003–04).⁵³ In 2004–05, while most agencies reported using a combination of strategies to facilitate the recruitment of people with disability, 17 agencies did not have any strategies in place.⁵⁴

In the 2006–07 Budget, the Australian Public Service Commission received funding for a case study evaluation of strategies for the recruitment and management of people with disability. A good practice guide aimed at increasing the participation of people with disability in APS employment will be developed as an outcome of the evaluation.

Strategies are desirable in three areas. First, to level the playing field for people with disability. People with disability are not asking to compete other than on merit. However, to allow them to effectively compete, the merit selection process needs to be accessible to them.

Second, strategies need to deal with the restricted access people with disability have to employment opportunities during their education. Merit selection processes commonly compare the prior work experience of applicants when assessing their demonstrated capacity against the selection criteria. Strategies to provide opportunities for people with disability to access training schemes and mentoring arrangements in the APS could provide work experience opportunities and better equip people with disability to compete on merit.

Third, strategies could address the particular difficulties people with intellectual disability experience in accessing the workforce.

3.1 Levelling the playing field for people with disability

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s 2005 National Inquiry into Employment and Disability found people with disability commonly experience discrimination at all stages of the recruitment process, from advertisement to selection.⁵⁵

Data from the 2005 State of the Service Agency Survey suggests the same may be true of APS selection processes. Significantly fewer employees with disability applied for other jobs in the APS in the last 12 months. Of those who did apply, 89% applied for promotion; 22% of these applicants with disability were successful, compared to 37% of applicants without disability.⁵⁶ The reasons for these different outcomes are unclear. The difference could be due to the level of education of applicants with disability. On the other hand, it could be due to the training and development opportunities given to applicants with disability or difficulties they experience during the selection process.

Common barriers people with disability experience in negotiating the APS selection processes include the absence of the support of organisations specialising in placing people with disability in employment; inaccessible job advertisements, forms of application and timeframes; selection criteria that go beyond the inherent requirements of the job; and the perceived discriminatory actions and views of some recruitment agencies, assessment centres and selection panels.

3.1.1 Developing relationships with organisations specialising in placing people with disability in employment

APS agencies with better outcomes in employing people with disability have developed relationships with organisations specialising in placing people with disability in employment, including the Disability Employment Network, the National Disability Recruitment Coordinator, strategic service providers, disability liaison officers in universities and advocacy groups, to:

• market the APS as an employer of choice for people with disability
• support people with disability applying for APS positions
• assist agencies in identifying the reasonable adjustments that will be required to the recruitment procedures to address the needs of individual applicants with disability
• increase the understanding among people with disability of the requirements of the APS.

The Disability Employment Network⁵⁷ is the collective name for specialist disability employment services. They provide specialist assistance to job seekers with disability (permanent or likely to be permanent), who need ongoing support to gain and maintain employment.⁵⁸ Their members throughout Australia are funded by the Australian Government (through DEWR) on the basis of the number of job seekers they assist, the amount of assistance required and the number of job seekers successfully placed in employment.⁵⁹

The National Disability Recruitment Coordinator is funded by DEWR to provide employers with access to a single, free, effective contact point for recruiting people with disability.⁶⁰ The current National Disability Recruitment Coordinator (until 31 December 2006 when a new tender is to be let) is Disability Works Australia. In this role, Disability Works Australia effectively acts as a ‘broker’ between the Disability Employment Network and employers. Where applicants with disability are not clients of these organisations or where services required are outside those covered by the contract with DEWR, employers fund these organisations on a user-pays basis.

The types of services the National Disability Recruitment Coordinator offers employers can most easily be described by outlining their role in the 2006 graduate recruitment process undertaken by the ACT Government.

Other services the National Disability Recruitment Coordinator and the Disability Employment Network provide include developing appropriate job descriptions that are accessible to people with disability; and providing training, information and awareness-raising activities for co-workers of successful applicants with disability.

DEWR used the services of the National Disability Recruitment Coordinator in its 2006 graduate recruitment programme. Other employers to use the services of the National Disability Recruitment Coordinator in recruitment processes, and to develop strategies to increase the level of their employment of people with disability, include the South Australian, Northern Territory and Victorian Governments; Coles Myer Ltd; National Australia Bank; ANZ Bank; Woolworths; and Australia Post. Memoranda of Understanding between the National Disability Recruitment Coordinator and individual employers establish the boundaries of each relationship.

Other APS agencies, including FaCSIA, have used the services of private organisations known as strategic service providers, including Diversity@Work Australia Incorporated, to provide best practice advice in developing strategies to improve the employment of people with disability.

In 2004–05, 26% of APS agencies reported they worked with organisations specialising in placing people with disability in employment.⁶¹ More extensive use of their services, either in consultation with agencies’ own recruitment staff or contracted recruitment suppliers, would assist agencies in implementing best practice arrangements that allow people with disability to compete on merit and facilitate cultural change.

3.1.2 Accessible job advertisements

APS agencies electing not to use the support of organisations specialising in placing people with disability in employment, need to ensure their recruitment processes are accessible to people with disability.

People with disability (particularly those with a visual or other disability that makes it difficult to access print or online advertisements available only in pdf format) often rely on their own networks to learn of vacancies. Failing to advertise through these avenues restricts APS employment opportunities for people with disability, but also narrows the prospective field of qualified applicants.

A solution adopted by some employers, including the Victorian Government under its Memorandum of Understanding with the National Disability Recruitment Coordinator, Disability Works Australia, is to distribute all vacancies via Disability Works Australia’s employment register of clients with disability.

To assist the National Disability Recruitment Coordinator in distributing APS vacancies through its networks to prospective candidates, the Australian Public Service Commission will explore the possibility of putting in place arrangements to allow the coordinator to download the Australian Public Service Gazette.

3.1.3 Accessible forms of application and time frames

People with disability, in common with many in the community, have difficulty addressing APS selection criteria. These difficulties are exacerbated when a person’s disability limits their ability to respond within a limited time frame or in the format required.

Agencies and their contact officers are encouraged to be flexible in accepting applications in different formats from people with disability (including, where appropriate, oral applications) and in extending time to lodge applications.

The Australian Public Service Commission will develop guidance for all job seekers on selection processes in the APS, including addressing selection criteria. This material will provide advice to applicants with disability about the flexibilities they can request when applying for APS positions, such as: extensions of time; the provision of selection criteria in alternative formats; and submitting applications in other than written form. The material will be widely publicised to disability networks and recruitment agencies.

3.1.4 Selection criteria limited to the inherent requirements of the job

Agencies are making increasing use of competency frameworks to promote multiskilling of staff and increase staffing flexibility. However, where those frameworks result in very broad selection criteria which require applicants to demonstrate capabilities a position may not require, they prevent people with disability from demonstrating their ability to satisfy the inherent requirements of the job. They discourage applications from suitably qualified applicants with disability, who cannot objectively determine whether they could meet the inherent requirements of the position.

The Get it Right recruitment kit for managers, developed by the Australian Public Service Commission, can assist agencies to identify the appropriate skills and personal qualities required for a particular position. It is likely there are some jobs for which the inherent requirements are such that people with certain disabilities will not qualify. They should, however, be the exception rather than the rule.

3.1.5 Recruitment agencies

APS agencies are outsourcing more aspects of the recruitment process to recruitment agencies. Nearly one in four agencies use recruitment agencies for the entire process, including the recommendation to the delegate. Their use peaks in large agencies, with nearly half using recruitment agencies for their whole process in some APS 1–6 selections and in around a quarter of EL selections in 2004–05.⁶²

Presently, contracts to procure recruitment services generally require that recruitment agencies comply with legal anti-discrimination obligations, including the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Commonwealth Disability Strategy.

However, many of those consulted during this review expressed concern that short- listing strategies used by recruitment agencies exclude people with disability from the short list for APS positions.

Officials procuring the services of recruitment agencies should satisfy themselves that those procurement arrangements meet the legislative and policy obligations applicable to that procurement and do not discriminate against applicants with disability.⁶³

Some better performing agencies assess the measures tenderers have in place to support the employment of people with disability, including measures tenderers have in place to employ a diverse workforce of their own, before letting tenders.

However, few agencies consulted reported they imposed express contractual obligations on recruitment agencies to support and encourage applications from people with disability. Agencies could consider express contractual obligations of this sort including, for example, that recruitment agencies advertise vacancies through the National Disability Recruitment Coordinator.

To ensure sufficient prominence is given to the obligation to support and encourage applications from people with disability, FaCSIA will review the current Commonwealth Disability Strategy framework on employment to ensure performance measures for outsourced recruitment processes are appropriate.

3.1.6 Assessment centres

The use of assessment centres, psychometric testing and direct testing to assess applicants varies between agencies. The processes are more often used by large agencies. In 2004–05, over three-quarters of large, 46% of medium and 37% of small agencies used direct testing to assess required workplace skills in some APS 1–6 selection exercises.⁶⁴

Once short-listed, the performance of people with disability under those direct testing arrangements depends on the extent to which reasonable adjustments are made to those arrangements to counter any disadvantage their disability may present; 49% of agencies reported they made appropriate accommodations to testing situations in 2004–05.⁶⁵ Concern about a lack of reasonable adjustments in direct testing situations was also raised in focus group discussions. As one focus group participant outlined:

Assessment centres don’t accommodate for people with vision impairments. My applications against the selection criteria were successful but when I had to attend an assessment centre there was no reasonable adjustment made. I had to complete selection tests in the same time as other candidates. I would only get half as far because it takes me longer to read. Whenever I had to undertake this testing I failed to get a job.

Most applicants with disability will not require significant adjustments and those that are required need not be expensive to implement. They can be as simple as allowing an applicant with a visual disability more time to complete assessment centre tests, or ensuring that the testing centre is accessible to persons using a wheelchair so that the assessment does not have to be conducted in the carpark!⁶⁶ Or they can extend to arrangements (adopted by the ACT Government in its 2006 graduate recruitment programme) encouraging applicants to disclose their disability and access an alternative application process.

Agencies which do not secure the assistance of the National Disability Recruitment Coordinator should ensure their direct testing arrangements, or those conducted by contracted recruitment providers, make the necessary reasonable adjustments required by applicants with disability.

3.1.7 Selection panels

People with disability consulted in the course of this review reported they continue to be judged according to their disability and not their ability.⁶⁷ The experience of some was that interviewers focused on the obstacles that need to be addressed in employing someone with disability, instead of acknowledging their qualifications and expertise and focusing on how to facilitate their contribution to the workplace.

This perception is not surprising given that two-thirds of agencies responding to the 2005 State of the Service Agency Survey reported they did not provide training for interviewers on appropriate interviewing methods for people with disability.⁶⁸

Agencies are encouraged to review their training arrangements to ensure interviewers receive appropriate training, including training on their obligations in considering applicants with disability.

3.2 Improving access to APS work experience opportunities

Many people with disability experience difficulties in gaining employment during their studies, which inhibits their ability to demonstrate their capacity to carry out the duties of APS positions.

Providing opportunities to appropriately qualified applicants with disability to access training opportunities and work experience in the APS, and allow them to develop that practical experience in conjunction with their studies, addresses the disadvantage some people with disability experience in not otherwise being able to access work experience opportunities. At the same time, it also affords the APS the opportunity to address skills shortages in particular fields by looking to qualified people with disability to fill those skilled vacancies on completion of the training scheme.

Managing and Sustaining the APS Workforce urges agencies to adopt ‘strategic and dynamic approaches to managing and sustaining the APS workforce’ by looking to the diverse nature of the workforce.⁶⁹ People with disability are one element of that diversity and should be considered in any workforce planning efforts, particularly for hard-to-find specialty groups including accountants and IT professionals.

Employers in the private sector are increasingly following this course. IBM, for example, has a range of schemes aimed at fostering interest in IT at an early age, including visits by IBM staff to schools to speak to people with disability and young women about the breadth of career choices.⁷⁰

3.2.1 Agency training schemes

Agency heads may, under the Public Service Regulations 1999, approve training schemes to engage people on a non-ongoing basis to gain skills and experience to assist them to participate in the workforce.⁷¹

In developing these schemes agencies can consider organising and promoting them in a way which encourages and supports people with disability to apply. Depending on the focus of the scheme, agencies could also use the National Disability Recruitment Coordinator, the Disability Employment Network or university disability coordinators⁷² to identify suitable applicants.

At the end of the training scheme participants would no longer be employed by the agency, but will have improved their job readiness and be well-equipped to compete on merit for future positions in the agency.

In 2004–05, five agencies used agency-based employment schemes which encouraged the recruitment of people with disability.⁷³

Instances where similar schemes have been used include:

• The Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) has recently offered a small group of school leavers the opportunity to kick-start their careers in the APS by offering APS 1 positions as part of a twelve-month programme for school leavers who are interested in gaining work experience in different areas of the department, supported by particular leadership, peer support and mentoring activities.
• DEWR has offered twelve-month contract management traineeships to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
• The New South Wales and Queensland Governments are encouraging their managers to use identified positions to employ people with disability to enable them to obtain relevant experience that will better equip them to compete on merit. These governments are using the Disability Employment Network to assist them in achieving this goal.⁷⁴

3.2.2 Developing mentoring programmes for people with disability transitioning into the workforce

Mentoring programmes help students with disability to make the transition from study to work by providing opportunities to develop an understanding of the commercial world, develop relationships, and enhance their personal and professional strategies. The mentoring relationship has, in some instances, enabled students with disability to access work experience and a referee, and develop longer- term relationships which can assist in gaining employment.

… It gave me the motivation and self belief to pursue things I thought I could not achieve. My refereed law journal article was printed and circulated last week, and, as I flicked through it, I was reminded that my mentor’s guidance was partly responsible for motivating me to get published. Also got paid part time legal work and the mock interviews with my mentor were a huge help.⁷⁵

These programmes also benefit mentors, giving them the opportunity to share their professional experience with people with disability and increase their awareness of the issues faced by people with disability and, more importantly, the skills and abilities they have to offer. Personal insights can be a powerful driver for cultural change within organisations.

… I just met with student, John doing PhD in architecture as you know. He is undoubtedly one of the most brilliant people I have ever met, incredible IQ, his only ‘disability’ is with dyslexia. Just goes to show how emphasis should be on ability not disability. Also great for me, as we have lots of ideas in common and potential to work together on some projects. So I’m very happy with this connection.⁷⁶

A range of mentoring programmes are funded by FaCSIA, and the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) to assist young people in making the transition to work. Some, including the Willing and Able Mentoring Program,⁷⁷ specifically cater to students with disability, matching university students with mentors in appropriate sectors and providing support to both mentors and students through briefing sessions.

Coordinators of this and similar programmes experience difficulties identifying suitable mentors in the public service. APS managers are encouraged to participate in, and lend their support to, these programmes.

3.3 Employment of people with intellectual disability

Opportunities for people with intellectual disability, including acquired brain injury, have significantly declined across the APS. Managing and Sustaining the APS Workforce acknowledged that the trend across agencies to curtail base-level recruitment has helped make the APS a ‘graduate’ workforce and greatly reduced opportunities for, among others, people with intellectual disability.⁷⁸

Agency heads can recruit staff with intellectual disability to ongoing positions, without breaching the merit selection principles, by utilising the special employment measures under clause 4.2(6)(b)(ii) of the Public Service Commissioner’s Directions 1999.⁷⁹

Prior to the passage of the Public Service Act 1999, the measures were supported by the Intellectual Disability Access Program (IDAP). That programme matched people with intellectual disability with vacancies in the APS and provided initial training to assist them to develop the necessary skills. On completion of that training, recruits were expected to work to a standard and at a rate acceptable for other recruits.

Recruits who were unable to achieve that level of productivity could be employed under the Disability Employment Enhancement Scheme⁸⁰ as temporary employees for a period of up to 12–16 weeks and have a wage assessment under the Supported Wage System⁸¹ at the end of that period. From the outcome of the wage assessment, the APS employer could decide to offer ongoing employment under IDAP, and the person with disability would be paid at the assessed rate.⁸²

The Disability Employment Enhancement Scheme continues to exist under the Public Service Act 1999.⁸³ The IDAP Guidelines date back to 1992, are not regarded as current and are not readily available to agencies. The Australian Public Service Commission, in consultation with other relevant agencies, will review current advice and develop new or additional guidelines as appropriate.

Only one agency reported using special employment measures in 2004–05.⁸⁴ The absence of guidance to agencies, such as that provided previously through IDAP, is likely to be a factor.

The heightened performance culture of the APS, with accompanying demands on managers’ time, is likely to be another. In this environment, agencies are struggling to identify suitable positions for candidates with intellectual disability. However, job redesign of some lower-level positions, incorporating routine administrative tasks such as photocopying, printing, mailing and filing, could provide appropriate employment opportunities. These positions need not be full-time. Part-time positions could suit the needs of both the agency, if duties are not sufficient for a full-time position, and the employee whose health and other limitations make full-time employment difficult. At least one agency is investigating this option.

The success of such positions depends on ‘matching’ the duties of the position and the abilities of the successful applicant. Members of the Disability Employment Network⁸⁵ are able to assist agencies to achieve that match by developing the selection criteria for such positions, identifying suitable applicants, readying the workplace, and providing support and on-the-job training to the successful applicant in the long-term. Support of that kind can free up managers to concentrate on other tasks.

 

51. See the discussion in Chapters 1 and 2 of this report.
52. The results of the State of the Service Employee Survey 2004–05 indicate that a significantly higher proportion of APS employees with disability were unemployed prior to joining the APS than were employees without disability (Australian Public Service Commission 2005, State of the Service Employee Survey Results—Unpublished Data, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra).
53. Australian Public Service Commission, State of the Service Reports, 2003–04 (2004), 2004–05 (2005), Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.
54. Australian Public Service Commission 2005, State of the Service Report 2004–05, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, p. 218.
55. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission 2005, Interim Report of the National Inquiry into Employment and Disability, HREOC, Sydney.
56. Australian Public Service Commission 2005, State of the Service Employee Survey Results—Unpublished Data, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra. Note: Of people who applied for a position, people with disability were significantly more likely than people without disability to apply for promotion (89% compared with 73%).
57. Also known as Disability Employment Assistance. Details of the Disability Employment Network are available at: <http://www.jobaccess.gov.au/JOAC/Employers/Getting+advice+and+support/DisabilityEmploymentNetwo.htm>
58. <http://www.workplace.gov.au/workplace/Category/SchemesInitiatives/DOES/> The website was viewed on 10 March 2006.
59. For details see Chapter 3 of the Request for Tender for Disability Open Employment Services (Uncapped Stream) issued by DEWR and available at: <http://www.workplace.gov.au/ NR/rdonlyres/>
60. Disability Works Australia 2005, Practical Solutions to Increase Employer Demand for Workers with a Disability, Disability Works Australia Ltd. Briefing Paper, p. 4.
61. Australian Public Service Commission 2005, State of the Service Report 2004–05, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, p. 218.
62. Australian Public Service Commission 2005, State of the Service Report 2004–05, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, pp. 87–8.
63. Department of Finance and Administration 2005, Guidance on Complying with Legislation and Government Policy in Procurement January 2005, Financial Management Guidance No. 10, p. 5 <http://www.finance.gov.au/ctc/complying_with_legislation_g.html>
64. Australian Public Service Commission 2005, State of the Service Report 2004–05, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, p. 88.
65. Australian Public Service Commission 2005, State of the Service Report 2004–05, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, p. 218.
66. A personal experience relayed by a focus group participant.
67. Personal experiences relayed by focus group participants.
68. Australian Public Service Commission 2005, State of the Service Report 2004–05, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, p. 218.
69. Management Advisory Committee 2005, Managing and Sustaining the APS Workforce, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, p. 1.
70. Review Team meeting with IBM (8 February 2006).
71. See regulation 3.3 of the Public Service Regulations 1999. Schemes must be approved by the agency head and notice of the approval must be published in the Australian Public Service Gazette within 14 days (regulation 3.3 (2)). When gazetting such schemes, agencies should consider including brief details of the scheme (for example, what it is intended to do, who is eligible, how people are selected, the nature of the non-ongoing appointment (term or task), and any special terms or conditions of employment).
72. Details of the approximately 200 Disability Open Employment Service Providers, across Australia, are available at: <http://jobsearch.gov.au/public/providers/generic/default.aspx?provider=DOE>
73. Australian Public Service Commission 2005, State of the Service Report 2004–05, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, p. 218.
74. Review team discussions with members of the Queensland and NSW Governments.
75. Quote from a Willing and Able Mentoring Program participant provided by the Willing and Able Mentoring Program Coordinator at the interview (February 2006).
76. Quote from a Willing and Able Mentoring Program participant provided by the Willing and Able Mentoring Program Coordinator at the interview (February 2006).
77. See the Willing and Able Mentoring Program website <http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/content/view/full/318>
78. Management Advisory Committee 2005, Managing and Sustaining the APS Workforce, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, p. 49.
79. Made under Sections 11(1), 15(4) and 36 of the Public Service Act 1999.
80. The Disability Employment Enhancement Scheme was established as a prescribed scheme under regulation 122 of the Public Service Regulations 1999 (made under the Public Service Act 1922) on 21 June 1994 (with a commencement date of 1 July 1994).
81. Advice on the current operation of the Supported Wage System is available at: <http://www.jobaccess.gov.au/JOAC/Employers/Employer+incentives/SupportedWageSystem.htm>
82. ‘Public Service Commission Draft Guidelines on Access to Employment in the Australian Public Service for People with Disability Using the Supported Wage System’, 1995, pp. 10–11.
83. Chapter 3, Part 1(e) of the Prime Minister’s Public Service Directions 1999 provides that an agency head may engage a person ‘under the scheme known as the Disability Employment Enhancement Scheme’. These directions are made under section 21(1) of the Public Service Act 1999.
84. Australian Public Service Commission 2005, State of the Service Report 2004–2005, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, p. 218.
85. Details of the approximately 200 Disability Open Employment Service Providers, across Australia, are available at: <http://www.jobaccess.gov.au/JOAC/Employers/Getting+advice+and+support/AustralianGovernmentEmplo.htm/>

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