To ensure more inclusive employment for people with disability, a new national Centre for Inclusive Employment has been created to improve service and support for people with disability aiming to forge a career rather than just obtain a job.
Flinders University’s Dr June Alexander, who has worked for 30 years in the field of employment support for people with intellectual disability, describes this initiative as a “once in a lifetime opportunity to address gaps and issues that have persisted in the system”.
The Centre for Inclusive Employment commenced in March 2025, established through the $22.1 million Government grant awarded to provide resources, tools and training that will help providers deliver quality employment services and supports.
This presents an opportunity to redress and refashion previous systems that had struggled with ongoing issues and problems to find appropriate and fulfilling employment for people with disability.
Dr Alexander is part of a College of Experts for the Centre, which is led by Swinburne University of Technology in partnership with a consortium that includes Inclusion Australia, Family Advocacy, Disability Employment Australia, National Disability Services and University of Melbourne. The benefits of such a diverse network of organisations and experts will ensure cohesive and comprehensive research outcomes.
“The new centre represents an important step forward, because Australian research in this area of disability employment support is quite small, but the community works well together and through this cohesive strength we get good results,” says Dr Alexander.
Dr Alexander’s current work for the centre includes reviewing employment outcomes for people with intellectual disability, to learn what needs to be in place for their employment to be successful.
In the coming year, Dr Alexander will be conducting research into the delivery of a Customised Employment project – and exploring how it can be adapted to work within different funding models in Australia.
In November, Dr Alexander will attend a disability employment conference in London and undertake a study tour to explore international approaches – especially to focus on Customised Employment – and identify insights that can inform and strengthen practice in Australia.
“While Customised Employment has been in place for a long time, its definition is not so widely understood in Australia. It has been very successful in the United States where it is now a legislated four-stage process that can find specific appropriate employment for a person with disability.
“In Australia, it tends to be that support is provided to help someone with disability apply for an advertised job. However, Customised Employment looks at the disability and skill set of the person, focusing on their strengths and interests, and then working with them to find appropriate employers and follow-up training, to ensure they can succeed in their employed work.
“It’s a detailed process that takes longer than how we have previously tried to find work for people with disability, but the success of this system has been extremely high, especially for people with higher support needs. It means that people who would probably not get employed can find jobs where they are valued and that they really enjoy.
“Through this system, the people who receive Customised Employment are much more likely to have long-term employment, because the job fits them correctly. Too often, we see that someone with disability loses a job or leaves a job within the first 12 months, because it isn’t a suitable job match. The Customised Employment system changes this entirely, because it looks to provide them with a long-term career.”
She says one of the aims of the Centre for Inclusive Employment is to promote Customised Employment more widely among Australian employers and organisations, so they use it more frequently and implement it with confidence.
Dr Alexander will also be designing micro-credentials that will be provided through Flinders University, aimed at building the capability of disability employment staff.
“Importantly, the Centre integrates the voices of people with lived experience of disability, ensuring that its work is grounded in real-world needs and perspectives. This co-designed research approach will bring everyone in this field together, to introduce changes that benefit everyone.”
This work is vital because it improves employment outcomes for people with disability by equipping service providers with best-practice resources, training and evidence-based models. It also supports employers to build inclusive workplaces, helping to shift attitudes and practices across the labour market.
This research will assist employment service providers by improving their capacity to deliver quality support; help employers to understand and implement inclusive hiring practices; and benefit people with disability, by increasing their access to meaningful employment and career pathways.
“It provides the building block on which other work will follow,” says Dr Alexander. “It will also serve to inform policy makers and pave the way for future reforms with evidence of what works best for people with disability.”