Jobs Summit Ignites Momentum for Social Enterprise

By Sally McGeoch & Lisa Waldron, Westpac Foundation Senior Advisors

 

More than 380 changemakers from across Australia came together this month for the first-ever Social Enterprise Jobs Summit, co-hosted by White Box Enterprises and Social Enterprise Australia. The landmark event was a powerful call to action — recognising the growing momentum and contribution of jobs-focused social enterprises and highlighting the urgent need for more government support to help them reach their full potential.

 

Jobs-focused social enterprises are a subset of a growing and diverse sector of more than 12,000 social enterprises nationwide. On the surface, they look like traditional businesses, but at their core, they exist to support the millions of Australians who have fallen through the cracks. They provide meaningful employment opportunities for people facing complex barriers to work, including refugees, people with disability, and First Nations Australians.

 

Unlike traditional employment services, these enterprises offer supported jobs, transitional pathways, and self-employment opportunities — and they consistently outperform existing government programs when it comes to supporting those most distant from the labour market. 

 

Research by White Box Enterprises shows people living with a disability are twice as likely to stay in their job and earn 28 per cent more when employed by a jobs-focused social enterprise, compared to a job placement through Disability Employment Services (DES).  

 

The Australian Government  has identified the value of job-focussed social enterprises in their recent White Paper which calls out their intent to back social enterprise to provide more employment opportunities for Australians facing disadvantage. Programs such as WorkFoundations and the $100M Outcomes Fund are a welcome funding boost, but more sustained funding programs are required to meet the needs and opportunities that exists for the sector.

 

At the Summit, sector leaders shared the precarious balancing act of pursuing financial sustainability while delivering on their social mission. Jess Moore, CEO of Social Enterprise Australia, described the challenge clearly:

 

“To those here who are struggling, who have put their hearts and hard work into doing things differently, you are not failing. You are swimming against the tide.”

 

“Jobs-focused social enterprises bear costs that other businesses don’t to support disadvantaged job seekers — we call these ‘impact costs’. Not being able to recoup these impact costs from government hampers their ability to sustain, scale, and maximise their impact.”

 

The Summit also created a vital forum for collaboration, learning and hope. Keynote speaker Frédéric Bailly from France’s GROUPE SOS provided a powerful example of what’s possible when governments back the sector. In France, the EUR 1.5 billion “Aide au poste” program pays social enterprises for the employment outcomes they deliver — supporting more than 300,000 job seekers annually. With this support, GROUPE SOS has built successful businesses such as retail brand Altermundi and high-end catering company Té. 

 

Jobs Focussed Social Enterprises can help shape a future where everyone has access to decent work. The Summit served as a catalyst for renewed energy and focus within the sector to come together to plan and act to help shift systems and drive lasting change for key priorities including:

 

• Integrating jobs-focused social enterprises into the mainstream employment system, so they can be paid by outcomes.

• Developing sector infrastructure, including shared data platforms.

• Enabling cross-sector collaboration and innovation, including place-based approaches.

• Reforming procurement to strengthen the sector’s capacity.

• Securing finance that is patient, flexible and fit-for-purpose.

 

Fiona Jose, CEO of Cape York Partnership summed it up by saying that “Getting a job is one thing, staying in it is everything. My dream is a system that guarantees a job and the chance to thrive in it”.

 

Westpac Foundation is proud to support the sector’s aspirations — through funding, capacity-building programs, collaborations and advocacy — to help social enterprises create meaningful jobs for people who need them most.

 

To find out more about jobs-focused social enterprises and how you can support them, visit Social Enterprise Australia, White Box Enterprises or Social Traders. For Summit highlights, head to jobssummit.com.au.

 

Video credit: All Good Creative