Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily ohs oh, now it makes sense. Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Monday, the second of June. I'm Emma Gillespie.
I'm Zara Seidler.
Last week, TDA hosted a Good News Bruise event where hundreds of our readers and listeners came together to share in some brightness, some positivity around the good news that we don't often always get time to pause and reflect on, but it is something that's important to us here at the Daily OS and it served us a good reminder that there are so many amazing stories out there of people doing wonderful things.
And that's why today we wanted to start your week with a good news story from a fellow young person. In today's deep dive, we're going to speak to Bianka Stern, the general manager and the founding member of All Things Equal.
Now.
All Things Equal is a Melbourne based social enterprise empowering people with disability through award wage employment, purposeful training and pathways through rewarding careers in hospitality.
The organization recently put out an Equal Opportunity white paper, which it calls a blueprint for disability employment in hospitality and this report is basically a call to action for the entire hospitality sector, which it says is at a turning point. The paper says, quote, we can continue to complain about staff shortages, or we can widen our hiring lens and future proof our industry. To talk us through inclusive employment in hospitality and how All Things Equal is
paving the way for the rest of the industry. We are joined by their GM Bianker Stern Bianka. Welcome to the podcast.
Hello, thanks for having me.
We are so happy to be chatting to you today. But for those listening who might not be as familiar with All Things Equal, what do we need to know about the organization? How would you describe it?
Yeah? So All Things Equal is a hospitality based social enterprise based in Balaclava in Melbourne. We provide training and award wage employment for people with disability in the hospitality sector.
So what inspired you to get involved? Where did All Things Equal come from? And how did we end up with you leading this mission?
So I have to preface I'm not the only person that's leading this. We've got an amazing team of people that we work with. But essentially there are a bunch of different ways that this all came together. Our founder, his name's Jonathan. Jonathan's got a daughter called Tully who was finishing school at a beautiful special school called Giant Steps, and naturally he was concerned about what the employment landscape
could look like for Tully. But he knew that the kitchen was the perfect environment where Tully absolutely thrived and continues to thrive today. So he had this concept of all things Equal. He knew that if he wanted a place for Tality to thrive, he had to create an environment that was totally tailored to her and individuals like her.
So at the same time as that, I was working on a pilot project helping individuals with disability to get into employment in local businesses, and then when I heard about All Things Equal, it was just something that I absolutely had to be part of.
Just aligned with your passions and what you were working on very much. Can you talk me through for a person with a disability who might engage with All Things Equal or for their families, how does the whole process work from someone finding out about the organization to actually being a part of it to their future employment. Tell us a bit about that process.
So we have an employment pathway model where individuals with disability over the age of eighteen and to our pre employment program, which is a twelvemonth work training program, so that's unpaid training where we're learning the foundational skills of being ready to work and the hospitality sector so transferable skills like punctuality, organization, professional presentation, giving and receiving feedback. Within that, we've got a cooking school, a footy club, canteen,
and front of house training. And then when the individual successfully completes the program, they then enter employment in our cafe and that is a sort of around twelve to eighteen month long program where a trainee is supported by a hospitality trainer and they work either front of house or back of house, so either serving customers or food
preparation for our cafe and catering services. And then when we work alongside the individual to work out that they are ready to move on from our supportive environment, we support them to gain employment in other mainstream workplaces, so for example, hotels or large restaurants, catering companies, places like that that just genuinely want to have more inclusive workplaces and know that all things equal, has a really great training program.
Essentially, I'm interested in the sort of demand for these opportunities, the why of why this all came about. Normally, when we see these organizations thriving, it speaks to a bit of a lack in other parts of society or a lack of other similar organizations. Can you tell me a bit about the infrastructure that may or may not be in place around that.
Yeah, So we've got over one hundred people with disability on our wait list, which tells us from the start that we're dealing with the systemic problem. Right. So we know that there are initiatives that do exist and have existed for many, many years to support people with disability and neurodivergent people to get into employment. But yet the statistic, the unemployment statistic hasn't changed in over thirty years, so
we're dealing with something quite significant. There are over two point two million people with disability in Australia and more than half of those individuals are unemployed or underemployed. We know that people with disability want to be in jobs and careers just like anybody does, but it's the first
foot in the door that is always the challenge. We see cycles of people with disability going through programs, volunteering programs, work experience programs, where really the goal is that they want to get a paid job, an award wage paying job and a career. But when we don't see that transition into award wage, paid employment, that individual just goes back into the cycle.
Yeah, and is that the feedback that you have heard from the people who participate in these programs that this is the first time they've had access to these opportunities.
Very much so. So in Australia, you can get a job at the age of fourteen or nine months, but yet most of the individuals that we support and we work alongside, and the individuals that are on our wait list are from sort of around the age of twenty above. And almost every single trainee that has gone through our
program has never ever had a paid job before. So this is someone's first ever foot in the door, which means that they are already there is the inequity of already being behind by at least five six years.
So obviously there are broad skills that are being learned by the people with disability who are part of all things equal from front of house to back of house. Cooking, catering, business and admin skills. What are some of the strengths that people with disability and neurodivergent people bring to those roles. Have you been surprised or learned anything from them.
I'm not surprised whatsoever, because I know that when someone is given the platform and the right support, the right workplace accommodations are put in place for the individual, every single person can thrive. And so we see our trainees excel in so many areas that I just wish more people in our society could see. You think about about things like workplace culture and how much time and money
these workplaces put in to try build this culture. We just have it when you walk through the door instantly because the unique personalities and interests of our trainees are there from the forefront. You know, you walk into our space and it's literally like getting a warm hug. You don't get that anywhere. I know that in past jobs. I've never had that experience. We see incredible interpersonal skills.
All of our trainees have fantastic work ethics, and really the reason why I think that might be the case and why I often believe that our trainees make better employees than a lot of other people I know, is that they have worked so hard to get to the point where they are deemed being capable of getting a job, and they've already had to self advocate so incredibly hard that when they finally have been put into a position like getting a job, at all things equal, they are
grateful to be in a job. And to be honest, it's a pretty sad thing to be thinking about that someone has to feel grateful to be in a job, when really it should just be a human right. But when you think about what can change someone's life, you don't think about a job being part of it. What we don't realize is when someone's in a job, and when someone's in a job where they are genuinely valued and being compensated appropriately for their work, you've got a
reason to get up in the morning. You know that you get to be part of a community where individuals genuinely respect you and accept you and want to see you thrive. People just take that for granted, but yet our trainees have had to work so hard to get to that point.
We'll be back with the rest of today's chat after a quick note from our sponsor.
It's so beautiful to hear you talk about it, and I can see and feel the passion and joy that it brings you and that you have for this role. You mentioned one of the founders, Jonathan, who was inspired to kind of create a better future for his daughter, to ensure that there were opportunities for her when she grew up. What kind of feedback have you gotten from the families and the loved ones of people involved in
these programs. This sense of community that you describe sounds so precious and special, but like it is maybe the first time a lot of these people have felt like part of a community.
We get told. The feedback that we get told is that we are changing people's lives. Our trainees feel more connected to their family. You know, they feel confident to make dinner and set the table and want to be part of the dinner conversation. And when mom or dad or whoever it is is talking about their work that day and what they got up to at work and the good things and the challenging things in their job, our trainees actually get to participate in that conversation.
Given all of that, I do want to ask you about barriers, the kinds of barriers that people with disability are facing in those traditional workplaces and traditional employment environments. What needs to change in that broader landscape, especially in hospitality. We're talking about the hospitality sector. When we're talking about all things equal, what kind of reform are you pushing for?
So we have a goal at all things equal of being part of the solution of having ONEY one hundred people with disability into hospitality jobs by twenty thirty five, we need to see a top down approach from government as to how we're going to make that happen. And Oney one hundred is so minimal, we can do so much better then that. That's just all things equals goal. We see the challenges and the barriers start when someone's
even trying to apply for a job somewhere else. It's the fact that if someone's never had had a job, well, then what are they putting on their resume. It's the fact that when someone says that they might need an accommodation within the recruitment process, they're straightaway deemed to be too difficult. In inverted commas, we're seeing people who might be much better at showcasing who they are and what
they're capable of verbally or in a video. But yet the recruitment process says this is the way to do it, and there is no room for negotiation with this. So we're seeing barriers from the actual start. Then when the person gets into work, if they actually get the opportunity to go into an interview, you've already got people there that are deeming that person to not be a good fit. In Australia, you don't have to technically disclose if you've
got a disability. But really what workplaces don't already realize is that you already, statistically you already have a per with disability or a person who identifies as being neurodivergent in your workplace. And if you don't think that you do, you do. They just haven't felt safe enough to communicate that with you. So that's telling us as well about what we are doing and what we are not already doing.
You know, we see barriers around resources and how can we turn written expectations in our case or in the hospitality world like recipes all Things Equal, has all our recipes in visual form, How can we do that because really that's supporting an individual with disability, but actually that might be supporting every person in the workplace, whether it's English, is a second language, whatever it might be, it could potentially make any person's role easier.
And ultimately the business outcomes better.
The business outcomes better. And also this doesn't technically answer your question, but in the hospitality world, it's a very transient workforce. You've got people who are going through university that are looking at at hospitality as sort of just a short term job before they they might may want to have a different career path. We've got people who genuinely believe that hospitality and customer service is a career for them. When you're employing a person with disability, you
are gaining so much more than you realize. And if we don't have the right setup in place, and we don't have the right top down approach and bottom up approach from the employees, we aren't going to be able to get there.
So, in terms of pushing for that reform, you've mentioned that there needs to be government action. Policy is shifting. Can you tell me about this white paper that All Things Equal has submitted.
Yeah, So, All Things Equal has put together what we are calling our Equal Opportunity Report, which is our industry white paper our call out to the hospitality industry and the workforce at large to say, hey, you know, we can actually do better at this, and we could do this together. Our approach is that we're not talking about
all the things that aren't already working. We're saying we acknowledge it that there's barriers, and there have been barriers to a person with disability being able to participate in society, but we now have a solution to this, and we as an industry and as a sector can actually actually
do better together. So our white paper has heard the voices of individuals with lived experience, whether that's our trainees, to disability leaders, to people who run incredibly successful businesses who also happen to have a disability, and we have heard their voices and what they want to know and what they want to see. And we believe that when we have the right people open to these conversations, we
can really get somewhere. And from our white paper so far, we have sparked some pretty interesting conversations with some really great businesses who we know genuinely want to be part of the solution but just needed that little bit of a push to be able to do that.
I have Kevji for long enough Today, Yankee, you have plenty of important work to go and do, but thank you for everything that you do. Thank you to the whole and everyone who's part of All Things Equal. It's been so wonderful to hear more about the organization what you guys are doing. And thank you for coming in sharing your story with us.
Yeah, thanks so much for the opportunity. And if you're in Melbourne, come say hello and of.
Course we will pop some links in the show notes the episode description. If you want to learn more about All Things Equal, or get involved or go and visit the cafe, please check it out.
That chat just serves as another reminder as to why we do good news here and why it's so valuable to highlight young people doing incredible things out in the community. So thanks to m and Bianca for that chat. Thank you for joining us for our Monday episode of The Daily Os. We will be back with the headlines later today, but until then, enjoy your day. My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda bunge lung Chalcotin woman from Gadigl Country.
The Daily OS acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and torrest rate island and nations.
We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present.