Target hit the mark by employing people with disabilities

July 2008 saw Target Mornington offer a career opportunity in retail to a person with a disability. This final act of job offering was preceded by weeks of communication between Target, DWA and Disability Employment Network (DEN) provider, Job Focus to ensure a suitable placement for Leanne Calder who has an intellectual disability.

Through the support of DWA and Job Focus, Leanne was keen to take up employment in the retail industry for the first time in her employment history. Finding an employer locally could have proved a challenge, however through the efforts of Job Focus this was made possible.

Target has over 280 stores across the nation and has displayed a commitment to employing people with a disability through a Memorandum of Understanding in place with DWA since January 2004. Target has actively employed people with a disability through the support of Disability Works Australia and it's a relationship that Target believes adds value and strengthens the diversity of its workforce.

Target's Recruitment Manager Sally Ward said, “We've always been very impressed with the people we've employed through Disability Works Australia . These team members are extremely dedicated and enhance the teamwork within our business.”

For Leanne, her position as a Customer Service Assistant has offered her an opportunity to apply the customer service skills she gained from past employment in hospitality and childcare, as well as her knowledge and experience in process work. Her role at Target has shown Leanne to be motivated and reliable, providing great benefit to the business as an employee. To fulfil her job duties, Leanne simply needed her tasks to be demonstrated and for onsite training to be conducted by the team at Job Focus.

DWA assisted the process by assessing the skill set of Leanne and determining what supports would be required in the workplace for her to be successful in the role. With the support of Job Focus, her induction and training was effective and allowed Leanne to join the team quickly and immediately show her benefit to the company.

This is a great example of Target using the assistance of DWA to implement support requirements and in doing so ensure the successful employment of a person with a disability.

 

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