Zoya
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Zoya, early 50s, has physical disability and vision impairment.
For the past 10 years she has only been able to work from home. She has 30 years of experience and multiple degrees, but finds it difficult to secure ongoing roles.
‘Labour hire companies get very excited about my CV,’ Zoya told the Royal Commission. ‘They pass it around. They show everybody my CV, and they're like, "You're going to be perfect for this job." I don't hear anything more because I do also share information about my workplace adjustments.’
Zoya now only shares information about workplace adjustments if she is shortlisted.
This strategy has been successful – she has been invited to interviews and shortlisted to the referee stage.
But even if she is the preferred candidate, as soon as she mentions the workplace adjustments she needs, she faces barriers.
Often, hiring managers tell Zoya the workplace adjustments are not a problem, but ‘you can tell for them it is not ideal’.
The barriers are systemic and hiring managers do not have the authority to address these barriers on their own.
Zoya said the public sector is the worst because of inflexible work-from-home policies.
About 18 months ago she was shortlisted for a federal government position.
Zoya told the hiring manager about her workplace adjustments at the start of the interview. The hiring manager said she may not be eligible for the position.
‘I even saw tears in the eyes of the hiring manager … because she didn't want to say I wouldn't be eligible, but she didn't know because there are policy considerations.’
The hiring manager then asked, ‘Should we start the interview now?’ Zoya said it was difficult to proceed without knowing if she was eligible.
‘I spent eight months applying for roles where the approval of my eligibility was with the secretary or equivalent. That is a lot to put on an applicant.’
Zoya wasn’t successful. She asked for feedback but never received it.
A few months later she applied for a role in the state public sector. The hiring manager was very supportive throughout the recruitment process.
Zoya disclosed her reasonable adjustments after she was shortlisted with one other person to referee stage.
The other person was selected because they had more experience in an ongoing role.
The hiring manager told Zoya even if she had been selected there would have been policy restrictions around eligibility because of her request to work from home.
The hiring manager is using Zoya’s experience as a case study to explore a potential change in policy.
‘People mean really well and I want to have those conversations with those people. I'm not putting in a complaint, but to see whether there's any pathways and any solutions that we can work together to find those adjustments.’
Some years ago, Zoya did make a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission.
‘The Commission was lovely … but the workplace proceeded to try and discredit me, and the way that they tried to discredit me was listing all the reasons why, with my disability, I wouldn't be able to continue with the role … Lots of assumptions. Didn't mention any reasonable adjustments. It nearly broke me. And these rejections, they do break me every time.’
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.