Disability Support at PwC Australia

PwC has been working towards increasing awareness and inclusion within their firm and on a wider scale. PwC encourages people with disability to apply and gain employment through their mainstream recruitment pathways and have worked to ensure all processes are accessible.

• In 2015, PwC became the first professional services firm to lodge an Access and Inclusion Plan with the Australian Human Rights Commission.
• In addition to mainstream recruitment pathways, the firm actively seeks to employ people with disability through specialist programs, working with organisations such as Specialisterne Australia and The Australian Network on Disability, and through partnerships with Federal and State Government employment campaigns.
• PwC is proactive in addressing mental health with a strategy in place for ongoing workshops, workplace support and a network of mental health first aid officers. They provide support through their C.A.R.E. (Coaching, Advice, Resilience and Empowerment) program, which is available to all staff and their immediate families.
• All PwC people have access to in-house Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Psychology services through the Health and Wellness team for assessment and case management services.
• PwC has implemented a centralised process for workplace adjustment requests during both recruitment and employment. PwC provides accessible work environments that both meet and go beyond the Disability Discrimination Act requirements.
• PwC has an employee-led network (Ability@PwC) that connects and supports people with disability, and those who care for someone with a disability to help drive positive cultural change.
• PwC provides disability awareness training sessions for its people to become ‘disability confident’ and learn more about inclusive behaviours and language when working with people with disability.
• Informal and formal flexible work arrangements are possible as part of PwC’s ‘All Roles Flex’ policy. At PwC, people have the opportunity to work flexibly and in a way that works best for both themselves and their clients.
• With no dress code in place, PwC embraces individual differences and trusts their people to wear what they feel is appropriate and comfortable for the type of work they do in their day.

Our Ability network offers a place for people with disability, carers of people with disability and those interested in building a more inclusive workplace. In addition to the support it offers network members and the events it runs, Ability also delivers Disability Confidence Training - a 1.5 hour facilitated awareness session on disability, to help build confidence in working with people with disability, reduce stigma and shift to an inclusive mindset.

“As someone who experiences ADHD, I feel empowered to share my accessibility needs with my leader supported by our Reasonable Adjustments Policy. I have received all of the support I need to be myself and at my best every day, and I’m so appreciative of the disability awareness that the Ability network are driving for our people.”