FaHCSIA aims to cumulatively and pre-emptively remove barriers to the retention of people with disability. Every effort will be made to ensure that staff with disability are treated in a non-discriminatory way and that they are provided with the same opportunities for promotion, career development and training as other staff.
4.1 Disclosure
- All employees will be informed about the purposes and processes for disclosing disability before job commencement.
- Information about disclosure and processes for disclosing will be available to all employees (e.g., Disclosure Benefits and Resources Fact Sheet, in pamphlets distributed in work areas, etc).
- When a person has disclosed to FaHCSIA a non-obvious disability, privacy policies shall be upheld and the individual will be asked if he/she wishes for their colleagues to be informed of his/her disability.
4.2 Induction
- Induction and support for all new members of staff with disabilities will be provided. This may mean that adjustments are made to the usual induction programme so that a person with disability is introduced to the organisation in a clearly supported and structured way.
- Information about disability resources, policies and procedures will be provided and explained to all new employees as part of the induction process.
4.3 Reasonable Adjustment
- When the Department is aware that a new employee has disability, all efforts will be made to put in place relevant reasonable adjustments prior to job commencement (see the Reasonable Adjustment Policy for further details).
- Reasonable adjustment policies and procedures are provided and explained to all new employees as part of the induction process.
- Monitoring and evaluation of adjustments will be ongoing, if appropriate.
- The views of an individual with disability will be taken into account at all times when adjustments are being assessed.
- In cases where a reasonable adjustment has implications for co-workers or managers, those affected will be consulted and educated about proposed changes (while adhering to privacy principles).
4.4 Consideration
- Consideration of people with disability will be made in facilities upgrades, allocations or parking facilities and health and safety issues such as fire alarms and procedures.
- Where appropriate, staff with disabilities will be consulted about FaHCSIA's disability initiatives.
- Where general meetings of staff are held, these should be held in accessible venues with facilities for people with visual and hearing impairments.
- Social events will be arranged in accessible venues and, where off-site, easy to reach by transportation.
4.5 Support Services and Networks
- FaHCSIA will promote internal and external employment support services that are available to employees with disability (e.g., IPS Worldwide Employee Assistance Program).
- All employees will be informed of the FaHCSIA Leadership disABILITY Group, the Assistive Technology Operations Group, and the Assistive Technology Management Advisory Group and their eligibility to participate.
4.6 Performance Management
- The same performance standards are applied to employees with disabilities as to all employees. If a position has been redefined as part of a reasonable adjustment, an employee with disability should only be evaluated on the tasks he or she is expected to perform.
4.7 Service Providers
- FaHCSIA will communicate its commitment to people with disability to all external service providers.
- Recognising vicarious liability, FaHCSIA will require external service providers to take into consideration the access requirements of employees with disability. Services need to be accessible to people with a range of disabilities and service providers need to consider how they will provide alternative formats when requested by people with disability.
4.8 Professional Development
FaHCSIA aims to ensure that employees with disability have the same opportunity as other employees to participate in career development programs and opportunities.
- FaHCSIA will encourage and support people with disability to take up opportunities to act in higher positions.
- All materials related to promotion opportunities will include information about reasonable adjustments and related processes.
- All materials related to promotion opportunities are promptly made available in preferred formats on request.
- FaHCSIA will encourage and support people with disability to participate in professional development opportunities.
- Where a person with disability participates in a professional development activity, materials are provided in alternative formats.
4.9 Learning and Development
- All learning and development programs are promoted so as to ensure that people with disability are informed of their eligibility and access to such programs.
- The design and delivery of learning and development programs takes into account the accessibility needs of employees with disability.
- Where possible, training materials are provided in advance to a person with a hearing impairment so they can read prior to activity.
- Training classes will be held in accessible facilities.
4.10 Exit Surveys
- FaHCSIA will develop a process for and conduct exit surveys to examine why people with disability leave the organisation. Recognising that some employees with disability may not have disclosed their disability while working at FaHCSIA, this survey will be provided to all employees who exit the organization. These surveys will allow FaHCSIA to uncover any systemic or organisational practices contributing to their leaving.
4.11 Monitoring
FaHCSIA will collect information to monitor the representation of people with disability in the following areas:
- Shortlisting and interview decisions
- Job application numbers
- External recruitment agency rates of engagement of persons with disability
- Successful selection numbers for appointment, promotion and transfer
- Composition of the workforce, broken down into work group, band and pay scale
- Access to training
- Harassment and discrimination complaints
- Grievances
- Reasons for exit (i.e., dismissals, resignations, redundancies and retirements)