A new partnership is helping one of WA’s longest-operating not-for-profits sharpen its focus on what matters most – creating meaningful employment opportunities while growing a commercially competitive business.
Disability enterprise Westcare joined forces with disability services provider Mosaic Community Care in late 2025, enabling the organisation to streamline operations and open up opportunities for growth and innovation.
It marks a new era for the social enterprise that has been empowering Western Australians living with disability since its inception in 1947, then known as the Tuberculosis Association of WA.
Today, Westcare’s commercial streams of printing, box manufacturing, packaging, and food packaging and processing service government agencies and small to large businesses, with most employees living with disability.
Capability built on support
About 70% of Westcare’s workforce is supported employees. It’s a business where inclusivity goes far beyond the workplace.
“A supported employee is somebody that has a disability and who needs support to complete their tasks,” Chief Operations Officer Fitz Cass said.
“Sometimes that support could be a simple prompt or it might be we actually train people in a structured way to conduct their roles.”
Support is tailored using a skills-based approach, matching employees to work that suits their abilities and helps them thrive.
“For some of the people who work here, it's more than a job. It's part of who they are,” he said.
Culture at the core
While Westcare operates as a commercial business, culture sits at the heart of the business.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” Cass said, referencing author Peter Drucker.
“No matter how good your strategy is, if your culture is not right, you will always fail.”
This philosophy underpins a workplace built on inclusion – not just in principle, but in everyday practice.
“Our supported employees and non-supported employees are all our employees,” he said.
Partnership marks new phase
As the disability services sector has evolved, Westcare took a proactive step to secure its future by partnering with Mosaic Community Care.
“Mosaic ticked all those boxes for us – from a values perspective, infrastructure and a team of great people doing a fantastic job,” Cass said.
The partnership has enabled Westcare to integrate its corporate functions with Mosaic and focus on what it does best – operations, customers and growth.
“It’s very exciting. I'm thrilled … we've already started adding new products and new opportunities,” he said.
Changing perceptions in business
Beyond its own operations, Westcare has helped shift perceptions around disability employment in the wider business community.
“The general view is that people seem afraid that something is going to go wrong,” Cass said.
“But with the right supports, anybody with a disability can do a job just as effectively as somebody without one.”
Cass said more businesses would benefit from taking that step.
“You get a good worker, one that takes less days off, is really committed to their job … you'll have an employee for life, and a good one too,” he said.
Westcare has also been working with CCIWA’s Ability Link project – which connects employers with disability employment pathways – to help break down those barriers.
Backed by business support
As a long-standing CCIWA Member, Westcare has drawn on CCIWA’s services to support its operations and growth.
“CCIWA offers some amazing services, especially like the Employee Relations Helpline and the legal services,” Cass said.
More recently, the business has engaged through events and networking opportunities, as well as utilising CCIWA’s economic reports to help customers understand reasons behind recent price increases following the Middle East fuel crisis.
“It's so handy knowing that we can access that data,” he said.
Westcare has also engaged with CCIWA’s Industry Capability Network to broaden its customer base with larger businesses.
Here to support your business
- Employee Relations Helpline – HR support just one phone call away
- Business Law WA – employment, commercial and WHS law services
- Policy and Advocacy – we stand for WA business
- Ability Link – increasing employment opportunities for people with disabilities by connecting them with employers
Positive outlook
With new product lines, digital capabilities and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence on the horizon, Westcare has continued to adapt to a changing market.
“At the moment, print is a shrinking market, but when you talk about digital print, those numbers are increasing,” Cass said.
“We've got to start looking at how we can bring [AI] into our business and start doing a lot more in the digital space.”
To be part of WA’s peak business organisation, get in touch via 1300 422 492 or [email protected].
