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

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.

Young people who are unable to find and sustain employment are at risk for long-term social and economic exclusion.Active labour market policies (ALMPs) addressing the problem of youth unemployment have focused on building the employability skills of young job seekers to expand their employment opportunities. Yet research exploring how young people navigate the job-search process is limited.Drawing on interviews with young Australian job seekers and their employment consultants, this article addresses the questions of how young people navigate entry into employment through the job-search process and what challenges they face. The study revealed three common frustrations experienced by the young people during their job-search: employers' expectations of relevant work experience in the young person's preferred occupation, being required to apply for jobs not aligned with their career aspirations, and the impact of personal factors on their ability to confidently present themselves to prospective employers. The findings highlight the need for ALMPs and employers to facilitate positive employability support mechanisms that will build a stable platform from which young people can build a trajectory towards sustainable employment to reduce long-term youth unemployment.

No abstract

The end of 1992 was undoubtedly one of the more inopportune moments to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the advent of the nuclear age – the achievement in Chicago of the first artificial nuclear reactions. But for the UK, at least, the coinciding of the occasion with public controversies, such as the government's decision to shut down fast-reactor research, made it an appropriate time to debate the future of nuclear power.