The woman standing up for millions of Aussies

JESSICA May used to be an executive with 17 staff and a billion-dollar program. Then everything changed. Now she’s standing up for millions of Aussies.

The woman standing up for millions of Aussies

JESSICA May used to be a government executive with 17 staff and a billion-dollar program. But then everything changed for her.

A thyroid condition aggravated her anxiety and she had to tell her boss, for the first time, that she had a disability. She went from having important responsibilities to having nothing to do except menial tasks. For a higher achiever who had received numerous awards including the Prime Minister’s Award, not having meaningful was a new situation she couldn’t accept.

“I started thinking that there are so many other people like me out there and that this must happen all the time,” she told news.com.au. “I went looking for a job that offered flexible work and I just could find it. Then I kept asking, ‘why can’t I find it?’. So then I just decided to do it myself.”

The ‘it’ became Enabled Employment, a recruitment and placement firm Ms May launched in September. Based in Canberra, Enabled Employment said its mission is to find work for 1.2 million Australians living with a disability who find it difficult to find traditional work.

There are over four million Australians with a disability but many are able and want to take on employment if employers are open to hiring them.

In the months since its launch, Enabled Employment has already signed up the federal Department of Health, the ACT Department of Health, Disability ACT, Veritec, the Australian Defence Force and Aspen Medical among its 85 clients. It’s also got 1600 potential employees on its database. The focus is on flexible working conditions.

Jessica May with Your Shark Tank judges Optus’ Rohan Ganeson, Ten’s Russel Howcroft, Boost’s Janine Allis and Optus’ Alfred Lo.

Comedian Tim Ferguson, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, is an ambassador for Enabled Employment while the late Stella Young was also involved.

Enabled Employment wanted to practice what it preached so all of its staff, including management, are people with a disability.

“We really want to change those myths and bust those attitudes,” Ms May said. All the research shows that people with disabilities work harder and take less sick leave and have less workers’ compensation claims. They’re just as productive as anyone and they also stay with businesses for longer so they’re more loyal. They’re really like the perfect candidate.

“Whenever we have put people in placements, employers say ‘this is the best person’. We’ve had quite a few businesses change the whole way they work so they can employ more people with a disability.”

Tim Ferguson (right) is an ambassador for Enabled Employment. Here, he’s with Doug Anthony All Stars member Paul McDermott.

This week, Enabled Employment won the Optus-sponsored Your Shark Tank competition, a side contest from the main Shark Tank game on Channel Ten. The company beat out four other finalists to claim the $10,000 prize as well as three mentoring sessions with Boost founder Janine Allis, who was one of the judges.

Optus managing director of sales Rohan Ganeson, who was on the judging panel, said the reason Enabled Employment won the competition was because the business model was a proven one. “She launched it in September and it’s already got a substantial customer base and it appeals to a significant portion of the Australian market. For the judges, it stood out as a viable model and it used the digital as well as the people side of the equation really well.”

For Ms May, her ultimate goal is to work herself out a job. “Hopefully, in 12 months’ time, we’re employing thousands of people with a disability. I want to work myself out of a job, that’s my main goal. As soon as this isn’t a problem anymore and it’s just about people’s abilities and less about their disabilities, I’ll be happy. I’m hoping that we’re very far along this path in 12 months.”