AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT
SERVICES AUSTRALIA
REALISING AN INCLUSIVE WORKFORCE FOR PEOPLE WITH
AUTISM IN THE AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC SERVICE (APS)
WRITTEN SUBMISSION TO THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON
AUTISM
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- Introduction Services Australia (the Agency) welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Senate Select Committee’s (the Committee’s) Inquiry into Autism, which will inform the need for a National Autism Strategy. This submission focuses on the components of the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference that relate to providing employment opportunities for people with autism.
The Agency has provided specific employment opportunities for people with autism since 2015 through its dedicated neurodiversity programs, the ‘Dandelion’ and ‘Aurora’ Programs. The benefits of these initiatives have been substantial. They have provided meaningful and sustainable employment opportunities for people who may have otherwise found it difficult to find a job. The Programs have also enabled the Agency to build disability confidence and raise awareness of the skills and talents of people with autism.
These Programs have allowed the Agency to realise its policy commitments, which seek to improve the representation of people with disability in employment. These are outlined in the As One: APS Disability Employment Strategy1 and the National Disability Strategy 2010-20202.
Aside from the personal and social benefits, these Programs have had other positive impacts. These include building a more inclusive workforce culture, which contributes to more effective government services being provided to Australian communities.
- Areas of relevance 2.1. Realising employment opportunities for people with autism
Each person on the autism spectrum is unique. Many have exceptional skills over and above that of people without autism, which can be of benefit across a number of jobs3. These include:
being task focused and having the ability to work independently having high problem solving and critical thinking skills having high aptitude for analysis (in particular, pattern recognition and spatial processing) having high tolerance for repetitive tasks possessing high and sustained concentration ability being honest, reliable and ethical.
The Agency’s investment in autism employment programs has provided individuals with autism with a pathway to employment in the Australian Public Service, and the opportunity to grow individually and professionally. The Agency has been able to attract and develop new skills and capability into specialised areas of the organisation, including in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Fraud and Compliance. The combined benefits have realised positive outcomes for staff, customers and the community.
2.2. Dandelion Program
The Dandelion Program commenced in 2015 in collaboration with Services Australia, DXC Technology (formally Hewlett Packard Enterprise) and Specialisterne, a specialist provider of employment for people with autism. The goal of the Program was to provide people on the autism spectrum with ongoing employment and careers. The recruitment and induction processes for the Program enabled applicants to demonstrate their strengths in a supportive environment, providing each person the opportunity to thrive in the workplace.
1 https://www.apsc.gov.au/one-australian-public-service-disability-employment-strategy 2 https://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/disability-and-carers/publications-articles/policy-research/national-disability-strategy-2010-2020 3 http://au.specialisterne.com/about-specialisterne/autism-spectrum-disorder-asd/
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The Program is designed to enable people on the autism spectrum to gain the skills needed to build a long-term, sustainable career. A total of 58 people have been engaged in ICT traineeship roles since 2015. The positions have included business, systems and data analysts, technical and data engineers and web application developers. These roles have been located in the Agency’s ICT Delivery Centres in Adelaide, Brisbane and Canberra and are up to three years in duration.
Training, line management, performance management and related HR services were carried out by DXC as part of a fully managed service, so as to build life skills and self-advocacy for participants to have a career. Agency staff, including managers and work colleagues of trainees, were trained to be autism aware and confident to support the trainees to perform at their best.
The Program has a strong retention rate of around 80 per cent4. The participants remain a valued part of the Agency’s ICT workforce and have a positive career ahead of them. Two of the participants, who have gained tertiary qualifications, have joined the Agency’s Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) employment scheme as graduates. Another two participants have gained full-time roles in State Government and private industry.
“There are many options available for me in my life now. I have a stepping stone in my path, and it will be extremely useful as I progress in my career.”
Dandelion Trainee
“It is the best thing that’s ever happened to Jack, I can truly say that.” Parent of Dandelion trainee
“The team is far surpassing our initial expectations with their desire to learn, their attention to detail and are embracing their roles of software test analysts in a new challenging environment. The commonly held beliefs and often negative stereotypes within society surrounding people with autism are being broken down as people get to know the employees in the Dandelion Team. They soon discover that they are awesome people who have so much to contribute.”
Trainee Supervisor
2.3. Aurora Program
The Aurora Program was established by the Agency in November 2019 in collaboration with Specialisterne Australia, to recruit employees with autism into broader roles outside of the ICT function. There have been 11 people recruited so far in specialist fraud and compliance roles in Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra.
The Aurora Program uses pre-selection exercises and a four-week assessment centre to identify and match the right candidate for available roles. Each candidate is assessed and evaluated against targeted activities developed by Specialisterne and the Agency. This allows assessors to observe individual skills in a range of scenarios.
Individuals are being engaged in specialist positions for up to 18 months, with the same employment conditions as ongoing staff. As a result, they will be able to compete strongly for future ongoing vacancies.
“I’m hugely impressed by the quality of the candidates, we ended up recruiting more people than we had planned due to the high standard of applicants.”
Program Manager
Agency managers are being fully trained to take responsibility for managing the participants on an ongoing basis. They are involved from the beginning of the Program to observe the strengths and job readiness of candidates during the recruitment, selection and assessment process.
4 Services Australia review into Autistic talent in ICT
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The participants are empowered to identify any support or adjustments they need. Support plans are established to identify individual challenges and strategies that may help to overcome them. Tailored development activities have been integrated into the Program to build on the strengths of the participants. These activities include peer support, mentoring and coaching.
“My team has made me feel welcome and supported me when I needed it most.” Program participant
While the Aurora Program is only recently been established, it currently has a 100 per cent retention rate. It is also receiving very positive feedback from the managers involved. Managers are impressed by the dedication of participants and the quality of their work. The managers, who also participated in the extensive selection exercise, have observed high levels of accuracy, detail and productivity. Each have found the process personally rewarding in terms of learning about autism and being able to provide employment to people with autism who otherwise may not have a job at all.
“The technical skill of the candidates exceeded our expectations, the recruitment method, was innovative and I believe it helped select the most suitable candidates.”
Program Manager
“The participants are kicking some real goals for us. They have automated data processes that we didn’t think were possible. The output is also phenomenal. I have had work finished in an hour that would normally take others a week.” Program supervisor
The Program has also received positive feedback from participants. Many said that they have gained practical on the job work experiences through workshop activities led by Agency staff. Those engaged with the Program are taking the opportunity to use their unique skills and experiences to realise key business goals.
“The Program has provided me with the opportunity to use my critical thinking and analytical skills, as well as providing me with an insight on what a typical work environment looks like.” Program participant
- Conclusion The Dandelion and Aurora Programs provide safe, supported and challenging environments for individuals to contribute their unique skills and talents to thrive at work. Business areas are benefiting from the results of engaging people with autism, with positive effects on productivity and efficiency.
In particular, the Aurora Program is demonstrating the individual and social benefits of employing people with autism outside of ICT, and further realising culturally safe and inclusive workplaces for people with autism. The expansion of the Program and the Agency’s continued partnership with Specialisterne Australia has highlighted the benefits that employment has to offer people who are neuro-diverse - including improvements to self-confidence, sense of identity and purpose.
The Dandelion and Aurora Programs continued to be delivered in the Agency despite the significant impacts of COVID-19. Contributions made by candidates through their diversity of thought, resilience and reliability have had positive benefits for the Agency through improved awareness and capability, disability representation, and more innovative and modern services to customers and government. They are also realising the Agency’s commitment to be an employer of choice of people with disability.
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