H&C News meets with suppliers regularly to keep up to date with the latest product and service innovations, aiming to get the inside track on what companies offer to the market and how it is delivered.
This week, we met with Laura Davis, Managing Director of Ways into Work at their offices in Maidenhead to gain a better understanding of the business.
Ways into Work is an award winning ‘supported employment service’ that helps people with a disability to access employment opportunities. Ways into Work know the individuals they support and work with businesses to understand their human resource needs, identifying appropriate matches. Ongoing support ensures that placements add measurable value to employers.
Ways into Work is passionate about the supported employment model as it is the only evidence based model that successfully supports people with a disability into effective employment.
The greatest barrier to employment for people with disabilities is the interview process where it can be difficult to vocalise confidently their talents and skills. However, with a flexible and creative approach to recruitment this barrier can be removed. Many employers are now using working interviews and work trials as the most effective way to evidence someone’s competencies.
Ways into Work recently worked with the Holiday Inn, Maidenhead who were struggling to recruit a permanent member of the team to join as a breakfast chef. Ways into Work identified a potential candidate, however due to his disability he would not have been able to articulate his many skills and talents within a traditional interview process. Ways into Work supported the Holiday Inn to provide a work trial which enabled the young man to demonstrate his talents. This young man was then able to show the employer his customer service skills and passion for the role. Holiday Inn assessed the individual’s competencies and made sure the appointment was the right fit. The young man is now working 20 hours a week and brings a refreshing level of energy and enthusiasm to the role. Holiday Inn are now more than satisfied with their decision to take a fresh look at new ways to find the right people to work with.
Ways into Work has over 20 years’ experience of supporting the business community to access the rich talent pool of disabled people. Ways to Work started their journey within a local authority and in then became an independent ‘Community Interest Company’. This has enabled the organisation to grow and better meet the needs of all their customer’s. Ways into Work operates across Berkshire and Hampshire and has successfully worked with some of the largest hospitality and catering businesses as well as many SME’s.
Ways into Work knows all of the individuals they support and have completed a full vocational profile in order to ensure that only accurate job matches are made. They also get to know all aspects of the businesses they work with, in helping businesses access his largely untapped talent pool. This on-going support means that employers always know that someone is at the end of a telephone for support and that support is not limited. Ways into work will provide free disability awareness training and support organisations to become more disability confident.
Ways into work is a free service and many employers are now benefiting from accessing a highly capable if not always eloquent workforce.
Businesses looking to explore how they can access a relatively untapped talent pool can contact Ways into Work who will meet with you to discuss your current or future human resource needs. Ways into work will support you to analyse any potential barriers and provide creative human resource solutions that fit within the Equality Act 2010.
H & C News comment
We were so impressed with Laura and Ways into Work that we are arranging to meet a young man called Ben who suffers with autism to look at the possibility of him joining our team. We are not doing this as a charitable act, we are simply open to the idea that it could be good for our business. We will update readers after the meeting.
Denis Sheehan, Publisher, H&C News
*Update: We are delighted to say that we have met Ben and he joined the H&C News team on the 25th July.
Here’s how to contact Ways to Work
Address: Ways Into Work CIC, 11 Courthouse Road, Maidenhead, SL6 6PS
Tel: 0300 561 0010
E-mail: Laura@waysintowork.com
For our website click here