Creating an accessible and welcoming workplace

Welcome to Hire Potential with Indeed, a series of fireside chats with experts in diversity and inclusion, employer branding, recruiting, HR and more.

The notion of accessibility involves removing barriers to ensure everyone has equal access. With one in five Australians living with disability, having accessible premises and providing accessible services for all current and future employees is non-negotiable. This approach ensures your staff can work in an environment free of physical and intellectual barriers while also ensuring your business is accessible to a broader range of customers.

In this episode, we are joined by Julie Carroll, Chief Human Resources Officer, AsPac, Serco to learn more about the impact of having a disability-inclusive workplace and what organisations can do to start creating an accessible work environment for all.

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Prologue

Erin: Welcome to Hire Potential with Indeed. A welcoming workplace is built from the ground up with attention to diversity, inclusion, accessibility and openness. But the way many leaders and companies approach this is full of gray areas, uncertainty and quite often, fear. Hire Potential with Indeed is here to demystify the process through the most powerful channel possible, conversations, groundbreaking ones, too. 

I'm your host, Erin Waddell, strategic insights consultant and D&I evangelist in Australia for Indeed. I've worked in the recruitment industry in Australia for the last seven years and have been in Australia for 10 years. 

In this podcast series will tackle the issues we face in the modern workplace, from diversity and inclusion to remote working, accessibility, fair hiring practices and more. This podcast is an initiative of indeed.com, the world's number one job site with over 250 million unique visitors every month from over 60 different countries. 

Introduction

Erin: Before we dive in, I wish to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land in which we are meeting today and to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders who may be listening. I pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging.

In today's episode, which falls close to International Day of People with Disability, we'll be discussing the importance of creating an accessible and welcoming workplace. With one in five people in Australia living with a disability, it is difficult to create an inclusive and welcoming environment if your workplace isn't accessible to everyone. From the physical facilities in your workplace, to the technology and supplies your employees need to do their jobs, to even the perks you provide to your employees, it's crucial to ensure everyone has equal access to these at all times. Unfortunately, there's still a lot of work that needs to be done to create a truly disability inclusive work environment for all.

In our 2021 D&I report, we found that 59% of people in Australia with a disability, feel the need to hide an aspect of their identity at work. Even more alarming, 15% of people with a disability don't believe they are being treated equally at work. Evidently, many organisations are missing the mark when it comes to ensuring their workplace is inclusive, accessible and welcoming to people with a disability. 

To discuss this with us today, we are joined by Julie Carroll, Chief Human Resources Officer of Asia Pacific at Serco, to learn about the importance of having a disability inclusive workplace and what you can do to start creating an accessible work environment for all. Welcome, Julie.

Julie: Thanks, Erin. I'm really excited to be here today to talk to you about this topic, which I'm really passionate about.

Erin: Could you share a little bit with us about your role at Serco?

Julie: I have the privilege of being the Chief Human Resources Officer for Serco Asia Pacific. We employ almost 16,000 people across Australia and New Zealand and Hong Kong. Primarily, we deliver essential services on behalf of our public sector clients and customers, and we work across really diverse sectors, including Citizen Services, defense, health, immigration, justice, and facilities management.

Erin: Fantastic. I know Serco, is a really large company. I know that you do some really cool things, as well like staffing up the research missions to Antarctica. I've worked with Serco, in the past and I'm really happy to have you here today. Disability and disability inclusion is very near and dear to my heart, as a disabled person. I was born without my lower left arm, and I wear a prosthetic most days that has robotic components and is pretty cool. As someone that's navigated life with a disability and the workplace, I know that at a workplace, each employee requires varying levels of accessibility to be able to do their job. For example, I need a small separate keyboard with very flush keys because I type with one hand, and if the keys are really deep, my fingers will get stuck in the keys as I'm typing. With accessibility for jobs, how does your team at Serco approach and acknowledge this?

Julie: That's a great question, Erin. As you said before, we've got a really large number of employees and they do really varied work across a lot of sectors. It could be somebody working in a call centre, or a naval warfare trainer that we hire. We know that one size does not fit all in terms of accessibility. What we did is we really tried to start with where could we have some common ground and for us, that was our values. They are trust, pride, innovation and care. We make sure that they're not just words on a poster, but they really form part of everything we do. And so, we started with that as our base, and that's the common ground that we've got.

What we then do is really look to try to understand the needs of every single employee that we've got across the organisation. Because what we've found is that each person with their lived experience of disability has a really unique experience. There's actually no one best way to support every single person in that situation. Whether it be through a range of experiences, through mobility, hearing, visual impairment, as well as psychosocial intellectual, or psychosocial disability, we're open to hiring everybody. And understanding that no two people will have the same experiences, and therefore their support needs to be different.

We really look at the workplace adjustments with that in mind. It could be that we look at physical space requirements, it could be visual or hearing assistance, technology for some of the screen-based work that our staff do, particularly in our contact centres or where we've got staff in our head offices. It could be accommodating assistance animals, and as simple as modifying their working schedules in the way that we train and support people.

We also look at every single contract. With 38 contracts across all of those different sectors, we need to know that we're placing somebody in the contract where they can be the most successful. And so, one of the ways that we've done that is have developed some job dictionaries for each role. And that job dictionary, it outlines what the requirements are of the roles, and where we've got opportunities for adjustments for those particular individuals. That allows us to actually work with the candidate and with the job network provider and sometimes with a medical professional, to be able to understand where we can make the right workplace adjustments for people.

Tips for adopting different accessibility standards that welcome everyone

Erin: That's fantastic. I love the idea of a job dictionary, because for example, if someone leaves, it's still going to be there for when someone else comes in to make sure that it keeps going. It's available to the employees. How can a company adopt different accessibility standards that welcome everyone?

Julie: I think the important thing with this one is to really determine what you can do consistently first. So, really looking across the whole employee group and what can we actually provide as a consistent employee experience for everybody in your organisation, and then start to look at what you can adapt for individuals and circumstances. I think that having that initial consistent base approach, where as many policies and initiatives and programs as possible is available to everybody, it will make everyone feel welcome and included in the organisation. However, it's also equally important that what we do is look at workplace and role adjustments that they can be made when necessary.

We actually do a lot of pre commencement preparation, and we do that with the candidate. If we've got a new hire that's looking to join Serco, whether it be working directly with that candidate or through job network providers and disability accessibility providers, we actually start working with them from the very start. And we help them start mobility orientation. We actually bring them onto site, we show them the workplace, and we work with them on how we can support them through that selection and assessment process. It helps them get more comfortable in that environment. If we're bringing people in to do an assessment centre, for example, they will get an early look at what that will look, they'll get to see the equipment, and we can understand immediately what adjustments we need to make for them and modifications throughout the recruitment and selection process.

When they're successful for that role, and we bring them in to do their training. Often, there's CIT training and induction at Serco. We actually adjust the workplace requirements, again. We've got our trainers; our coaches and our team leaders are working really closely with the candidate and with any job network providers that they've got to help them move through that training period. So, we can constantly get feedback. We know that any candidate who's starting a new role and commencing training might not feel comfortable to put their hand up and ask for support along the way. I think it's particularly relevant to this cohort. We involve as many people as possible so that they feel they've got a voice, and they can speak up and we can make adjustments as we go along.

Yeah, a really good example of that was when we had one cohort in one of our contact centres, and we were going through the induction and the training. Somebody made a suggestion that we should introduce microwaves into our staff area that have a talking feature to make it easier for our visually impaired agents. We were able to adapt and make that really quickly, but that only came about as a suggestion because we created the right environment where people felt they could put their hand up.

Erin: Yeah, I think it's the little things that can make a huge difference for the people that might not be comfortable to do it, and it's that allyship piece, as well. If you're creating that supportive environment where someone feels comfortable to say something maybe on behalf of someone else, it's going to also help them feel comfortable to speak up. I imagine that bringing people on site before they start to help familiarise and get them comfortable with, or identify any areas that might need an accommodation, would help hopefully reduce any stress and anxiety that they have about starting that role. I know it can be challenging for people with disabilities to acknowledge and ask for an accommodation. I'm speaking on behalf of myself, as well. They don't want and we don't want people to think that we aren't capable of doing something, just because we might need a little extra something. Whether that's a piece of equipment, whether that's a different work set up. Because I think that there is a lot of assumptions around what people with disabilities can and can't do, especially when it comes to the workplace.

How to ensure your employees with a disability have the full support they need right the start of their employment

I really love that you're using the voices and their feedback constantly to learn about what can be improved. I think that's a wonderful initiative. Just on that onboarding process, or when a new person comes to start. I know that the onboarding process can be a really stressful and anxious time for new employees, just like we talked about and even more so with employees for disability. It sounds like you're doing a great job at this, but is there anything else that you're doing to best integrate your accessibility policies into the new starter onboarding process to help ensure that the employees with disability have that full support they need right at the start?

Julie: You're right, Erin. We've done some good work, but we certainly aren't complacent in this area. I think it's an area where we can continually improve for all employees. I think induction and onboarding, it’s challenging for everybody. When you've got a large organisation and you're hiring large cohorts of people like we are, we need to be constantly getting the feedback and adapting as we go along. Our conversion ratio from application to hire, sits at around 9% for all candidates if you look at it. But we're really excited because our current conversion ratio for candidates with a disability is actually higher at 11.1%.

Erin: That's fantastic.

Julie: We're really excited that year on year, we're seeing an increase in the conversion rates across all of our disability pillars that we focus on, but particularly this one. If I look at one contract in particular, which is our National Disability Insurance Agency contract, where we support the scheme, the conversion rate is currently at 28%. We've actually got quite a strong conversion rate for people with a disability across all of Serco. Certainly, within pockets of the organisation, it's particularly successful. Like I said, it's not 100% and we aren't complacent and we're always looking at ways that we can increase that.

One of the best ways, I think, is to work really closely and always be learning from our disability employment service providers. They're really key to our success in this whole approach to disability and accessibility, and we need to continue to have those strong relationships.

We've spent a bit of time selecting the right partners for us, making sure that we've got alignment with their values and with what we're trying to achieve in the organisation. That's probably my best advice for other organisations, as well, is to learn from the experts. Don't assume that you know necessarily what the right approach is. There's some great experts and service providers out there who really advocate for the candidates that they represent, and that's what we found to be really successful for us. They really help us to educate our leaders, our hiring managers, and our recruitment team, to make sure that we're always updating that application and hiring process.

We found as well, that it really helps build the confidence of the candidate. So, keeping those job network providers as close as possible through that process, really gives the candidate a voice through all stages of hiring. It's not just in how to apply for the role and getting through the assessment centre and the application, but we actually involve them through the onboarding, the induction and post placement, as well. So, that that transition, we don't want the candidate to feel as though they get put into the workplace, and then it's all up to them on their own. We really want them to be part of the transition into the workplace, and to allow the candidate to get comfortable to start raising feedback with us directly as an employer and using that job network provided to build that trusting relationship.

Erin: I'm blown away by the amount of people with a disability that you're able to convert into hires versus your overall hiring stats. Do you think that your success in that area is due to this close relationship with those disability employer providers? Or is there word of mouth? What do you think is really contributing to this success because it's really fantastic?

Julie: It's really exciting, and there's been a lot of progress made over the last couple of years. I would put it down to a couple of things. One is definitely the relationship with the providers. They're fundamental to helping us understand what best practice looks, and really helping us do better all the time in this area. I have to take hats off to the leaders in the business. It's actually the leaders in the organisation who are so passionate about this, and who really want to create an inclusive workplace. I have to give credit to the business and to the leaders who are really passionate and drive this every single day. 

Erin: It really does come from the top, doesn't it? If the leaders are walking the walk, it just gives everyone else the motivation to follow suit. I think that's really great to hear that it's coming from the top down. It's not often that you hear that in most large organisations. A lot of times it's the grassroots movement, where it's the passion of the people trying to change it from the bottom up. I think that's fantastic. Is there still that grassroots movement at the lower level, where they're still trying to make sure that people are included in the business, once they're on boarded and hired and they know that they're supported? Even if they've been there for 5, 10 years?

Julie: Absolutely. It's bottom up and top down, isn't it to be most successful?

Erin: Yeah. Yeah.

Julie: We absolutely have the buy in and the mandate and the passion from the CEO, through our frontline team leaders to be successful in this area. And in all parts of diversity, to be honest. It's something that we are passionate about, and we know that our business is better when we are more diverse. Our engagement survey results tell us that we're doing better in this year on year, and that our employees really value it. It went from being not that recognised in the employee engagement surveys, to actually consistently being one of our best ranked areas in engagement. Is our people believing that we provide a diverse and inclusive workplace. I think that's gone a really long way to it.

The other thing that we did, that I think has really helped is having that consistent language and approach to what we think good people leadership is all about at Serco. So, setting a really high standard of expectations, celebrating and sharing best practice and recognising that across the business. A couple of years ago, we implemented something called the Six Signals of People Leadership, that was for this very reason to really establish the baseline of what does great people leadership look like at Serco? And what does it mean consistently across the organisation, regardless of whether you're working in facilities management or whether you are working in a contact centre or whether or not you are on the icebreaker ship heading to the Antarctica

There are six things that we think people leaders need to do to be a good leader at Serco. They're things like setting the example, inspiring others with what is possible, value in the individual, walk in my shoes, developing and empowering others, and showing appreciation. In really plain English, we actually explain what that looks like, if a people leader is doing that. I think that helps establish the kind of organisation we are and the leaders that we've got. If we're doing all of those things right, what falls out of that is an organisation that is diverse and inclusive, almost organically and naturally.

Erin: Wow, that's really inspiring. I feel like there's a lot of learnings that you just spoke about that other companies could really take on board, if they want their organisation to become like that. To become just a naturally diverse and inclusive workplace. I think that is probably the thing that most companies are striving for, but they're not sure how to get there and that can be a challenge, as well. Indeed, did a large diversity and inclusion study earlier this year, and found that 16% of people with a disability are not confident that their organisation would take action against discrimination in the workplace. That's really terrible. How do we best foster a workplace culture that celebrates workers of all abilities, and has a zero tolerance for discrimination or harassment of any kind?

Julie: It's almost a shame that we're still talking about it really, isn't it? I think the very first thing to do is to be really clear that discrimination and harassment of any kind will not be accepted, and it won't be tolerated in the workplace. I think we have to set very high bars for this, as leaders of organisations. Policies and workplace standards. Look, they're great. They have a role to play, and we all need them in place to clearly outline why it's not acceptable. But for me, leading by example is the thing that will have the biggest impact on setting the right culture in an organisation. When you've got all of your leaders in the organisation, from the CEO, to frontline team leaders, to the workers themselves. If everybody's aligned on what good looks like and from a leader perspective, what good leadership looks like and what behaviors are acceptable and what won't be tolerated in the workplace, then I think you're on the right track.

As always, it's easier said than done, but I think it's a really good starting point. I think that's where, if you do have values in your organisation and truly embedding them in everything you do. Having them be the thing that is consistent, it's your baseline and that's where you start from. I think that's a really good starting point to have. I mentioned before about the Six Signals of People in Leadership, yet, that's really helped us as well. That provides a really simple and easy guide for everybody to understand what good looks like, and what we expect of our leaders in Serco. We run assessments against that. It's integrated to all of our people leadership programs, and we consistently remind our leaders that this is what we expect from them.

I think from an employee perspective, as well, being really clear about what are reasonable performance discussions also helps. I think sometimes people get the lines a bit blurred between what is a reasonable discussion about performance in Korea, and then feeling like they're being given a hard time. Sometimes that can happen if the conversation isn't handled very well. So, making sure that all of our frontline leaders and everybody in the organisation understands that what a good conversation looks like and feels like and sounds like between an employee and a manager. For us, we moved away from traditional performance management, and into a much more regular check in type of approach with our employees for that very reason. To really have ongoing robust and meaningful conversations with our people.

Yes, it will cover some of the work topics that are important. How you're tracking with your work progress, how your KPIs tracking. But equally as importantly, checking in on people's wellbeing and checking in on what their flexibility requirements are. We've built that in to be really important. It's in any forms, any documents that we hand out to help people through that process, in the training videos that we've developed for leaders. It's really reiterated that checking in on wellbeing and flexibility requirements, is equally as important as checking in on work performance. So that the employee feels like we're having a holistic discussion with them, and not just focusing on particular elements of performance and their KPIs.

What we're looking to achieve there is more of a culture of trust between employees and managers, and then acting really swiftly and transparently if something does happen, which is unacceptable. If somebody does step out of line or there is something that happens, being really transparent about why that's unacceptable and dealing with it quickly has been really important for us. But then conversely, celebrating the good. We have found is really important, as well. Really highlighting what great looks like in terms of inclusion, and treating people respectfully.

We have a diversity and inclusion calendar, and we celebrate lots of days against that. The contracts really get into it, whether it's the contact centre in Burnie, Tasmania, or whether it's one of our defense sites. They get really involved and they celebrate those days together. It brings people together with that common theme. We provide some recognition. We have our Pulse Awards every year, which are aligned to our values. We're constantly reiterating what good looks like. You could be nominated for a Pulse Award within our division in Asia Pacific, and all the way to a global Pulse Award so that globally in Serco, amongst 60,000, other colleagues, you get recognised for doing great things, such as living our values. There's sort of that two-pronged approach, that's being really clear about don't cross this line and this is why. And then there's the celebration of all of the great things which highlights the positive that we can do. Look, I think my final view on this one is that, actions really do speak louder than words with this. Whatever we do, it's important that that's consistent with what we're saying.

New workplace accessibility innovations to get excited about

Erin: I do love the idea of the positive reinforcement and the celebration, I think, there's so many organisations that are just trying to tick boxes. I feel like they're really initiatives that need to be celebrated. I love the idea of diversity and inclusion calendar. That way, exactly what's coming up. how to prep for it, who to get on board, and how to share it out. I think that's such a fantastic idea. To bring it back to accessibility for a second, what are the best resources for an HR team to access, to better understand their accessibility mandates and responsibilities? Is there any new workplace accessibility innovations that everyone can get excited about?

Julie: I think the starting point for HR teams is to really get commitment from their executive, and the leaders in the organisation for what we're trying to achieve. As with any diversity strategy, it can't be led and managed by HR in isolation of the rest of the business. What you really want to do is get that equal support and drive by leaders across the organisation and into your contracts. Go and find your passionate leaders, the ones who really want to make a difference in your organisation, and they will be there. They may even be people in your organisation that you're not aware of, who had fantastic experience with their lived experience personally, or, because they've worked in a sector that's been great at this before. Tap into that as much as possible. There's always a lot more resources in your organisation, I think, then you realise.

I think once you've got that mandate and you've got your leaders who are passionate that you know will get behind it, go and find some of those job service providers and disability employment services. Look for ones that have really demonstrated their focus on understanding the candidate needs, and supporting candidates from hiring right through to ongoing employment in your business. I think that's really important. Spending the time upfront to find the right partners for your organisation, the ones that will be the most aligned to your values, your purpose, and your objectives is going to really help you be successful along the way.

Now, think in terms of innovation. There's no doubt that technology is going to play a really big part in helping us innovate around workplace accessibility and flexibility. In fact, Gartner did some research not that long ago. He suggested that by 2023, the number of people in organisations with a disability will triple due to AI and emerging technologies, which will help us remove a lot of barriers to access, which is fantastic. Yeah, that's really great news.

I think it can really help people through that job skills training, and through that application process and the assessment process. I know we've used VR a little bit, particularly in our contact centres and that can be quite handy for training people. But also, once people are on the job, we did some work with some of our staff that if they'd had a difficult interaction, or they were struggling a little bit that day, that they could actually go and have some quiet time with VR. It would help them relax, and it would work on their resilience and wellbeing. There's lots of different ways that you can integrate that technology into your workplace. I think it's probably one of the things that we can be thankful to the pandemic for, is increasing the rates of employees who are working from home.

Even in roles that we would never have previously thought possible, we've managed to pivot and have them working from home, which is really fantastic. And then having those roles able to be done from somebody's home and it doesn't matter what state it's in, or what town it's in, has actually increased their opportunity to hire more people. With some adjustments and some support in setting up their home offices, we're able to hire more people with a disability from different parts of Australia.

Erin: That's really interesting when you talk about the fact that being able to work from home and removing some of these barriers has allowed more people with disabilities to work. Because our D&I report uncovered that 49% of all Australian workers are working full time, but this reduces to 32% for those with a disability. That's a really large pool of untapped talent that's ready to work. We know that diversely abled workers bring unique experiences and perspectives to the workplace. How can we show candidates of all abilities how we're bridging the skills gap?

Julie: That's a great question, Erin. It's so important that we are able to demonstrate to all candidates and all employees that they have an equal opportunity to participate. I think therefore, the best way to do it is to say, "Look, everybody has an opportunity here." Whether it be trainings, secondments, projects, or any other initiatives and casting the net as wide as possible to who is able to participate in that. That will actually show people that you're willing to be inclusive, even if you need to make some adjustments along the way. For the very first contact with a candidate through that recruitment process, onboarding, and during employment, we have to show that we're being really transparent with our people about their opportunity to learn and to progress. As long as we're willing to keep the conversations open and take the feedback and make those adaptations along the way, people won't feel excluded. I think the key to that is that open communication and understanding what people's needs are and being willing to work with them to bridge those gaps.

What will it ultimately take to ensure a better and more inclusive workplace in the future

Erin: I fully agree with you, and I think that that's a really great way forward, as well. The final question, which is how we finish every episode of Hire Potential with Indeed, is, what do you think it will ultimately take to ensure a better and more inclusive workplace in the future?

Julie: Pretty short and simple answer for this one, Erin, I think it's a commitment and a concerted effort. I think that's what's going to make a real and sustained change for all of us. As leaders of organisations that touch the lives of 1000s of people daily, we are the ones who are ultimately responsible for ensuring that our work in our workplaces represent the diversity of the communities that we serve. For me, it's making the commitment, and then putting the effort in.

Erin: That's a fantastic way to sign off, I think, Julie. It's been an absolute pleasure talking to you today. I feel like I could continue talking to you for a long time about this. It sounds like yourself and Serco are doing some amazing things to ensure that your workplace is not only accessible to the employees that are currently working there, but it's also accessible to people that might want to work there. I think that it's very admirable some of the efforts that you've undertaken to get yourself to this point.

Julie: Thanks very much, Erin. Take care.

Erin: You too.

Conclusion 

Erin: Thank you for listening to Hire Potential with Indeed. Before you go and start building a better workplace, don't forget to hit subscribe, and leave a review if you found this podcast helpful. If you'd like to read our full D&I report, click the link in this episode's description to fill out the form. 

Just a quick note, the views and opinions expressed in this episode by the guests do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Indeed. Additionally, the information in this episode does not and is not intended to constitute legal advice. Instead, all content we discuss is for general informational purposes only and you should consult with a legal professional for any legal issues you may be experiencing.

The data in this podcast references Indeed’s 2021 D&I report. 

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Sources: Indeed is the world's #1 job site according to Comscore, Total Visits, March 2021.

Sources: Over 250 million unique visitors every month, Google Analytics, Unique Visitors, February 2020.

Sources: The research in the report referenced in this episode was commissioned by ThatComms Co on behalf of Indeed and conducted by YouGov. The study was conducted online between 11 - 17 February 2021, involving 2,060 working age Australians (aged between 18-64) currently in either full or part-time employment, or actively looking for work