Disabled 3 times less likely to have a job
Untapped talent pool of loyal and resilient people
Workplace discrimination and Covid have meant Bay jobseekers with a disability are struggling to get employment — despite their skillsets.
Research shows people living with a disability are three times less likely to be employed and experts in the field want businesses to give people with disabilities a chance to prove themselves.
The Government has introduced a Working Matters Action Plan to ensure disabled people and those with health conditions have an equal opportunity to access employment.
The plan said 74 per cent of disabled people not in paid work would like to work if a job was available and that this was an untapped talent pool.
Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said the plan would provide critical guidance for all agencies and industries working on employment initiatives.
However, Workbridge chief executive Jonathan Mosen said discrimination was a “huge problem”.
Workbridge aimed to make New Zealand more inclusive by removing barriers to disabled people working.
“It’s important to emphasise that discrimination can occur even when it is not motivated by ill will.
“It can be incredibly demoralising when you feel that you have so much to give — that there is so much you want to contribute — but you’re being held back because of misconceptions.”
Sometimes an employer finds it hard to imagine how someone with a particular impairment would fit into their workplace, he said.
“The unfamiliar can be a bit daunting. So we spend a lot of time on disability confidence, inviting employers to take someone on merit. Look at what someone has to offer rather than spend time imagining how you would do the job in their situation.”
Workbridge, a free employment service, was established 90 years ago and is a nationwide organisation with offices in Tauranga and Rotorua.
In the past three years, it has worked with about 9000 people and Mosen estimates about 5000 of those were placed into jobs.
The impact of getting a job was
The mana that comes with being able to proudly answer the question: What do you do for a living? Jonathan Mosen, Workplace
huge, he said. “The sense that you have value, the mana that comes with being able to proudly answer the question: What do you do for a living? The economic empowerment of having some money to spend and the pride you take in the fact that it’s money you earned.
“The idea that someone believes in you, values you, understands you can make a contribution. All these things can impact other parts of your