The loss of any staff person is a cause for concern.
Why so?
Most business owners invest significant resources into the selection, hire, on-boarding and ongoing support of their workers (we spend a fortune!) - that makes every worker valuable since each possesses a unique history and knowledge of the job seekers and employers with whom they have worked. These are often long term relationships and may have existed for decades.
Arbitrarily ended causing damage that no 'transition' process can effectively manage and leaving both workers and job seekers with disability with feelings of let-down and even betrayal.
Even worse, and truthfully beyond contemplation for smart business managers, is the wholesale replacement of staff - only the inexperienced or misguided would see this as a smart business option.
And that said, there is presently underway a process of reallocation of business that is tied to the present employment services contract which means that wholesale removal of entire programs has not only been contemplated but will happen - this obvious mistake is still seen as being in the interests of..... Whom?
Well, the answer certainly isn't in the interests of people with disability - 18 months into the present contract and following just such poor practice overall results were down by 16% (in a better economy!).
This madness is in the process of repetition.
The language used to justify the practice is Orwellian - 'Poor Performing Services' have included some of the longest established and most person centred programs in Australia. 'High Performing Services', include anything but.
We await the decision of our masters on who will stay and who will go and, based on everything that has happened to date, people with disability should be aware that their choices are unlikely to be considered as the rationalisation of disability employment completes its journey to worse than mediocrity.
I welcome comments in dispute but ask, if things are so good, how come we compare so very badly to our own previous results and to the results achieved by pretty much every other developed economy?
Afraid to speak out, in fear of retaliation, silence accompanies the decision making process that would, in the real world, lead to change not in the people contracted to deliver service but rather in those that manage the program. Instead how about we set a meaningful goal like 'maximum participation', reward reduction in benefits, promote full time work and above all else, have faith in the capacity of people with disability to succeed - no need for hand outs, just a hand up.
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