The Federal Government launched a $2.43 million pilot program at Coles’ Head Office aimed at creating more jobs for people living with disabilities.
The program, a partnership between Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott’s Get Skilled Access and national recruitment agency Randstad Australia, was launched at the Coles Head Office in Melbourne.
Coles Group will dedicate up to eight roles to new hires for candidates with disabilities within its store support centre, with Steven Cain, CEO of Coles Group, saying that the pilot is just many ways Coles plans to support accessibility and disability inclusion.
“We know that more than 3 per cent of our workforce identify as having disability and we want to ensure that our management team take our learnings from this pilot to help our disability hiring acumen across Coles Group more broadly, and ultimately seek to increase the number of people with a disability that we hire.”
Alcott said that he is thrilled his company is continuing to work with Coles and that it’s awesome that one of Australia’s largest employers is involved with RecruitAble and committed to creating more job opportunities for people with disability.
“Our company, Get Skilled Access, is already partnering with Coles to help their staff become more inclusive and disability confident, making the shopping experience for people with disability more accessible and easier.”
Anne Ruston, Minister for Families and Social Services, said with over 2.1 million working age Australians with a disability, the pilot would test a best practice approach for employing those with disabilities.
“People with disability are hardworking and dedicated employees but too often businesses fail to recognise or even consider their skills and capability. The RecruitAble pilot aims to provide organisations with insights into the accessibility of the current recruitment process and identify the key areas for improving the hiring process.
“Having a job is an absolute game changer in everyone’s life and that shouldn’t be any different for someone who has a disability.”