Apprenticeships, Employment & Training Provider | VERTO
VERTO is an award winning, not-for-profit organisation assisting businesses and individuals with all their apprenticeship, employment and training needs. Our expertise covers a range of areas including Aboriginal services, Australian apprenticeships services, disability services, employment services and vocational training to help businesses, individuals and local industry to thrive. Our mission is to positively impact the lives of individuals and communities and we’ve built a track record of exemplary customer service over 35 years, built around an ethical approach.You'll find the team in over 40 locations across New South Wales.
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Skills Checkpoint Keeps Community Bus Drivers on the Road
VERTO offers the Skills Checkpoint for Older Workers Program (Skills Checkpoint) on behalf of the Australian Government in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, and Victoria.
Skills Checkpoint is funded by the Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business. The service helps those aged 45 to 70 who are employed and at risk of entering the income support system (e.g. those in industries undergoing structural adjustment); or unemployed for no more than three consecutive months and not registered for assistance through an employment services program, such as jobactive.
The program is a no cost service, offering career guidance and assessment to help participants to continue in the workforce. The program also offers eligible participants access to a co-contribution of up to $2,200 to partake in accredited training course(s).
Karl, Keith, Marty and Terry all work for South West Community Transport (SWCT) in the Macarthur region, a business focused on helping elderly community members to keep their independence by providing transport services. The four men, along with 24 other SWCT drivers, were required to update their training before January 2020 or risk being made redundant.
VERTO’s Skills Checkpoint Consultant for the Sydney region, Jess Horne, recognised their essential service to the community and teamed up with training provider Into Training Australia to update their Driver’s Authority Training Course.
“I initially approached their employer and explained to them how the SWCT drivers would be eligible for our Skills Checkpoint service,” said Jess.
“Skills Checkpoint allowed the SWCT drivers to access funding for half of their required course fees which significantly decreased the cost for each driver to reskill.”
Ross at Into Training Australia delivered the Driver Authority Training Course for the SWCT team. Seeing the benefit of VERTO’s Skills Checkpoint service, he now highlights the availability of the program to other potential participants.
“In the end I trained 28 drivers at SWCT who, under previous circumstances, would have needed to pay for this service out of their own pockets,” Ross said.
“The Skills Checkpoint service is opening up a whole new world of opportunities for older workers who think that their current position is at risk of disappearing; it’s truly giving them new hope.”
Keith, Marty, Terry and Karl have completed the Drivers Authority course and are now able to remain in their current positions, continuing to provide this vital service to their community.
Wayne Overcomes Barriers in Pursuit of a new opportunity
The Disability Employment Services (DES) program is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Social Services. VERTO offers DES in the Central West and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales. With over 20 years of proven success and a track record as a five star-rated DES provider, this is one of VERTO’s core service offerings.
Our DES program is aimed at assisting clients with a disability, injury or health condition that require assistance in gaining or maintaining employment. VERTO also work closely with their local employers to help them connect with the right job seeker for their business.
When Wayne came to VERTO in Bathurst, he was looking for a chance to change occupations and try a new industry. Wayne had previously been employed in one organisation for many years and faced a number of barriers in finding a new career path.
Wayne’s VERTO DES consultant Amy Waight was on hand to help him move forward.
“Wayne was willing to undertake work experience and study to help secure a new job, overcoming the significant barriers to employment he has previously faced,” Amy said.
“An intellectual disability and poor reading and writing skills made study options and ongoing employment a challenge for Wayne, however, his drive to learn and excitement at the prospects of a new role helped to keep him focused.
“I was incredibly impressed at his determination to pursue a new career path.”
Wayne worked with Amy to help him to update his skills and to restructure his resume. Overcoming these hurdles, Wayne soon landed an interview with local horticultural company Bathurst Discount Yard Maintenance. Wayne met with business owner Ashley for an interview, and soon after started work.
“Wayne has hit the ground running and has been working near full-time hours since he started with Bathurst Discount Yard Maintenance,” Ashley said.
While his intellectual barriers sometimes requires Wayne to have a mate on hand to help him with written instructions, early indicators from Ashley say that Wayne is quite the ‘whizz’ on the whipper snipper and is a great asset to the team.
VERTO launches Christmas giving campaign
VERTO chief executive, Ron Maxwell, today announced VERTO has now launched its 25 Days of Giving campaign.
As part of this campaign, each day, in the 25 days leading up to Christmas, VERTO will make a donation to an Australian based charity.
The team will also promote each of the chosen 25 organisations and the work they do via VERTO’s social media channels.
Mr Maxwell said that as both a not-for-profit and charitable organisation, VERTO was proud to support other Australian based charities and the wonderful work they do to support the most vulnerable in our communities.
“Everyone knows that Christmas is a time of giving, so we wanted to do our part to help others out at this time,” Mr Maxwell said.
“We have selected a list of 25 charities from a wide variety of sectors.
“The best thing about this campaign is that most of the chosen charities were nominated by VERTO’s team members as causes they are passionate about.
“I would like to thank the VERTO team and the wider community for helping us to support so many wonderful charities doing important work in our communities,” Mr Maxwell said.
The chosen charities for the 25 Days of Giving campaign are:
- Port Macquarie Koala Hospital
- Drought Angels
- Starlight Children's Foundation
- Rare Cancers Australia
- Beyond Blue
- Road Safety Education
- Vision Australia
- AIME Mentoring
- Love Your Sister Foundation
- Arithritis Australia
- The Smith Family Christmas Appeal
- Black Dog Institute
- Royal Flying Doctor Service
- The Surf Life Saving Foundation
- Envision Employment Services
- Indigenous Literacy Foundation
- R U OK?
- Friends with Dignity
- BlazeAid
- Life Without Barriers
- Veritas House
- Beard Season
- Lifeline Central West
- Every Little Bit Helps
- Greater Shepparton Foundation
Support is improving: How we can continue to improve disability employment outcomes – and why we should
By Ron Maxwell - CEO
As someone who has worked in the employment sector for a long time, I've seen many positive changes when it comes to employment for Australians with disability, but there is still a long road ahead. One of the biggest positive changes I've witnessed is an increased awareness when it comes to disability and what it actually means.
Around 1 in 5 Australians have a disability and, as a nation, we are really starting to acknowledge that it shouldn’t be a barrier to participation in and contribution to all aspects of society. I don’t have to think back that far to remember a time when many employers thought disability employment was about hiring someone with a physical disability. And this, of course, ruled out many jobs that involved manual work. Today, we are seeing more and more employers recognise the diversity of disability and realising that there is a diverse pool of potential employees amongst this sector of our society.
It may sound utopian, but I believe we can reach a place where employment rates for people with disability are the same as for those without.
Targets aren’t a stand-alone solution
Often, when we talk about a solution, targets are a big part of the conversation. While they can play a role, I also have concerns that a strong emphasis on employment targets can act as a roadblock when it comes to the change we need to see.
When recruiting, every employer has the same goal: To find the best person for the job. So, for me, the solution lies in helping employers see that the best person for the job just may be a person with disability.
Education is critical
Although we are seeing positive improvements, there are still many barriers when it comes to finding employment for people with disability. Misconceptions still abound in some industries and it's critical that we find a way to break this down.
Education is a big piece of the puzzle, and we need to get the positive statistics out front and centre. I've talked before about the many benefits hiring someone with a disability can bring to a business, from connecting well with your customers, to increasing productivity and boosting overall team morale.
Often, when we talk about disability employment, employers jump to conclusions about what will be required. The most common, and often incorrect, assumption I've experienced, is that the employer will need to make expensive modifications.
In many cases, there are little or no accessibility modifications required. It might be about a new piece of software or a small piece of hardware, or often none at all. Employers can access additional support and subsidies too for any modifications that are required.
It's an attitude shift
The biggest change required is often an attitudinal shift to the view that someone with disability can perform just as well as anyone else in the team – and can add a lot to the diversity and culture of the organisation.
Disability Employment Services providers, like VERTO, are making inroads. Our team invest a lot of time in talking to employers about the many benefits and opportunities of hiring someone with disability. We also run programs in schools that are about addressing some of the issues early on, so that future generations will be more informed when it comes to disability and employment.
The best person for the job
I mentioned earlier about how the best person for the job may be someone with disability – and that's critical. For disability employment initiatives to be successful, they need to be about matching the right person with the right job.
Placing someone in employment to meet a quota or tick a box isn’t a sustainable solution, it needs to be about the right long-term match, or we would be doing both the employer and the individual a disservice.
At VERTO, we are seeing more and more people with disability finding ongoing employment, and reaching the all-important 12-month mark, which indicates the match has been successful – and that's what we all need to keep aiming for.
We need to keep the conversation going
Although the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has had its fair share of critics, one thing it has achieved is to bring the conversation out in the open. In my opinion, we are seeing more media coverage of the issues around disability and this is a conversation we need to progress. Thanks to the NDIS, there is now recognition more broadly that disability can impact any of us at any time of our lives and a better understanding that disability also incorporates injury and illness.
When we talk about the future of employment, the conversation must be more inclusive, to talk about all Australians. Leaving 18 per cent of the population out of the discussion just doesn’t make sense on any level.
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