Research in the field of HRM has begun to examine organisational responses to social policies around welfare‐to‐work programs. However, relatively little research has examined how organisations respond to the increased demand from people with disability for employment opportunities. The current study addressed this knowledge gap by exploring how a large Australian retail organisation legitimises disability employment practices against the background of the institutional context of disability employment. The findings revealed that the organisation seeks social legitimacy for disability employment practices primarily based on social expectations and to a lesser extent, from government funded disability employment agencies. The study makes three important contributions to the SHRM literature. It provides empirical evidence of how SHRM responds to welfare‐to‐work programs, informs the development of social policy relevant to disability employment and adopts the notion of institutional fit as a way of explaining how government incentives influence HRM diversity strategies.

No abstract

No abstract

This paper explores the efficacy of current employment services in Australia, jobactive, from the perspectives of young job seekers and their employment officers. As high youth unemployment rates and the efficacy of jobactive employment services are currently areas of priority for the Australian Government, the study offers a timely contribution to the social policy and youth employment literature by exploring the tensions experienced by young job seekers while registered with a jobactive provider, and employment officers when assisting young people to find sustainable employment. The study analyses data from 46 interviews with young job seekers and their employment officers in an outer western Melbourne region. The findings reveal particular concerns about appropriate and adequate service provision for marginalized young job seekers that are similar to those in evaluations of previous marketwise employment service contracts, Job Network and Job Services Australia. Suggestions for tailored employment assistance for young job seekers to gain sustainable employment are offered for future consideration.

No abstract