People with Disability and/or needing Accessibility Requirements

We are committed to providing a supportive culture and creating inclusive and accessible workplaces, branches, products and services for our customers, employees and community.

With 1 in 5 Australians living with disability, our commitment is for the long term where we regularly review progress made and look for ways to innovate. Our strategic roadmap focuses on: employment, training and career development, financial independence, embedding accessibility into our banking products and services, more accessible marketing and communications for all.


You can find our strategic roadmap on our Access and Inclusion page at:

https://www.westpac.com.au/web-accessibility/accessibility-action-plan/
 

Our Access and Inclusion Plan 2021-2024 priority continues to embed accessibility into our DNA. We aim to close the gap and break down the barriers for those who may live with disability and/or experience vulnerability within their life - helping all succeed. Our platinum membership with Australian Network on Disability provides us with external information and research to help us achieve this. 


We are a founding member of Australian Network on Disability (AND) who are a not-for profit organisation resourced by its members to advance the inclusion of people with disability in all aspects of business. We use AND’s Access and Inclusion benchmarking tool to measure our commitments, initiatives and strategic changes ensuring our products and services are accessible for all.

What we are doing for our people

Champions for change

Our Access and Inclusion team remit and purpose is to make accessibility a priority by embedding it into our organisations DNA, right into the way we structure and do business. This team was formed in 2019, to advance the embedding of accessibility and supporting the needs of people with disability by striving towards equal access for customers, employees and the community. This is a one-of-a-kind team in Australia through its remit, structure and influence. 


Our Employee Action Group ABLE (Assisting Better Lives for Everyone) strives to empower our people to provide awareness, inform and champion positive change for their colleagues. 

Accessible Products & Services Design

  • Employees with disability have access to workplace modifications to support them in undertaking their role during their employment. We have processes and policies in place to assist them whether they are working in an office or working remotely, for example, assistive technology software or flexible work hours.

Accessible building design

  • Incorporating building and workplace design and new technologies including innovative and accessible design features such as flooring materials, which are functional and aesthetic.
  • Best-practice intuitive accessibility design has been rolled out in our corporate building developments across many of our states within Australia. This includes consistent floor layouts to make it easier to move through the building and providing round tables in meeting rooms, which are preferred by people with hearing impairments.
  • Together with partners Lendlease and the Australian Network on Disability, Westpac Group won the Australian Human Rights 2016 Business Award for the intuitively accessible development of the Barangaroo office and the ‘Design for Dignity Guidelines'.

Training

We offer our people a comprehensive suite of national training and development initiatives including:

  • Disability Confidence Training, which challenges assumptions and myths about people with disability and strives to help our people be more confident when working with colleagues or supporting customers with disability 
  • Our Accessibility and Inclusion For All resource provides putting disability in perspective, the legalities, communicating confidently, putting accessibility into practice across our network, help, contacts and more.
  • National Relay Service training for our people ensuring they are National Relay Service aware and confident for colleagues who are Deaf and/or Hard of Hearing

Talent Programs

We provide talent programs to assist people with disability overcoming hiring barriers including:

  • The Australian Network on Disability's Stepping Into internship and mentoring program 
  • Tailored Talent program, Westpac’s flagship autism hiring program delivered in partnership with Specialisterne Australia assists in overcoming hiring barriers for people on the autism spectrum

 

Visit our Access and Inclusion page to find out more about ‘Helping access and inclusion succeed, for all’.