Achieve Australia recognised at the inaugural Disability Confidence Awards

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Achieve Australia is proud to be amongst the leading organisations recognised this week at the very first Disability Confidence Awards for employers.

Held in Melbourne on 8 June by the Australian Network on Disability, and attended by our CEO Jo-Anne Hewitt, the Disability Confidence Awards recognise employers that have shown a commitment to building their disability knowledge and actions over the last year.


“Achieve Australia is the only organisation to have received ‘Disability Confident Recruiter’ status in the last 12 months and we were acknowledged for the immense amount of work and effort this represents,” Ms Hewitt says.


“We were also one of only two not-for-profit organisations recognised at the awards. All the other recipients are very large organisations with dedicated inclusion teams. While I applaud the dedication of all the award winners, I really want to acknowledge the hard work of our team in taking all the steps necessary to see Achieve Australia become a Disability Confident Recruiter,” she says.


The Australian Network on Disability provides tools and advice to 370 member employers as well as other businesses and governments to help organisations build inclusive recruitment processes and accessible workplaces.
Achieve Australia’s accessible employment journey
“Achieve Australia is proud to offer great employment opportunities to people with disability including through our Quality Champions program, AchievAble Enterprises and The Sewing Basket,” Ms Hewitt says.


“However, we are continuing to build knowledge and capability with a goal of ensuring more of our jobs are open to people with disability throughout the organisation and at all levels,” she says.


“We also want to ensure those already employed with us feel comfortable disclosing a disability and asking for any reasonable adjustment or support to do their job.”
More about the Disability Confidence Awards
Other organisations recognised at the Disability Confidence Awards included Westpac, Australia Post and Australian Government employers, the Attorney-General’s Department and the Australian Taxation Office.


The Australian Network on Disability also compiles the Access and Inclusion Index as the benchmark for how Australian employers are tracking in their efforts to create truly inclusive workplaces. Coles ranked number one in the Access and Inclusion Index for 2021 for recruitment and selection.


“The key message of the inaugural Disability Confidence Awards was that people with disability are part of the rich fabric of life in Australia and add enormous value to any workplace,” Ms Hewitt says.


“In today’s recruitment market where there is a war for talent, employers prepared to make reasonable adjustments will reap the rewards by increasing their candidate pool to reach some great new hires,” she says.