Submission 158 — WithYouWithMe — Select Committee on Autism

WithYouWithMe

submission to the Select

Committee for Autism

Dear committee members,

This submission is designed to update the Select Committee on Autism on the work WithYouWithMe (WYWM) is currently undertaking to assist Australians with Autism find new digital careers. WYWM’s Project Possible has recently kicked-off. Our program was inspired by your committee and the testimony of autistic savant Rhett Ellis, who approached our firm after speaking with your committee.

In response to the committee testimony WYWM was persuaded to donate $5 million worth of free assessment and training for those of working age (16 +) who are on the spectrum. We will offer 1,000 eligible applicants’ access to free training in areas including cyber security, automation and robotics, data analytics, IT and software development. Each of these courses is valued at more than $5,000.

As part of the work completed to date with partners, we have formed the following conclusions that may assist the committee and government as it moves forward:

1. Establish a bespoke neurodiversity hiring program within the Government’s Digital Transformation Agency to establish pathways for Australians with Autism to start new tech careers with the Australian

Government,

2. The integration of allied health professionals into the employee management and HR processes for neurodiverse employees in government roles; and

3. Establishing a program which will consult across Government departments on how to implement key process changes to make the Australian Public Service an employer of choice for neurodiverse candidates.

Below you will find more details on the WYWM program and our suggested actions for the committee’s consideration.

I am available to assist with any questions or enquiries the committee may have.

Regards,

Tom Moore, CEO & Founder WithYouWithMe

Rhett Ellis, Disability Advocate and Autism Specialist at WithYouWithMe

Who is WithYouWithMe?

WYWM is one of Australia’s largest social impact organisations. We offer a unique digital training and employment platform which helps individuals find new career pathways and helps upskill them for these careers.

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Started in 2015, the organisation was founded with the purpose of helping Australian military veterans transition into civilian life. The company found success by training veterans for new technology careers in disciplines such as cybersecurity, data analytics, robotics, IT and software development.

WYWM has now developed a world-class training academy and platform, which has helped more than 20,000 Australian veterans transition. ItisnowoperatingintheUnitedStatesandCanada,helpingtrainveteransin thosecountriesfornewtechcareers.

WYWM now also works with some of Australia’s largest companies and government organisations to identify hidden talent within its workforces and upskill for new in-demand careers. This includes Services Australia,

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Department of Defence, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, KPMG and

DXC.

Key to this is WYWM’s proprietary testing suite and platform, which assess an individual’s likelihood of success in a technology career.

WYWM has helped a range of unique cohorts outside of the veteran community train in digital skills, including workers who suffered injuries and are unable to return to work via a program with icare; Australian university students who were looking to build job ready skills, and Australian Pilots and other Aviation workers who have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 crisis.

WYWM is passionate about helping people reach their full potential, and we see ProjectPossibleas an opportunity to help make a difference in the lives of a lot of Australians with Autism, but also helping fill critical tech skills gaps in the Australian economy.

Project Possible

In August WYWM begun its engagement for ProjectPossible,a social impact venture designed to get more Australians with Autism into new digital careers. WYWM is taking its successful model of transitioning veterans and other groups into new careers and applying it to neurodiverse candidates.

ProjectPossiblehad its genesis through a partnership with leading Autism Advocate Rhett Ellis. Mr Ellis presented to this committee on 28 July 2020 about the importance of creating new digital jobs for individuals with Autism and spoke to the success of specialised programs to help individuals find new careers specifically in Cyber Security.

Following this appearance, WYWM has worked with Mr Ellis to develop a new, robust program to help individuals with autism, utilizing Mr Ellis to help develop the program specifically for those on the spectrum. The program will see WYWM offer free access to its employment assessments to more than 1,000 Australians with Autism to help identify the untapped potential for employment.

What problem are we solving? The NDIS has set a participant employment target of 30%, it currently has 25% of participants in some form of paid work, this means it needs to create just under 20,000 jobs to get from 25% to 30%.

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The NDIS participant employment strategy highlights an eventual goal of 40%, which would be just under 60,000 jobs to get from 25% to 40%, that means we need to beat the market significantly, and that means we need to take action immediately.

31% of all NDIS participants currently have a primary diagnosis of Autism, but if we look at the 7-14 age bracket, its 65% autistic, in a few years we will face a huge surge of unemployed disabled people due to the fact that autism is specifically bad in terms of employment, three times as bad as other disabilities.

The NDIS needs to hit these employment targets to reduce its cost and be sustainable, and that means that the NDIS needs a successful autism hiring program, because autism is the largest cohort.

The current lifetime cost of an autistic NDIS participant to the government is roughly $6.7 million at current rates.

How the solution works WYWM, led by Mr Ellis and working with leading disability partners, have developed a program to test the employability of a cohort of Australians with Autism, before offering 1,000 individuals training and employment services for new careers in technology. The program will help hundreds of Australians with Autism into employment, while also helping fill vacant technology roles critical to the Australian economy, including cybersecurity, data analytics and software development.

The program involved a three-phased proof of concept to help identify the untapped potential amongst the Australian Autistic community for new roles in technology:

Phase 1 - Assessment Phase 1 will see Australians with Autism undertake the WYWM Tech Assessments which will uncover an individual’s match and ability to be trained for a career in technology. The Assessment was built in collaboration with University of Sydney and has been completed by more than 20,000 individuals globally to help uncover new tech talent.

This phase will be critical in identifying the right talent capable of undertaking training and being successful in a new tech career.

WYWM is offering these assessments free of charge to individuals as part of ProjectPossible.We are targeting a minimum of 5,000 individuals tested in order to identify an appropriate cohort for training.

WYWM is currently working with a range of partners in the disability sector to reach the individuals to participate in the program.

Phase 2 - training WYWM has committed to training 1,000 individuals with autism in courses on the WYWM Academy, free of charge.

This phase will see those matched to the pathway undertake training in cyber security, data analytics, software development, robotic process automation and IT. All courses are delivered online and are accredited by the American National Standards Institute. They are designed to upskill individuals for an entry-level role in the career in approx. three months.

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This training will be provided free of charge by WYWM as a proof of concept trial. At a standard price of $5,000 per course licence, this phase of the program is valued in excess of $5m.

Phase 3 - employment WYWM will then work with partners in the disability sector to help provide employment pathways for those who complete the training courses.

WYWM is currently working directly with the Australian Army to help build a neurodiverse team to work with the Australian Army as part of its Data Analytics team. This is an exciting first step in designing specific programs within Government to take advantage of the unique skill sets of neurodiverse candidates.

Some additional examples of in-demand roles which we will be able to support through trained talent include:

• Entry-level cyber security analysts working with the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and the Department of Defence’s cyber warfare division

• Trainee software developers working across Department of Defence projects

• Data Analysts working on projects with Services Australia and the National Disability Insurance Agency

• Systems Administrators and IT support roles at Services Australia

• Robotic Process Automation developers working with the Department of Finance’s Centre of Excellence This model creates a supportive work environment built for autistic people around economies of scale, one program at JPMorgan bank employed 85 autistic people at once and measured them against a control group of 85 non-autistic people, they found the autistic group to be up to 140% more productive, which means even with the additional support staff it’s actually more cost effective to employ disabled people.

Autistic people are underestimated, but with military grade aptitude testing and skills testing we leave no doubt about a person’s capabilities, this allows us to have an entirely evidence based view of an individual’s capabilities, When most organisations interview all they really test is your social skills, which causes significant problems for autistic people who are often shy and don’t interview well but are actually very good, and it causes significant problems for organisations who end up writing off the autistic person who is 140% more productive at the job like at JPMorgan, this is a lose-lose scenario and the government foots the bill for long term unemployed autistics that want to work and are indeed very capable of working, they just need a suitable environment, which is a group traineeship program like the one we are proposing.

WYWM’s unique approach, focus on in-demand tech-skills, training, bespoke tech platform and Australian Government experience places us in a compelling position to help the NDIS through our partnership with Autism Queensland to create employment opportunities for people with Autism.

Summary of the Assessments and Training Below is a brief summary of the WYWM Testing and Training platform and how we will be utilising this model to help Australians with Autism kick-start a new career.

WYWM Tech Assessment Platform

Key to the ProjectPossibleis the first phase of assessing the untapped potential of the Autistic community for new careers in technology. This will be completed using WYWM’s Tech Assessment Platform.

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WYWM has a sophisticated testing solution that has been iteratively developed over the past five years. The testing suite has been designed to help individuals and organisations uncover hidden talent which has the propensity to be upskilled for new careers. Unlike many other testing suites which focus on background and experience, WYWM is focused on uncovering an individual’s potential to be successful in a new career, significantly broadening the opportunities for the organisation and the individual to match to the right career.

WYWM’s testing suite is proprietary and developed in conjunction with the University of Sydney. It includes a number of key aspects, including:

• Aptitude Assessment - what’s an individual’s ability and likelihood of learning a new tech skill?
• Psychometric Assessment - what type of technology role will they be most comfortable with?
• Learning Style Assessment - how will they best learn the tech skills?
• Culture Fit Assessment - in what type of tech company or team will they thrive? Our cultural fit Assessment has benefited from the input of Mr. Ellis and is more comprehensive for autistic applicants. Questioning includes methods to identify where applicants might best fit. For example, some autistics may benefit from working at home; others may require a quiet environment or be best placed in a group setting with other autistic workers.

WYWM Academy Tech Training Courses

Over the past three years, WYWM has developed significant career opportunities for individuals via training on the WYWM Academy. WYWM Academy is world-leading tech courses designed to get individuals with no tech background upskilled for entry level tech roles.

These courses typically vary between 100-200 hours of content and take roughly 12 weeks to complete.

We offer career pathways in the following areas:

• Cyber Security
• Automation and Robotics
• Data Analytics
• IT
• Software Development Since the launch of the WYWM Academy in 2017, WYWM has trained more than 5,000 people in digital skills.

The WYWM Academy is certified by the American National Standards Institute, as well as individual industry certification per pathway, such as Cyber Certification by GCHQ.

While WYWM trains social cohorts such as veterans with no cost to the user, standard course costs range from $5,000 - $7,000 annually per licence.

Key recommendations From the work done to date in establishing this program, WYWM and its partners have gained a number of insights on improvements the government can make in facilitating a positive environment for neurodiverse candidates to begin working for the APS.

These recommendations include:

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Establishment of a bespoke neurodiversity hiring program within the Government’s Digital Transformation Agency to establish pathways for Australians with Autism to start new tech careers with the Australian Government.

In order for the APS to begin getting traction in neurodiverse hiring, a pilot project will need to be championed by a single department. We believe that the Digital Transformation Agency would be the ideal body to champion this project given they have the most to benefit from tapping into the potential of neurodiverse candidates for technology roles.

We would recommend the pilot project focus on the following disciplines:

1. Data Analytics
2. Software Development
3. Cyber Security The integration of allied health professionals into the employee management and HR processes for neurodiverse employees in government roles. In order for neurodiverse candidates to be successful over the long-term in APS roles, it is essential that processes be established in order to appreciate the differences in management style required to allow Australians with Autism to flourish.

We believe that integrating allied health professionals into the HR and employee management processes will allow a focus on the unique needs of neurodiverse employees.

Establishing a program which will consult across Government departments on how to implement key process changes to make the Australian Public Service an employer of choice for neurodiverse candidates. In order for the programs to scale, a project must be undertaken to consult with departments across the APS on how they can implement effective programs, taking into consideration the lessons from the pilot program.

Next steps WYWM is seeking support from the Committee to grow the WYWM program. We see a significant opportunity for ProjectPossibleto greatly impact on the Government through reduced reliance on the NDIS for candidates, while also helping fill critical skills gaps within the Government’s digital roles.

We also hope the committee takes on board WYWM’s recommendations and looks to adopt these to facilitate more Australians with autism into APS roles.

We hope to present to the Committee our approach and keep them informed of our approach and future success.

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