When UTS College relocated to the main UTS campus, some items stayed behind. These included a collection of computers previously used by students. Ian Palmer, Head of ITDS, saw an opportunity. “The ‘all-in-one’ computers had come to the end of their useful life with us,” he says, “and I wanted an alternative to disposing of them as e-waste. We much prefer to re-use and recycle our computers.”
UTS College has already established a relationship with Jigsaw, a social enterprise that trains and transitions people with disability into mainstream employment. Ian says, “Jigsaw has been engaged in scanning for UTS College, helping us digitise our paper assets.” He was confident the donated computers could have a useful second life with them.
A win-win situation
Rachel Nordon, National Business Manager for Jigsaw, confirms the computers have made a positive difference to the organisation’s everyday operations. “The workstations have made a big impact on the floor. It's massive. Our teams working on the scanners can process documents more quickly because there's a higher processing power on these computers. Another team is using some of the computers to complete work for Hireup – an online platform helping Australians with disability to hire and manage their support workers. They’ve engaged Jigsaw workers to assist with onboarding new support workers. So, the computers are being well used across a number of teams,” she says. She's also pleased to see the benefits flow both ways. “It's definitely been a big win-win situation with UTS College. They were moving out of that building and we could provide a bit of relief for the physical documentation on the floor there, along with the massive contribution to the work of the people we impact every day here. It's been really good to work alongside Ian.”
Preparing candidates for work, through work
Jigsaw uses a three-stage model to support people with a disability through their employment journey. Rachel says, “We prepare them for work, through work. The first stage is ‘academy,’ where we build capacity and confidence in a set of 20 soft skills, for example, what it means to be reliable and punctual. They're then eligible for a paid job at Jigsaw, part-time at an award wage. We're a fully-fledged data management and digitisation business, which is where we have a strong relationship with UTS. Our paid trainees experience what it's like to work with a manager, have a real paying job, and use their core skills.”
Three paid trainees currently making great progress are Chem, Frazer, and Gabbi. “They’ve all successfully been through the academy,” Rachel says. “Chem and Frazer are close to being ready to transition into mainstream employment. They're doing data management work. Gabbi has become a paid trainee more recently and she's still developing skills, doing digitisation. All three of them are incredible workers with high attention to detail. They're extremely productive and very dedicated to the work they do every day. And it's important to remember that Jigsaw is a community. It's part of their lives, not just a job they go to and from. They make strong social connections with everyone here – with staff and other colleagues as well.”
Building strong relationships
Transition into mainstream employment is the third stage of the Jigsaw model, called ‘connect.’ Rachel says, “We build strong relationships with those employers. Our mission is to see an Australia where people with a disability are fully equal in mainstream employment and integrated into the workforce. So far, we've transitioned around 70 to 80 people, which is really exciting.”
Ian says UTS College is looking forward to a continuing relationship with Jigsaw. “We’ll look to donate other IT assets, such as laptops, where we can,” he says. “Also, where possible, we’d like Jigsaw to undertake further work for us when needed.”