Our people—The importance and value of an inclusive workplace and workforce for all.
Research by PSC shows that Queensland public sector employees with disability often feel that the approach to their disability is focused more on the procedural than the personal. Through our consultation process, DPC employees have told us that mental health issues, in particular, are an area where we could have a positive impact through considered action.
At DPC and PSC we recognise we all deserve the opportunity to participate and shine in our work, as we continue to build a workforce reflective of our diverse experiences where all employees feel supported and included.
We all belong—people with disability have the right to come to work, participate, flourish and reach their goals.
While there has been progress in highlighting the social model of disability (refer Appendix A), we know we can do more to drive this cultural and systemic shift.
Over previous disability service plans, DPC has undertaken to share all vacancies with Job Access, offer adjustments for all applicants for DPC roles to support equitable recruitment, share stories of people with lived experience of disability through All Voices and Speakers series, and to deliver relevant and targeted disability awareness training and programs.
The DPC Diversity and Inclusion Consultative Committee is a key to our inclusion program of work, providing a voice from our diverse workforce direct to our Diversity and Inclusion Champion and Executive Leadership Team. These are now embedded in our policy and practice, and we will continue to deliver on this and work towards our workforce target of eight per cent people with disability.
The next step for DPC is to embed the following actions to attract a diverse workforce that can experience rewarding and fulfilling careers.
| Action | Detail | Measurement | Timing | Responsible agency/business area | ADS outcome areas |
| POLICY | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Action #11 | |||||
Develop a departmental Workplace Adjustments (also known as reasonable adjustments) Policy, highlighting the role of adjustments that enable and support employees with disability to be their best at work. |
This action seeks to create impact by improving the workplace experience where the person is at the centre of decision making, as well as supporting manager confidence in making adjustments for people with disability. It addresses the building block of co-design through including the Diversity and Inclusion Consultative Committee and employees with lived experience of disability in the development process. It supports cultural and systems change within the department by formalising and supporting a supportive approach to adjustments across the agency. |
2022–2023: Policy approved, published and promoted. 2023–2025: Employees with disability feel supported by the workplace to make adjustments to their work arrangements. Demonstrated through responses to WfQ survey question ‘Disability is not a barrier to success in my department.’ Refer also Action 20—Our places. |
2022–2025 |
People and Culture |
Employment and financial security Community attitudes |
| LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT | |||||
| Action #12 | |||||
Provide information on adjustments throughout the employment lifecycle. In particular, the recruitment, selection and onboarding processes will have clear examples provided. Adjustments are implemented to allow for seamless transition to the workplace. |
By providing employees and new applicants with examples of what’s possible, the recruitment process becomes accessible to people who may have limited experience of requesting adjustments, or advocating for themselves, in a recruitment process. This supports co-design and human rights, prioritising the person over the process and supporting. Working with new employees prior to commencement and providing assistive technologies, timely supports, and equity and inclusion from the start of the employee lifecycle contributes to co-design, human rights and cultural and systems change. |
Increase in applicants requesting adjustments during recruitment processes. New starters with disability feel supported on commencement with the department. Number of adjustments implemented. (Baseline established, trend data shows improvement over time.) |
2022–2025 |
People and Culture Information Technology Services Facilities |
Employment and financial security Community attitudes Inclusive homes and communities Health and wellbeing |
| Action #13 | |||||
Support employees with disability with their learning, development and career progression by optimising their development through the provision of person-centred development options and supporting their supervisors to enable them to succeed in their roles. |
People with disability have the human right to pursue success in their careers and support their own economic prosperity. Highlighting person-centred options supports co-design as well as cultural and systems change. This action ensures flexible development opportunities are provided to employees living with disability and that supervisors and managers are skilled to support employees with disability to take charge of their careers and progress to the level of their ambition. |
WfQ survey data for the question ‘My manager/supervisor proactively supports my professional development by connecting me with learning and development opportunities’ shows employees with disability have access to development opportunities at a similar rate to employees without disability. Number of enquiries for modified delivery and number provided. |
2022–2025 |
People and Culture |
Employment and financial security Community attitudes |
| RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION | |||||
| Action #14 | |||||
Ensure the Policy Futures Graduate Program recruitment and selection practices are inclusive and provide all applicants the best opportunity to demonstrate their suitability for the program by:
|
This action supports co-design and human rights by empowering applicants to propose adjustments that allow them to perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. By adopting a continuous improvement approach, we are supporting measurement and outcomes of impact as we have defined data to measure changes over time. This action supports cultural and systems change by recognising the incremental improvements that have allowed us to develop improved approaches with each iteration |
Percentage of Policy Futures applicants with a disability. Percentage of applicants with a disability who progress through each stage of the assessment process. Percentage of applicants who are successful in securing a Policy Futures position. Feedback from applicants regarding inclusiveness of the recruitment and selection process. (Baseline established, trend data shows improvement over time/each cohort.) |
2022–2025 |
People and Culture |
Employment and financial security Community attitudes Education and learning |
| Action #15 | |||||
Engage with specialty university units and industry partners to attract more Policy Futures Graduate Program candidates with disability to apply, and develop a greater understanding of employment barriers for people with a disability. Continue to deliver the Policy Futures Graduate program pathways sessions which aim to inform and attract applicants from diverse groups. |
Fostering relationships with universities and industry partners to support cultural and systems change by creating a two-way flow of information to tailor our processes to create equity of opportunity for applicants. |
Number of Policy Futures pathways sessions held. Percentage of Policy Futures applicants with disability. Percentage of applicants with a disability who progress through each stage of the assessment process. Percentage of applicants who are successful in securing a Policy Futures position. Feedback from applicants regarding inclusiveness of the recruitment and selection process. (Baseline established, trend data shows improvement over time/each cohort.) |
2022–2025 |
People and Culture |
Employment and financial security Community attitudes Education and learning |
| Action #16 | |||||
Provide development and resources for HR practitioners, managers and supervisors on a person-centred approach to disability (including mental illness and mental health issues), inclusive language, and their role in reducing and eliminating barriers for people with disability. |
Trigger cultural and systems change by removing barriers created by lack of awareness and consideration of the diverse needs of people with disability. This action uses co-design and data from WfQ survey to develop an understanding of the challenges people with mental health conditions face at DPC. This will help us to implement meaningful cultural and systems change. |
Improvement in WfQ survey results relating to the workplace experience of employees with disability and inclusion factors. |
2023–2024 |
People and Culture Information Technology Services |
Employment and financial security Community attitudes Inclusive homes and communities Health and wellbeing |
| RESEARCH | |||||
| Action #17 | |||||
Partner with a disability advocacy agency to review our recruitment, selection and onboarding processes. |
By partnering with experts and people with disability, we can gauge potential barriers in our culture, systems and processes. An external perspective allows us to measure the outcomes and impacts of our actions now and improvements in the future. |
Year 2—Partnership with external agency established. Year 3—More applicants with disability applying for DPC roles. |
2023–2024 |
People and Culture Information Technology Services |
Employment and financial security Community attitudes |
| Action #18 | |||||
Partner with a qualified mental health advisory and advocacy group, and work with the Diversity and Inclusion Consultative Committee to:
|
Our employees have told us that mental health is an area of concern. By partnering with experts and people with disability we can better gauge potential barriers and issues in our culture, systems and processes. An external perspective allows us to better measure the outcomes and impacts of our actions now and improvements in the future. |
Project undertaken and learnings and recommendations shared with People and Capability Committee and Executive Leadership Team. Positive change demonstrated through WfQ survey results over time for the questions ‘I am confident discussing my mental health with my manager/ supervisor’ and ‘In my workgroup, we discuss ways to promote mental health’. |
2023–2024 |
People and Culture Diversity and Inclusion Consultative Committee Diversity and Inclusion Champion People and Capability Committee |
Employment and financial security Safety, rights and justice Community attitudes |
| Action #19 | |||||
Work with the leadership cohort through the People and Capability Committee and the Diversity and Inclusion Champion to promote and normalise workplace flexibility for leadership positions. |
This action is a direct response to feedback from employees with disability about barriers to career progression and supports co-design. People with disability have the human right to pursue a career that satisfies their ambition without being limited by barriers to their progression, and to meet their financial needs and goals. |
Percentage of senior leaders with flexible workplace agreements in place (NB this action will not take place until 2023−2024 financial year with reporting to commence in 2024−2025.) Further measures to be established after the initial implementation of this action. |
2023–2025 |
People and Capability Committee Diversity and Inclusion Champion DPC People and Culture |
Community attitudes Employment and financial security |