More than a job – Graeme White’s passion for helping others
- deansimpson7
- 5 minutes ago
- 8 min read
Dr Graeme White is a man on a mission. A big mission. As National Director of The Salvation Army’s Employment Plus agency, he leads one of the Salvos’ largest and most impactful services. Since launching in 1998 to help people find work that supports their wellbeing and benefits the community, the recruitment agency has placed more than 740,000 people into work. In the first of her series on Employment Plus, Salvos Online journalist LERISSE SMITH spoke with Graeme about the agency’s powerful mission to transform lives, communities and celebrate ‘life turnarounds’ – all through the power of employment.
It took something special to lure Graeme White out of retirement.
So, when the chance came in 2019 to lead one of The Salvation Army’s largest services, Employment Plus, on a six-month posting, he didn’t hesitate.
The role immediately reignited Graeme’s passion for helping others and giving back to the community – and when the opportunity arose to lead the agency permanently, he didn’t hesitate to say yes again, driven by a deep respect for the organisation.
“It is one of the great causes for good in the world,” he reflected from his Melbourne office.
“You look around the world at the moment, and it is full of violence, inhumanity and a lot of terrible things that are going on, and it is on our doorstep here in Australia, which is even more distressing. It’s not remote, it’s not other people, it’s here. The Salvation Army stands out as one of the great causes for good against that; it is a wonderful thing to be a part of.”
Employment Plus is Australia’s most experienced recruitment agency, working with job seekers, employers, industry groups, governments and community organisations to champion employment for all Australians.
The agency’s work is guided by its vision of ‘Work for All. Hope for All’ and by its values of integrity, compassion, respect, diversity and collaboration. It has a wide network of partners to support job seekers and employers all over Australia, including counselling services.
With 40,000 job seekers on its caseload, the agency’s reach is substantial.
It also hits impressive milestones with 10,000 people securing work in the past year. And by the end of this year, Graeme will oversee close to 700 agency staff.
Founder’s inspiration
A great inspiration for the National Director in leading the agency is The Salvation Army’s founder, William Booth.
“In his book, In Darkest England and the Way Out, my understanding from William Booth is that he saw that people being fed, people being housed, and people being able to work were the foundations of independence,” he said.
“These were key to rescuing people from poverty and having them stand on their own feet. So, we see ourselves as an integral part of the Army, fulfilling an important objective William Booth had, which is basically supporting people to find work, to be financially independent, and to reintegrate into society.”
Federal Governments have invested considerable funding in helping unemployed people find work. They fund welfare payments, plus invest a lot with subcontractors such as Employment Plus to support people to find work once they are on welfare.
There are also a number of contracts, the largest being with Workforce Australia. This mainstream program caters to around three-quarters of a million unemployed Australians. Employment Plus ranks as the fourth largest provider of this program nationwide.
The second-largest contract, which they recently re-won, is called ‘Inclusive Employment Australia’ and focuses on helping people with disability. Beginning 1 November, no fewer than 175 new locations will open, with their caseload set to quadruple. The growth means Salvos will become the eighth largest generalist provider of services to people with a disability.
“We are just in the throes of a frantic period of recruiting people and finding sites, made more difficult by getting just over a month’s notice on site sizes from the Department,” Graeme remarked.
The third-largest program is Parent Pathways, designed to help prepare parents re-entering the workforce when their youngest child turns six. Employment is not necessarily a target of that program, but it helps people get trained, build skills, and rebuild confidence.
The Salvos have become the market leader of the program since it was launched last November. The fourth-largest program is a youth-focused initiative that goes to tender next year. It supports under-25s transitioning from school and studies into the real world of employment.
The mission of Employment Plus may be straightforward, but its approach is what truly sets it apart.
Great pride is taken in caring for their job seekers and providing a more caring, compassionate service than other providers in the sector. Supporting that claim, an anonymous staff survey found significantly higher levels of care and compassion in service delivery than in staff’s experiences with previous providers. The results spoke volumes. Employment Plus scored 7 out of 10 compared to 4.6 for the competitors.
And more good news was to come.
When job seekers were asked if they felt more supported at Employment Plus than with other providers they had liaised with, an overwhelming 82 per cent said yes.
“We are seen to be a more caring organisation, a more supportive organisation than others,” Graeme remarked. “That’s what we bring to the party that is different to the other providers out there. There are around 200 other organisations that provide employment service support to job seekers.”
With 40,000 job seekers on its caseload, Employment Plus’ reach is substantial. The mission of Employment Plus may be straightforward, but its approach is what truly sets it apart. Great pride is taken in caring more about their job seekers and providing a more caring and compassionate service than other providers in the sector. (Images designed by Freepik excluding keyboard)
A staggering 60 per cent of the 40,000 people on Employment Plus’ caseload have been unemployed for two years or longer.
“It is terrible,” he explained. “It is a massive increase over the last five years.”
The Government launched an online platform to support job seekers closest to the job market, aiming to avoid referral to providers such as Employment Plus.
However, it’s falling short. Many job seekers remain inactive on welfare for one to two years before reaching the Salvos or other providers, often with diminished confidence and motivation.
“We support some of the most vulnerable people in Australia,” Graeme emphasised.
“Many of our job seekers are experiencing multiple barriers, including mental health issues, poor literacy, addiction, domestic violence and homelessness, and many of them are single parents, CALD, ex-offenders, First Nations people or refugees. This means our staff are not just placing people in jobs, they are working with them to address these challenges, and to ensure they have the skills, confidence and encouragement they need to succeed in the workplace. This often involves seeking support from other mission expressions of the Army.”
Workplace dangers There is also a harsh reality to the agency’s work – assaults on staff.
A recent incident resulted in two staff members being punched and kicked, requiring police attendance and urgent medical support after a frustrated job seeker violently attacked them.
“That’s the worst I’ve heard in the time I’ve been here,” Graeme said.
“I’ve heard many examples of laptops being thrown at our staff, people being punched, chairs being thrown through doors and windows, people being spat on, abused and threatened ... we get those almost weekly. So, what our people have to endure is really quite extreme, and it’s from people who are frustrated, upset, drugged up or just angry. We have job seekers who get frustrated when the Government cuts or suspends their payments. They blame us, the messengers, and get frustrated because they are unemployed, just down and out … we understand the pressures on job seekers, but being the punching bag for their frustration is a tough gig for our people.”
Compassion, care and empathy
At the heart of Employment Plus is one defining quality: culture.
“We have to look after our own team, our own staff,” he said. “I have been focusing on that very heavily since I started ... Our frontline staff are mistreated by job seekers, so a lot of them don’t last. Last year, the industry turnover increased to 47 per cent. Ours is down to 25 per cent. So, we’ve made a real effort to move staff on who bring an aggressive and hostile attitude to the workplace – and it seems to be working. Our retention rates are up, and the workplace is more relaxed and productive.”
The second quality is the approach to job seekers. A brief to everybody who works in Employment Plus is clear: compassion, care and empathy for its client base.
And the greatest challenge?
“The biggest challenge is that the Government has made it more difficult to claim fees for the work we do,” he said. “There’s not a real lot of money left in employment services, certainly not in the mainstream program. We are advocating through the peak body with the Government, the Minister, and the department to rectify this…I’m hopeful they will understand and make the appropriate changes.”
Advocacy is a top priority.
The National Director remarked that the agency was one of the main voices among employment service providers and highlighted the game-changing advocacy role Employment Plus had taken on following the introduction of Workforce Australia.
When a new IT system was implemented, it removed crucial functionality, dramatically increasing manual workarounds for frontline staff, increasing the time spent on administrative tasks from 25 to 55 per cent of their time, cutting into their ability to support job seekers effectively.
Advocacy campaign
The Employment Plus team responded with a powerful advocacy campaign.
The agency convinced the committee undertaking a sector-wide review of employment services that fixing the broken IT system should be the most urgent recommendation in the report. Subsequently, the Government allocated $10.9 million to fix the system in the 2024 budget. This was the direct result of Employment Plus’s advocacy.
When it comes to the greatest reward for Graeme and his team, the answer lies in a simple and powerful truth.
“Seeing life transformation,” he said. “An example is an Indigenous man with one child and a second on the way, who had not worked for over seven years. We worked with him, built his skills and confidence, helped with training, and eventually he got a job and is now financially independent.”
Another story that has encouraged the team is of a staff member turning to the Christian faith.
The young woman had experienced domestic violence in two separate relationships, which led her to become estranged from her family. As a result of the trauma, she developed a speech impediment and severe mental stress, eventually returning to her parents’ home in a different town.
But then came a turning point.
The agency’s chaplain started working with her. “She actually found Jesus in the process," Graeme recalled. "She joined a church, left Employment Plus, joined the Salvos in the local town and is a part of a Bible group with the chaplain ... that’s a wonderful story about coming to Christ. When I hear these stories, especially the life turnarounds, that is the thing that gives me the biggest buzz – and that is why I am here.”
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