In 2015, siblings, Laura and Jordan O’Reilly established Hireup, an online disability platform service provider. Hireup provides people with disability with the tools to find, hire and manage their own support workers who fit their needs and share their interests. Hireup’s support workers are employed as casual, part-time or permanent employees.

Hireup is a registered online provider of disability services under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The NDIS is a government scheme that funds access to services for people with disability to help them improve their quality of life and access the community. Hireup is one of the largest registered NDIS providers in the country, supporting more than 10,000 clients in the past 12 months and directly employing a similar number of support workers.

Following the establishment of the NDIS, platforms like Hireup have delivered peer-to-peer matching technology to the disability sector. However, unlike Hireup, these platforms use independent contractor workforces. The rise of independent contractor models has negatively impacted the job security, work conditions and rights for platform workers, and in turn has put at risk the quality of support and safety of the people with disability.

After recognising these concerns, Hireup set out to become the first NDIS platform provider to offer permanent employment to its support workers. First implemented in September 2021, this initiative is currently ongoing and allows eligible Hireup casual support workers to transition into part-time and permanent employment. Hireup’s permanent employment model was developed, tested and implemented in consultation with support workers and people with disability. Over 3,000 Hireup support workers have been invited to transition to permanent employment, and 52 of these support workers have successfully converted to permanent employment to-date.

The permanent employment model has been recognised nationally and internationally. In October 2021, Hireup was announced as a winner of a global Good Design Award by Good Design Australia, which recognised Hireup’s work in implementing a permanent employment arrangement and enabling casual employees to convert to permanent employment.

Hireup continues to grow at a rapid pace and has also been recognised as:

● A Google.org Impact Challenge Winner in 2018
● EY’s Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year in 2018
● Winner of the 2020 Asia-Pacific Gold Standard Award for Government Relations
● A featured startup on LinkedIn’s Top Startups List in Australia for 2021.
● Joint winner of the 2021 Social Impact Network of Australia Award (SIMNA)
● A Certified ‘Great Place to Work’ for 2021
● NSW Pearcey Entrepreneurs of the Year for 2021

Hireup’s permanent employment initiative has created awareness of key issues within the wider disability sector including:

● Building fair and supportive workplace conditions and rights for support workers
● The impact of workforce conditions on outcomes for people with disability
● Ensuring choice and control for people with disability and workers
● Ensuring disability service providers take responsibility for protecting their workers and clients

In considering these issues and supporting the needs and interests of people with disability and disability support workers, Hireup is making great gains towards achieving its purpose ‘to enable the pursuit of a good life for everyone’.

For more information about Hireup and the permanent employment model, visit hireup.com.au