Good Sammy open employment trials

People with disability are twice as likely to be unemployed or work fewer hours compared to people without disability. Most people with intellectual disability in Australia in paid work continue to work in disability specific employment settings. The barriers to open employment for people with intellectual disability are structural, systemic and attitudinal. These barriers start from young adults finding their first paid work through to people who have worked in closed employment for many years. 

Good Sammy Enterprises (GSE) trialled two new models of employment support, the traineeship and licences trial (two years) and the hybrid employment trial (three years). The trials offered training and work experience, with the goal to assist people with disability to build their capacity for open employment and to secure open employment with full award wages in workplaces outside GSE. The trials were evaluated with an 18-month longitudinal mixed methods design. The effectiveness of the processes to achieve the program goals was found to be mixed. At the end of the trials, three people were in full award wage open employment and seven people worked in businesses outside GSE and were paid a supported wage by GSE (provision of service). 

Other participants gained work experience, skills and confidence to consider open employment in the future. GSE explained the results as partly due to the various needs of the participants (new and existing GSE employees), changes to the disability employment support services, the timing of trials and the gap in the funding structure from uncertainty related to National Disability Insurance Scheme reforms. The trials generated useful advice for future initiatives to enhance pathways to open employment by GSE and similar programs.