Action areas

Following consultation and analysis, the following four action areas have been identified for the Disability Access and Inclusion Plan 2021-2025:

Our leadership’s commitment to inclusion - our disability initiatives are championed by senior leaders who drive progress and change to meet our 2025 target of 12% employees with disability.
Our people experience - our inclusive employment policies and practices strengthen career opportunities for people with disability.
Our accessible workplace - our physical and digital environment provides an inclusive employee experience.
Our inclusive culture - our department is a leader in accessibility and inclusion for people with disability and is welcoming of people with disability when we work with our partners and the community.

DPC groups will partner with each other to implement initiatives that are relevant to their respective functions and operation. All groups will be encouraged to identify initiatives to include in their group’s strategic plan.

Governance

This plan is underpinned by activities to ensure strong governance and reporting. All actions will be set out in an implementation plan, a detailed internal monitoring and tracking document that details the progress of the plan. Progress against the plan will be reported annually to our Board of Management.

We will apply the following process:

establish a governance committee that is accountable for reporting on the plan’s progress
establish a formal consultation framework with the DPC Enablers Network (comprising people with lived experience of disability) to ensure people with disability are consulted when making decisions that affect people with disability
create a communication plan to promote the Disability Access and Inclusion Plan, and raise awareness through success stories and case studies.

Action area 1: Our leadership’s commitment to inclusion

Our disability initiatives are championed by senior leaders who drive progress and change to meet our 2025 target of 12% employees with disability.

Goal	Strategies	Timing
Ensure our leaders champion diversity initiatives	Continue our commitment to an Executive Disability Champion who champions access and inclusion for people with disability and carers and who sponsors the DPC Enablers Network	Year 1[1]
	Support senior leaders to become disability confident, promote the plan and drive actions within their groups to achieve the 2025 target of 12% employees with disability	Year 1 and ongoing
Report on progress against the plan	Report annually to the DPC Board of Management and DPC Enablers Network on performance against the plan	Annual
	Develop a data collection and reporting framework within existing corporate systems to measure actions to support people with disability and to provide indicator measures for the plan	Year 1

[1] References to years are as follows: Year 1: 2022; Year 2: 2023; Year 3: 2024.

Action area 2: Our people experience

Our inclusive employment policies and practices strengthen career opportunities for people with disability to achieve 12% employees with disability by 2025.

Goal	Strategies	Timing
Increase the representation of people with disability across the entire organisation to achieve 12% employees with disability by 2025	Regularly promote DPC’s commitment to enabling workplace adjustments and illustrate the need and the benefit of workplace adjustments through case studies and articles to increase retention of people with disability	Year 1
	As the department continues to move to a hybrid working model, embed learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure flexible working arrangements are equally available to people with disability and complement any workplace adjustments	Year 1
	Leverage Special Measures, recruitment channels and employment programs to attract talented candidates to DPC at all levels	Year 2
	Educate people managers about recruitment and workplace adjustments for candidates with disability and implement unconscious bias/disability confidence training for hiring managers and those on interview panels	Year 2
	Regularly review the accessibility of the end-to-end recruitment and selection processes (including application, interview, onboarding and induction) to identify and rectify any unintended barriers	Year 2
	Train people managers to be disability confident with a focus on workplace adjustments throughout the employee life cycle	Year 2
Create more sustainable professional development opportunities for people with disability	Design and implement pathways for people with disability to take up accessible professional development programs and participate in the whole of VPS mentoring program pilot, in conjunction with the VPS Enablers Network	Year 2
	Review the accessibility and inclusivity of mandatory e-learning modules	Year 3

Action area 3: Our accessible workplace

Our physical and digital environment provides an inclusive employee experience.

Goal	Strategies	Timing
Improve and enhance the physical accessibility of our built environment	Advocate that building owners comply with the relevant ‘Access to Premises Standards’ under Building Codes of Australia and the Disability Discrimination Act and apply universal design principles to exceed compliance where possible	Ongoing
	Ensure internal and community DPC events and workshops are accessible to people with disability and accessibility features are promoted as standard in all advertising materials	Year 1
	Review the accessibility of the built environment and develop an inclusive design plan that considers Design for Dignity Principles to prioritise, invest in and improve access in the existing infrastructure	Year 2
Improve and enhance the accessibility of our digital technology and communications content	Partner with the owners of the Digital Employee Experience Roadmap to ensure a stronger dependency on robust accessibility testing by consulting with people with lived experience of disability	Ongoing
	Review the creation process for all online documents to ensure the required item is in an accessible format and/or available in alternative formats	Year 1
	Contribute to a whole of VPS strategy to improve the accessibility of government communication and information	Year 2
	Regularly review our websites (internet and intranet) to ensure compliance with the Victorian Government access standards as defined by the whole of government Web Digital Standards Framework	Year 2
	Ensure the DPC Procurement Strategy aligns with the Social Procurement Framework and that goods and services products procured are accessible	Year 3

Action area 4: Our inclusive culture

Our department is a leader in accessibility and inclusion for people with disability and is welcoming of people with disability when we work with our partners and the community.

Goal	Strategies	Timing
All staff are committed to contribute to a respectful and inclusive work environment	Embed disability awareness training into the induction process and make this available to all staff and managers for refresher training	Year 1
	Campaign to encourage staff to complete workforce data surveys and to share information about living with disability that will improve understanding of our workforce	Year 1
	Create a safe environment for employees to raise awareness through sharing personal stories about living with disability that will benefit the employee experience and improve corporate knowledge	Year 2
DPC celebrates diversity and includes people with disability	Conduct forums and events to showcase and celebrate best practice in inclusion of people with disability	Year 2
	Showcase the achievements of people with disability through DPC publications	Year 3

Updated 9 December 2021