A new way forward for youth disability employment
An independent evaluation released in May 2025 found that employers participating in the Employer Innovation Lab are changing their business practices.
- News
3 min read
A unique collaboration between Social Ventures Australia and Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA) has been helping Australian employers rethink the way they hire, support and retain young people with disability.
The Employer Innovation Lab, delivered with support from philanthropy and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, brought together eight large and medium-sized employers from Melbourne. Each took part in a seven-month coaching and learning journey focused on designing employment pathways for young people with disability who don’t have university qualifications.
The Lab was developed in response to persistent workforce barriers. While youth unemployment sits at 7.7%, it’s more than twice as high for young people with disability, reaching 19.3% according to the 2022 ABS report. And even when they do find work, lack of workplace support, lack of inclusive pathways and unconscious bias keep many locked out of career opportunities. As one employer put it, they wanted to stop “bringing someone in to fail without setting them up with the right structures.”
Starting in August 2024, the Lab combined intensive workshops, tailored coaching, lived experience storytelling and peer learning. Employers developed and refined pilot projects in their workplaces to employ at least one young person with disability. By the end of May 2025, half of the employers had already met this goal. More are expected to do so by August 2025.
Co-designed by SVA and CYDA, the Lab used a systems change approach. Employers worked with youth consultants with lived experience of disability, gaining insight into the barriers they face when applying for jobs and navigating workplaces.
“It was a really good way to immediately test some of the ideas that we had just put on paper,” mentioned an employer. “[The Lab..] helped us navigate those conversations and equipped us with the confidence and I guess some examples of what people with disability can do rather than what they can’t”, noted another.
Employers praised the balance of practical support and lived experience expertise. CYDA’s disability awareness training and th e SVA/CYDA one-on-one coaching were both seen as essential to creating sustainable outcomes. In some cases, pilots were reshaped based on honest feedback from youth consultants or strategic advice from coaches to avoid short-term placements that risked failure.
By co-delivering with CYDA we have been able to create a unique learning experience for employers combining years of employment expertise within SVA’s team and deep understanding of lived experience through CYDA. So often, disability employment plans fail because people are worried about making mistakes. Our approach increases people’s confidence to try something new. ”Lisa Fowkes • Director Employment, SVA
The evaluation report of the Lab, which examines employers’ experiences and the overall effectiveness of the work, indicates a practice change across the board. Dr Qian Yi Lee, Professor Jo Ingold, and Professor Angela Knox note that employers have introduced new job design approaches, rewritten hiring policies, piloted inclusive onboarding sessions, and established internal champions and training programs. One employer modified their medical clearance process to remove barriers for young candidates. Another created six new roles for young people with disability and is now exploring long-term career pathways across departments.
The evaluation found strong evidence of organisational learning and cultural change. In some instances, the learning extended beyond the workplaces, as staff were integrating the experience into their personal lives and future roles.
The majority of the barriers that young people with disability encounter when struggling to gain or retain employment come from the assumptions of employers, and that these assumptions stem from fears. Fear to let go of business-as-usual processes and meet the needs of individuals, fear about having difficult conversations on what it truly means to be inclusive, fear of making mistakes, and fear of negative business outcomes. Through working with Social Ventures Australia to create a safe environment for lived experience experts and employers across all areas of industry, the Employment Innovation Lab has let employers not just face these fears themselves, but gain the tools, skills and understanding to guide their co-workers through these fears, leading to incredible change across their workplaces ”Jason McCurry • Programs Manager, CYDA
The report recommends scaling the Lab model to other locations and cohorts. “The structure, process and content are robust and effective,” it concluded.
Since 2022 we have had the privilege of evaluating the Employer Innovation Labs for young people coming from non-university backgrounds and this specific Lab focused on young people with disability. The model has now been tested in different labour markets and it is clear that that there is significant opportunity for organisations to build on the conversation that has been started and to leverage learning from their pilot projects to bring about organisational changes that will have long-term benefits to their organisation and young people with disability. The Labs demonstrate that change is about more than job outcomes. It is about challenging assumptions and beliefs, addressing fears head on – and busting the myth that employing people with disability is too hard.”Professor Jo Ingold • Peter Faber Business School, Australian Catholic University
As employers look to build more inclusive teams, this partnership shows what’s possible when organisations commit to real change, with the right support.
