How to make your workplace or business more accessible

Helping everyone gain access 

1 in 5 Australians have  disability, and 10% of Australians are carers for people with disabilities.¹ Like everyone else, all these people deserve the right to access your business. Some may want to work for you. 

When it comes to making your business more accessible and inclusive, a great place to start is by asking people with disability what challenges they currently experience. Disability is diverse and not always visible, so the best approach is to ask all employees and customers for feedback on your workplace, products and services—and when you do make an improvement, proudly share it with your network to show your commitment to accessibility and inclusivity.

With all these differences in mind, you can then start to think about new opportunities to break down barriers and become more accessible. You can consider everything from how easy it is for people to access and move around your premises, to how you communicate with customers. 

Below, we share some ideas on where to start. 

1. Make your premises accessible

Whether your goal is to attract more diverse employees, or you want to make your shop more accessible to customers with a disability, then you’ll need to take a good look around your premises. In fact, making your business accessible is the law in Australia—customers with disabilities should be able to access your shop or services like any other customer. 

Consider things like ramp access, dedicated car parking, clear markings on steps, good lighting, clear pathways through the building, and accessible toilets. If, for example, the only way to access your premises right now is via a set of stairs, then you could unwittingly be discriminating against people in wheelchairs as they can’t access your business.

2. Make your information accessible

Just like you need to make it easier for people to visit your physical premises, you also need to make it as easy as possible for people to access information about your business. This includes providing information in a range of formats to suit different people’s needs.

At Australia Post, we’re doing this in a range of different ways. We’ve introduced mandatory Alt-text on all social media posts. We’ve simplified our messaging and created large print responses for children with low vision as part of our Santa Mail Program. And we’re creating audio-described television commercials.

Familiarise yourself with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which include a set of recommendations for making websites universally accessible. Everything from your choice of colours to the provision of text alternatives, to how users navigate and find content, all contributes to the accessibility of your site. 

3. Build a more diverse workforce

A powerful way to make more people feel welcome in your business is by making them feel seen and represented. Not only does a more diverse workforce show you care about inclusion, but it’s known to deliver a range of business benefits—such as greater innovation, enhanced productivity, and less staff turnover.

Plus, hiring people with a disability will help tackle the high level of unemployment in this sector. Right now, despite well-publicised skills shortages, over 500,000 people with disability are actively looking for work.² 

You could help bring the number down. A great place to start? Check out Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott OAM’s new venture, The Field, which has been created to help connect people with disability who want to work with organisations that want to hire more inclusively. It’s a win-win.

4. Do more to represent people with disabilities

Another thing to think about on your journey to becoming a more inclusive and accessible business is your advertising. Aim to better reflect and represent all Australians in your adverts, including people with disabilities. According to a recent report by the Screen Diversity and Inclusion Network, people with disability were vastly under-represented compared to the population benchmark (17.7%), both on screen (8.9%) and behind the camera (5.3%).³

Consider how you can authentically add people with disabilities to your advertising and marketing campaigns. By ‘authentic’, we mean focusing on the person, not their disability. Don’t depict people with disabilities as a burden, vulnerable, or living a life of lesser quality than others. 

At Australia Post, our recent ‘Delivering like never before’ campaign included a wheelchair user as a lead character, a first for our brand and an important step to better represent our customers in a more authentic way. In another first, this campaign also featured an embedded Auslan interpreter on all connected TV executions.

5. Commit to continual improvements

Becoming a more accessible business means making an ongoing commitment to change. There will always be opportunities to improve. By building a positive culture that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion today, you’ll be on the right path into the future.

Don’t forget to ask your partners and supplier network about their policies and practices. You’ll want to make sure their actions and services stand up to your accessibility standards. If you use Australia Post for your shipping and deliveries, for example, then you’ll be reassured to know that your customers can easily access our website and app—with both meeting the ‘AA’ standard of WCAG—to check on the status of their deliveries; and that our Parcel Lockers meet the needs of wheelchair users and people of short stature. 

In fact, thanks to the hard work of Australia Post’s Diversity and Inclusion team, we made it into the top 10 of the Australian Access and Inclusion Index in 2021. You can learn more about our commitment to diversity and inclusion here, and see our latest Accessibility and Inclusion Plan.

Find more tips and helpful information at Access for all and the Access and Inclusion Index. Another helpful tool to guide your communications strategy is the United Nations’ Disability-Inclusive Communications Guidelines.

There are a range of excellent free resources produced by the Australian Human Rights Commission at www.includability.org.au.