A City for Everyone: Inclusive Brisbane Plan 2019-2029 - 02 Work - Ongoing actions

Everyone can independently access businesses and employment opportunities across the city.

Council will focus on the following two strategies and resulting actions by leveraging the roles of partner, provider, facilitator, regulator, funder and advocate.

Support local businesses to help them become more accessible and inclusive

• Facilitate a pilot mentoring program for socially minded business start-ups that employ marginalised groups.
• Facilitate access for social businesses to explore potential seed funding and information on venues that can be hired by groups wanting to start their own businesses.
• Provide free training to build knowledge and skills among social businesses, including governance, grant writing, project management, setting up social enterprises and developing strategic and operational plans.
• Facilitate opportunities for businesses to make their services more inclusive of everyone through a network of businesses sharing inclusive practices.
• Facilitate the promotion of inclusive elements of businesses so that residents feel confident in shopping locally.
• Provide recognition and celebration of businesses that demonstrate inclusive practices.
• Provide support and training for businesses to make services more inclusive.
• Provide inclusion audits to identify opportunities for enhancements among business precincts.
• Facilitate procurement processes so that providers to Council can demonstrate their commitment to an accessible and inclusive community.

Grow diversity in the city’s workforce

• Provide a review of Council’s advertising, job application, recruitment and selection process to ensure all residents continue to have equal access to apply for Council jobs.
• Provide employment programs to increase the diversity of Council employees, particularly representation of people with disability and those from culturally diverse backgrounds.
• Facilitate an inclusive employment champions network that:
  • showcases success stories of employee diversity
  • provides flexible work opportunities and a commitment to employing more people often excluded from the workforce
  • provides notification of employment opportunities to training organisations and local employment organisations.
• Advocate for local businesses to consider the employment needs of local people.
• Partner with industry to recognise inclusive employers.
• Partner with other levels of government to provide training opportunities for people entering the Brisbane workforce to understand the Australian workplace, qualification transfer processes, work experience opportunities and information on how and where to look for work.