Policies and Issues in HRM & ER: Disability Recruitment in Australian Organizations

This essay discusses the diversity and inclusiveness of Australian organizations in the context of disability recruitment. It explores the barriers faced by people with disabilities during recruitment, the reasons behind Australian organizations abstaining from hiring them, and the benefits of employing people with disabilities. The essay also covers the theoretical frameworks of disability and the government's support for disabled people in recruitment and the workplace.

Running head: POLICIES AND ISSUES IN HRM & ER
Policies and Issues in HRM & ER
Essay
Topic: Are organisations in Australia diverse and inclusive in the context of Disability
Recruitment/Hiring?
Student’s name:
Name of the university:
Author’s note:

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POLICIES AND ISSUES IN HRM & ER
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Employment for people with disability in Australia........................................................................2
Barriers faced by people with disability during recruitment...........................................................3
Reasons behind Australian organisations abstain from hiring people with disability.....................5
Benefits of employing people with disability..................................................................................7
Theoretical frameworks of disability...............................................................................................8
Disability recruitment policies, frameworks and laws in Australia...............................................10
Government’s support to the disabled people in Australia in recruitment and workplace to make
the organisations more diverse and inclusive................................................................................13
Conclusions....................................................................................................................................13
Reference List................................................................................................................................15

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Introduction
. Human Rights Australia has observed that people with disability associate and
participate less in employment than other people in Australia and the disabled people continue to
experience extremely poor outcomes in participating in mainstream employment. Therefore, to
make the workplace diverse and inclusive, the government of Australia has taken some current
initiatives addressing the subject of disability issues in hiring or during the recruitment.
Disability is different from other types of diversity like gender, race, ethnicity, culture and
language (Wen, 2016). Inclusion in the workplace occurs when different and diverse people feel
respected and valued to access resources and opportunities and use their talents at the workplace
to develop them. The thesis statement of this essay is to show diversity and inclusiveness in the
Australian organisations in the context of disability recruitment. In the first section, barriers
faced by people in disability are discussed and challenges faced by organisations to hire people
with disability are also explained. This essay highlights the recent development of the regulatory
framework regarding the disability in the workplace.
Employment for people with disability in Australia
Disability brings barriers to the Australians when disabled people find the discriminatory
behaviours and attitudes during the recruitment and in the workplace from the colleagues and
from the employers. Disabled people sometimes do not aware of the rights of the work and
disabled people face the lack of availability of the jobs. Australian Government published the
new research named Employ Their Ability, where it showed that almost 77% of Australian
employers in small and medium scale organisations are open to hiring the disabled people as
they think that the workplace must reflect the tendency of showing diversity by including the

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disabled people (Eps.org.au, 2018). In Australia, almost five million are disabled and it shows
the large part of the community. As stated by Murfitt et al., (2018), when the employers do not
consider the disabled persons as a candidate, the employers not only delivering the personal
disservice, the business venture is missing the part of the creativity. Following table shows the
clear picture of Australians’ disability:
Disability in the workplace actually means the mental or physical condition which may
limit the person's sense, movements or activities (Wiesel & Bigby, 2015). Disability Employment
Australia provides provision to find the employment results to the disabled people and this
particular agency advice, inform, train and advocate the events of disabled people’s employment
(Scott et al., 2017). As stated by Darcy, Taylor & Green (2016), if all the organisations in
Australia can reduce the employment gap between those without the disability and Australians
with a disability, Australia can increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by almost $43 billion in
the next decade.
Cisco Australia is an equal employment opportunity employer as it is consistent with
applicable law and it provides opportunities and access to those with a disability. Cisco Australia
provides reasonable accommodation to individuals with a disability and it provides access to the
company to the online application to the system. Cisco Australia has made extensive
accommodation to the disabled people by giving extensive efforts (Cisco.com, 2018). Cisco
Australia made workplace modification and they arrange some special equipment. Cisco
Australia also designs the job, hours and procedure in a way so that disabled people can work
better. Cisco Australia also provides workplace education on the employees’ disability and the
management does the performance appraisal as well.

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Barriers faced by people with disability during recruitment
Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) experienced maximum numbers of
complaints from disabled people about disability discrimination. The following image will show
the discrimination case logged with AHRC and disability discrimination act gathered the highest
type of complaint (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2018). Disability is observed
differently by different people mostly based on socio-economic conditions. In the workplace of
Australia, disabled people face issues of emotional, physical and economic challenges. The
disabled people face discrimination in institution, family and in governmental level. The level of
participation in the economic arena is less for disabled people. The disabled people get the job in
the organisations; however, medical needs of the disabled people require special economic
support. The disabled people have to afford assistive appliances like artificial limbs, hearing aids,
wheelchairs and crutches. During the recruitment, the employers may think that disabled people
may not be fit for the vacant positions. Therefore, disabled people face the unequal advantage in
the recruitment process and sometimes, the recruiters' wrong perception about disability may
lead to loss of employment of the disabled people (Ball et al., 2005).
Some of the office buildings do not have the facility where the disabled people can enter
with wheelchairs and assistive services. The disabled people also suffer when they need to use
public transport while visiting the offices for an interview. According to Crudden, Sansing &
Butler (2005), the disabled people face issues when they sit for the interview as the offices do not
have modification for the equipment as it makes the equipment expensive to employ disabled
people. The recruiters have the perception that disabled people may claim discrimination if the
employee does not work out. In the recruitment process, disabled people face the issue of
psychological challenges as the fellow candidates can pass comments with remarks (Balser,

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2000). The recruiters can also discriminate the disabled people by comparing the disabled people
with others. The recruiters may use derogatory words in line with traditional beliefs.
Reasons behind Australian organisations abstain from hiring people with disability
Disabled people in Australia experience lack of availability of the jobs in Australia and
lack of assistance in securing, finding and maintaining the employment. Australians with a
disability also face difficulty in gaining education and employment skill training. As opined by
Wen (2016), disabled people in Australia see the potential reduction of the Disability Support
Pension as an outcome of the increased employment. As published in the article by Ameri et al.,
(2018), Australia is ranked 21st out of 29th in the OECD countries in employment rates for the
persons with disability.
37
21
20
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Discrimination cases by type in
Australia (%)
Disability Discrimination Act
Se Discrimination Actx
Racial Discrimination Act
uman Rights and qualH E
pportuniry CommissionO
Age Discrimination
Figure 1: Discrimination cases by type lodged with AHRC by the act
(Source: Dss.gov.au, 2018)

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POLICIES AND ISSUES IN HRM & ER
Employers in Australia abstain from hiring the disabled people and the possible barrier of
the employer includes the low level of awareness regarding the legal obligation in relation to the
discrimination against disabled people ( ). Maximum employers in Australia do not have the idea
regarding policy framework of disability laws in Australia. The employers do not want to take
responsibility regarding difficulties in ensuring the access to flexibility for employees with
disability. Moreover, the employers in Australia have the limited resources and if they have the
small business, in particular, they do not want to provide the employment to the disabled people
as they think that disabled people may have lack of skills to take the large responsibilities. As
commented by Ashforth & Mael (1989), employers in Australia face difficulties in complying
with the laws and regulations which are associated with the anti-discrimination, work, health,
employment and health and safety along with insurance and workers compensation. If the
employers have to manage the employment of the disabled people, then the employers have to
follow the multiple laws and policy frameworks; therefore, it would be difficult for them to abide
by all the laws of compensation and insurance. In addition, keeping disabled people within the
organisation is meant that the employers have to face the difficulties associated with the
compliance that monitors the reporting and requirements. Moreover, organisations in Australia
experience the difficulties which are related to the monitoring and compliance and reporting the
requirements (Ball et al., 2005). Finally, the organisations also experience in lack of knowledge
regarding the support framework for the disabled employees; hence, the management does not
want to provide employment to the disabled employees.
IBM, an American multinational has always been inclusive of the disability people since
the time of 1914. IBM has taken various steps to ensure that the candidates with disability are
well accommodated in the organisation. IBM’s recruitment plan can be simplified into three

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words: society, innovation and organisation (Respectability.org, 2018). IBM eliminated
challenges from the recruitment process as the biggest challenge is to identify the candidates
with a disability from the campuses, resume and employment agencies. IBM eliminates the
biases and IBM creates sensitivity across the employment. Therefore, IBM sources and attracts
the disabled people by ensuring all their channels and methods. IBM started the referral
programmes as the source of disabled candidates and it helps to create the credibility with the
referral candidates. IBM ensures that the interview process must provide reasonable and
accessible accommodations with tests and assessments procedure (Respectability.org, 2018). The
major focus is on the outcomes of the specific ways to perform the tasks. IBM hiring managers
do not compromise with skills and each of the position has reasonable accommodations.
Benefits of employing people with disability
People with disabilities are taken as reliable employees and disabled employees have
higher job retention in an international context. As published in the article of Wiesel & Bigby
(2015), employees with vision loss and Veterans have the retention rate of almost 1.8 years. In
addition, employees with disabilities are cautious and they are less likely to get in touch with
work-related issues and accidents. The employees with disabilities are conscientious and aware
of style in the workplace and disabled people are associated with different types of jobs like
operational, clerical, managerial and labour. Moreover, the organisations that hire employees
with disabilities may receive extra incentives and tax credits. Some of the eligible businesses can
get the tax credits if the organisations accommodate the workers with disabilities. Additionally,
employees with disabilities may increase diversity in the workplace as the organisation will have
different types of employees who belong to different social strata (Murfitt et al., 2018). The
employees with no-disability may get to know about disability when the disabled people will

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work together. The disabled people can teach their co-workers about the problem-solving and
creativity about different work process. Finally, disabled people are as capable as the other
employees and this inclusion will help to hire more disabled employees. Before the hiring
process, the recruiters need to get training on diversity and inclusion so that they must be aware
of the importance of disability. As stated by Blank et al., (2018), equal opportunities in the
workplace are one of the key aspects of the disability equal policies. When the organisations
recruit the disabled people; the organisations get more productivity and less fluctuation. The
disabled people provide more profit through the creative thinking process.
Theoretical frameworks of disability
Social and Economic models of Disability
The social model of disability is the reaction towards dominant medical disability which
is a functional analysis of the body as a machine to be fixed to conform to normative values
(Owens, 2015). The social model of disability recognises the systematic barriers, exclusion from
society and negative attitudes which mean the society is the main factor in disabling people.
Physical, intellectual, sensory and psychological variations cause the functional impairments
which do not have to lead to disability. The social model of disability is associated with the
attitudes which set positive attitudes towards mental behaviour and social support to help so that
people can deal with barriers. The employers in Australia must understand the fact that people
are disabled by created barriers in society; however, disabled people are not isolated by their
impairment or difference. The organisations in Australia create barriers by people's different
attitude and perspective on disabled people. Social model assists to recognise barriers which
make life difficult for people with disability in the workplace (Morris et al., 2014). Therefore, the

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POLICIES AND ISSUES IN HRM & ER
employers in Australia can remove barriers to create offers and equality for the disabled people
more controlled, independent and it will make the workplace inclusive and diversity.
The economic model of disability is the extended concept of social disability and
disability within the society would not exist if the barriers of the society really exist. Physical
disability is one such set in the total capability set of human beings. The economic model of
disability defines by an individual's inability to be associated in work (Owens, 2015). The
disabled people face demand issues, economic integration, product development and innovation
in design and function. The economic model of disability is also associated with the universal
design and culture within the workplace. In the Australian workplaces, the management assesses
the degree to which the disability and impairment can affect the people’s economic
consequences and productivity. Consequences of disability are included loss of earnings for and
they provide payment for assistance. Consequences of people’s disability in the workplace can
lead to state welfare payments and lower profit for the employers.
Supply-side and demand-side of disability
As stated by Iwanga et al., (2018), the demand side of employment factors may influence
the retention and hiring of people with physical disabilities. The organisation may intervene at
the senior level to focus on changing companies’ policies to include disability as part of the
organisational diversity efforts. Development of policy which may foster the competitiveness of
the organisation is the efficient supply of the disability services and supports the achievement of
the goals. In the workplace of Australia, the low employment problem can be attributed to the
over-reliance of traditional supply-side with rehabilitation approach of assisting disabled people
to secure the employment. Rehabilitation approach in employment is related to the skills,

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characteristics and abilities (Iwanaga et al., 2018). The employers of the Australian organisations
can focus on changing policies so that they can include disability as part of the organisational
diversity efforts.
Disability recruitment policies, frameworks and laws in Australia
When the organisation needs to employ people, the organisation has the main priority to
recruit the right person in the suitable place. The employers in Australia tend to abstain from
recruiting people with disability (Morris et al., 2014). If the employers recruit people with
disability; then it would be easier for the management to provide positive effects on productivity
and team morale.
V epatitis CHI /H
Asthma reathing/B
Cognitive and Autism
earingH
Mental ealthH
Vision
Mobility
thersO
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
2.05
2.46
6.57
8.88
10.16
14.8
39.22
15.91
Discrimintaion by disability type in
Australian workplace(%)
Figure 2: Discrimination by disability types in the Australian workplace
(Source: Dss.org.au, 2018)

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POLICIES AND ISSUES IN HRM & ER
In Australia, Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous
Affairs (FaHCSIA) is always committed to ensuring the perfect inclusive workplace which
enables the disabled people to participate in the employment of Australia. This particular policy
gives a framework to increase the recruitment and retention of disabled people in Australia
(Ndis.gov.au, 2018). On-the-job training and support for disabled employees will be provided by
the government along with helping with access to financial support and incentives (Dag &
Kullberg, 2017). Inclusion in the workplace is related to the belonging and connection, influence,
group dynamics, value and respect and societal dynamics. As pointed out by De Aquino &
Robertson (2017), creating an inclusive workplace for people with disability is rudimentary to
increase diversity and creating workplace successful firms in today’s global environment.
Recruitment policies for disabled people to make the workplace diversity and inclusive
The employers submit vacancy which must have a list of disability works and it includes
a positive statement in position advertisement. The employers need to include the positive
statement on the advertisement of the position to encourage the disabled candidates and these
positive statements can be equal opportunity and reasonable adjustment availability (Ball et al.,
2015). Employers in Australia cannot impose a rigid requirement for the position which may
exclude the suitable candidates and employers cannot discriminate the disabled people. Position
description only depicts the inherent requirements only. The disabled people will be called for
the interviews and they will have access to the disability awareness resources. The employers
draft the interview questions which are non-discriminatory and the employers provide
consideration for reasonable adjustment like alteration of duties and purchasing assistive
technologies. FaHCSIA aims to remove the barriers for the disabled people during the interview

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stage by providing staffs who can arrange the interviews. The employers need to provide the
selection panels explaining the reasonable adjustment of the principle (Dss.gov.au, 2018).
Disability Discrimination Act 1992
Disability Discrimination Act 1992 has been passed by the Australia Parliament which
prohibits disability discrimination against persons with disabilities in the education, employment,
publicly available premises, clubs, accommodation and associations. All states in Australia
except Northern Territory and Tasmania had their anti-discriminatory acts of their own. Federal
laws in Australia state that state that discriminatory case provides significance in the scope of
rights offered in Australia. This law implements the Australian Government's obligation towards
international declaration on the rights of disabled people. In addition, this particular law enables
regulation in discriminatory practices of Commonwealth authorities (Legislation.gov.au, 2018).
The objective of the law is to eliminate the discrimination against the disabled persons in the area
of existing laws, work, and accommodation.
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and anti-discrimination
In Australia, state laws and national laws cover equal employment opportunity along with
anti-discrimination in the workplace. The employers need to develop the productivity and
enhance the efficiency by putting the anti-harassment and anti-discrimination (Grover & Piggott,
2015). Equal employment opportunity leads to providing the advantage of diversity in the
workplace.
The Fair Work Act 2009

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Discrimination must not be done based on race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, age,
physical or mental disability and pregnancy and religion. Fair Work Act 2009 ensures that
employees can follow their political opinion, social origin and national extraction.
Government’s support to the disabled people in Australia in recruitment and workplace to
make the organisations more diverse and inclusive
Council of Australian Government in 2009 introduced the National Disability Agreement
and it is a high level of agreement between state and territory government and Australian
government for the provision of disability services for the disabled people. National Disability
Agreement sets clear responsibilities for all levels of government and it joins these efforts
together (Nds.gov.au, 2018). This agreement provides income support to the disabled people by
the Australian government. In Australia, the Government provides help to the disabled people by
starting the National Mental Health Action Plan and the document states about the whole of
government's approach regarding the reform area. Australian Disability Enterprises supports the
commercial companies which provide the employment for the disability and people. Job Access
is another advisory service which provides ideas and facts about the employment of the people
with disability to persons. Australian Government started the National Disability Insurance
Scheme in 2013 and this scheme supports the disabled people to participate in employment
(Dss.gov.au, 2018).
Conclusions
It has been noted that despite the enhancement in the prevalence of disability in the local
community, however, the employment participation has observed persistent over time. In this
tight labour market, employers in Australia increasingly understand that the employers need to

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recruit from a more diverse talent pool to meet the workforce needs. However, it is also noted
that issues of recruitment and retention with a disability have become even more critical.
Therefore, the employers in Australia need to go far and take certain initiatives to make the
workplace more diverse and inclusive for disabled people. Employing disabled people attracts
new skills and they can bring a valuable perspective in the workplace. The government body and
the agencies should ensure that the disabled people must have the rights to be upheld, promoted
and protected with all organisations as the organisations are diverse and inclusive. The
employers in Australia should improve health care, education and employment policy of the
disabled people so that the disabled people can participate in employment and in all areas of
Australian life.

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