- sign up to be Disability Confident
- consider joining the Mayor’s Charter
- consider offering a supported internship or a traineeship
- consider employing an apprentice with a learning disability and/or autism
- offer disability awareness training sessions for staff
Inclusive employment
Businesses talk about their experiences
People with autism or learning disabilities deserve the same opportunities in life as their peers, including paid employment. We believe supported employment is everyone’s responsibility. Hiring an employee with disabilities not only has many benefits to the employee, but you will find that your business will also benefit from:
- increased productivity
- reduced staff turnover
- improved staff morale
- small costs, big benefits
- enhanced corporate social responsibility
Key steps for an inclusive recruitment approach
Step one: review your recruitment and selection process
- use a strength based approach to capitalise on staff skills to meet your business needs
- consider job carving and job design
Step three: advertise and demonstrate that you are Disability Confident
- create easy to read job applications
- promote a guaranteed interview scheme
- ensure the job advert represents staff diversity
- work in partnership with the Salford Supported Employment Service - email ses@salford.gov.uk
- consider offering working interviews
- use the Access to Work Government scheme
- consider in work reasonable adjustments
Step six: employment commences
- work in partnership with job coaches from Supported Employment Services to develop an action plan that clearly identifies the steps to support and retain the progression of the new recruit - email ses@salford.gov.uk to arrange
- designate a mentor for the new employee
Consider committing to one or more of the following:
- becoming an advocate or lead for supported employment in your organisation
- hosting a work experience placement or a work trial
- hosting an employer visit or work taster
- sharing with others what you do as a business or in your role
- Untapped potential
- The Buckland Review of Autism Employment: report and recommendations - GOV.UK
- Neuroinclusion at work - CIPD
- Creating a neuroinclusive organisation for the future of work -CIPD
- Disability Guide for Employers
If you would like to find out more about supported employment or to pledge to support any of the above, please email supportedemploymentservice@salford.gov.uk or telephone 0161 793 2533.
Case study: Overcoming challenges and finding success with Seddon
Michael, a determined individual who has overcome numerous challenges, found himself facing multiple obstacles in his journey to secure employment. Despite his disability affecting his vision, Michael's perseverance and the support of his employer, Seddon, has propelled him towards success.
Michael's found navigating the job market daunting due to his disability. He encountered various difficulties during interviews, where the lack of reasonable adjustments hindered his performance.
The recruitment process at Seddon proved to be a refreshing change for Michael. His manager created a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere during the interview, making Michael feel comfortable and valued. The informal process allowed Michael to openly discuss his disability-related challenges, which were met with understanding and support, and ultimately, a position of employment.
After six months of working at Seddon, a position as an Assistant Aftercare Co-ordinator became available for Michael. Now over two years into his employment, Michael has reflected on his journey from struggling to secure employment to thriving in his new role.
Supported internships
Supported internships are primarily are intended to enable young people with learning disabilities to develop the necessary workplace skills and experience to achieve paid, sustainable employment. Internships normally last for a year, include unpaid work placements of at least six months and support for the young person to move into paid employment at the end of the programme, wherever possible.
Interns also work towards the achievement of accredited qualifications and benefit from travelling to and from placements independently, working within a team setting and building their skills, confidence and ambitions by participating on the programme.
The programme is delivered over the course of a full academic year (September to June), with placements rotating every eight to 12 weeks. Typically, interns will attend their placement for four days per week, with a typical day involving 1.5 hours of classroom-based learning and between three and four hours spent on placement with their host employer.
The University of Salford provides an on-site classroom for the programme and facilitate all of the work placements during the first term (September to December). Interns will then undertake a ‘rotation’ and will carry out a second placement, hosted elsewhere within the university or by a council team or service during the second term (January to March).
The final rotation (April to June) will also be facilitated by the university or council, but will take into consideration the young person’s aspirations for paid work and the likelihood of them obtaining this outcome from their final placement. It is the responsibility of the Employment Officer to identify and match interns to suitable placements and paid employment opportunities that fit within the needs of a business.
There are lots of good reasons for employers to host a supported internship programme or placement. Benefits include:
- diversifying the workforce to better reflect the social needs of the business
- enhancing corporate social responsibility practices
- being part of an initiative that gives local young people with disabilities the chance to showcase their talent
- providing managers with an opportunity to test the ability, commitment and suitability of candidates – a work placement can act as an extended working interview
- increasing an employer's ‘disability confidence’, with job coaches available to supplement any in-work training that the employer requires
- providing a junior member of staff with an opportunity to develop supervisory experience by acting as a 'buddy' or mentor to an intern
- extra capacity for the team at no extra cost
Key to the programme’s success is the support offered to host managers.
Our team will identify, develop and host work placement opportunities and is on hand to ensure there is consistent and ongoing support offered to interns and staff hosting placements. Support will also include specific training to interns in the technical elements of the role undertaken during the internship.
Host managers are expected to identify a placement and work with our team to identify key tasks for the intern(s) to carry out whilst on placement. Host manager are also expected to:
- provide a suitable induction to the intern(s) (and job coach, where applicable)
- provide appropriate supervision
- take part in reviews of progress and learning
- report any concerns to the Employment Officer
- advocate for hiring into open positions, when appropriate
What type of placements work best?
The type of placements required will depend on the interests and abilities of the young people involved. Typically, interns are particularly interested in placements with administration type duties, manual type duties or roles where the type of work is reoccurring in its nature.
Step six: employment commences
- work in partnership with job coaches from Supported Employment Services to develop an action plan that clearly identifies the steps to support and retain the progression of the new recruit - email ses@salford.gov.uk to arrange
- designate a mentor for the new employee
Who should I contact for more information?
If you are interested in supporting a young person with a work placement and/or would like to find out more about the programme, please email: supportedemploymentservice@salford.gov.uk
Supported employment employer forum
There is strong evidence that Supported Employment is an effective approach in helping individuals to secure and sustain mainstream employment.
The Salford Supported Employment Service and our partners are committed to working together to help increase the employment rate of young people and adults with learning disabilities and/or autism.
The purpose of the Employer Forum is to:
- bring together local employers and partners
- raise awareness of the range of training and support available to employers
- increase the number of employment opportunities to benefit young people and adults with learning disabilities and/or autism
- share examples of good practice in relation to recruiting
- support the retaining of young people and/or adults with learning difficulties and autism in paid employment.
The forum meets online on a quarterly basis. If you would like to join the meeting and become a member of the employer forum and receive regular updates, advice, and support, please contact ses@salford.gov.uk to find out the upcoming dates.