About Disability WORKS Australia

The Commonwealth and State Governments fund a range of programs to encourage employers to employ people with disabilities and a large number of disability employment network services (DEN) support people with disabilities into employment. This creates a multitude of contact points, which can be potentially confusing for employers interested in employing a person with a disability.

Who are we?

Disability WORKS Australia (DWA) is a newly created incorporated national body formed from existing Disability Recruitment Coordinator (DRC) providers - DRC in South Australia, Edith Cowan University DRC in Western Australia and Partnerships with Industry (PWI) in Queensland. The former Disability Recruitment Coordination Service was introduced in January 1997, funded by the Commonwealth Government to provide employers with one single contact point for the recruitment of people with disabilities. In November 2003 the Commonwealth Government released a contract for a national Disability Recruitment Service model and Disability WORKS Australia was awarded the contract.

This service has the full support from Business Enterprise Centres Australia Inc. and its network of 130 outlets in metropolitan, regional and remote locations throughout Australia. It brings together extensive employer contacts and the experience of three current DRSs; to create a national service based on excellent existing relationships and management systems.

The role of DWA

The role of DWA is to facilitate the provision of employment for people with disabilities by providing employers with access to a single, free, effective contact point for recruiting people with disabilities. DWA will work with a number of employers, linking them with disability employment services and facilitating the initial development of working relationships between the two.

DWA broadcasts vacancies to all disability employment network services (DEN) and Vocational Rehabilitation Services (VRS) in the catchment area, quality checks applications, and then refers the applications to the employer (or their nominated recruitment provider) to complete the selection process.

This assists employers who may not have established networks with specialist disability employment network services (DEN), and provides an efficient and cost effective recruitment mechanism for large employers.

In addition, DWA seeks commitment from employers to use their services. This has resulted in agreements with a large number of high profile employers such as Coles Myer Ltd, IBM, NAB and the South Australian Government Public Service. DWA also works with mainstream recruitment providers to raise their awareness of job seekers with a disability and to enable them to modify their recruitment processes appropriately.

A planned and systematic approach, already implemented by Disability WORKS Australia, has established confidence and proven its effectiveness to all its customers.

To ensure consistency and accountability for all stakeholders, DWA regularly monitors its performance against its formal processes, together with subsequent review of all activities for purposes of continuous improvement.

Matching Motivated People to Good Employers