This week we're celebrating a momentous achievement, as Australia Post joins the rank of our members who have achieved Disability Confident Recruiter Status (DCR).
Marking the largest organisation within our network to achieve this status, with an extended workforce of 75,000, Australia Post now joins leading organisations across the country committed to inclusive recruitment practices.
Throughout their journey of DCR, Australia Post created new initiatives to drive disability inclusion across their organisation, examined what changes could be made to assist in this goal and as a result, have now widened their talent pool for future employees with these inclusive practices.
Hear straight from Australia Post about their journey towards this incredible achievement:
"I am extremely proud that Australia Post has successfully completed the Disability Confident Recruiter program. This is an important initiative in our Accessibility and Inclusion Plan 2020 to 2022 (AIP) which outlines our whole of business approach to improving access and inclusion for people with disability. Australia Post wants to attract, support and retain skilled candidates with disability so I hope that our DCR status provides job seekers with the confidence to apply for roles with us, comfortable in the knowledge that we value diversity and are committed to providing a barrier-free recruitment experience and inclusive workplace where they can thrive." – Sue Davies, Executive General Manager, People and Culture, Australia Post.
Inclusion is one of our core values at Australia Post. That's why we're committed to creating inclusive experiences for all our candidates. So naturally, removing barriers to employment for people living with disability has been an ongoing focus for our Talent Acquisition team. Given the scale and pace we operate at, it made sense for us to enrol in the Disability Confident Recruiter program, so we could get an external, specialist lens on our approach. The program is comprehensive and involves activities that reach well beyond the scope of Talent Acquisition.
Australia Post has a team of over 35,000 direct employees, an extended workforce of over 75,000, and a presence in almost every community in Australia. The size of our business, combined with the wide scope of the program, created an additional layer of complexity. We were able to overcome this and achieve some great results through collaboration across multiple teams, including Learning & Development and Property. We're lucky to have some great accessibility allies in teams across our business who were instrumental in helping us get this project across the finish line. The wide scope of the Disability Confident Recruiter program presented a challenge, but it's also what makes it worthwhile – helping us to ensure we're accessible at every step of the candidate journey.
One of the important lessons for us continues to be how simple and inexpensive adjustments to the recruitment process and to roles can be. Too often when people think about hiring candidates with disability, they assume that adjustments will be time intensive, or require a huge financial outlay. But we have lots of examples of adjustments we've made during our hiring process that just required a bit of lateral thinking and some empathetic communication. We're delighted to share Murat's take on this and his experience joining our business.
