Partnership evaluates CVGT Employment’s innovative approach to Disability Employment Services 

CVGT Employment is excited to be partnering with The Australian Welfare and Work Lab at Melbourne University and research collaborator La Trobe University to evaluate our innovative pilot approach to Disability Employment Services; Exploring how to improve overall servicing and ultimately employment outcomes for jobseekers with moderate intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The Australian Welfare and Work Lab, within the Faculty of Arts at the University of  Melbourne, pioneers collaborative research with industry partners on new ways of commissioning and delivering employment services to help some of the most disadvantaged people in Australia into sustainable employment. The Lab builds on a program of policy-engaged research that has been tracking the impacts of welfare reform on the frontline delivery of employment services in Australia and internationally for over 20 years. The Lab is focused on developing collaborative research partnerships with industry and government to test practice innovations in welfare-to-work programs and to build the evidence base for ‘best practice’ models in the governance and delivery of employment services.

The research project CVGT Employment has embarked upon responds to the issues that affect placing highly disadvantaged jobseekers into employment which remains a challenge for welfare-to-work reforms in Australia and elsewhere.

CVGT Employment, a not-for-profit, for-purpose employment service provider, has developed its own philosophy and methodology to assist very disadvantaged jobseekers into work. Specifically, through the creation of a pilot approach to Disability Employment Services (DES), called the Specialist Disability Employment Team (SDET).

CVGT Employment explores ways to improve overall servicing and ultimately employment outcomes for jobseekers with moderate intellectual and developmental disabilities under the current DES program.

Aimed to be person-centred and delivered in conjunction with partner organisations, the model places respect for the complexity of participants’ life circumstances and personal histories at its core, focusing on integrating employability, counselling, and other allied support services and prioritising transitions to sustainable, ongoing employment over short-term job placements. The model sits within a whole-of-organisation approach to critical empowerment and leadership.

This project aims to conduct an in-progress evaluation of the SDET model via defining key characteristics of the SDET model and developing evidence base for its effectiveness in supporting this group of jobseekers. Research findings are expected to inform not only CVGT Employment’s practices but also the development of a responsive employment service model for people with disability.

Read The University of Melbourne website article ‘SDET Model: Best practices in placing DES job seekers into work’ to find out more about the project.

Learn more about our Specialist Disability Employment Team here.