May 2005

 

Paul Trass, General Manager, Industry Training for Carter Holt Harvey, found the session an eye-opener. “It certainly opens up another avenue of recruitment, particularly where we do have some future major skill shortages.” With its large workforce, Carter Holt Harvey has already been focusing on diversity. For Mr Trass, “I hadn’t thought of disabilities as being part of that diversity, but certainly after listening to those sessions, they have huge amounts to offer.”

 

With regard to the supports that MSD is developing to encourage employers to hire people with disabilities, Mr Trass believes “employers are less worried about the financial subsidies and support they can get – they’re more focused that someone can actually do a job.”

 

Dave Stewart, General Manager of Manpower Specialist Brands, noted that the summit was good for gaining “a greater understanding of what [disability sector] groups were there, but not necessarily for gaining a cohesive view of how employers can tap into that.” With this in mind, he was supportive of MSD’s plans to compile a quick reference guide to the disability talent pool.

 

Mr Stewart also underlined the need to ease employers into the disability labour pool by inspiring them to “grab the easy wins and build from there. What employers need is bite-sized chunks, how to get those first small steps.”