Equal Partners ProjectPartners into Employment: an employer network Background to the Equal Partners projectThe Equal Partners project was a joint project between Bury EST and Stockport Employment Services and ran during 2000. It proposed new ways of collaboration between supported employment agencies, employers and Government and followed on from our New Horizons project. For many years, Bury and Stockport's employment services had been successfully placing disabled people into open employment. A key part of this success was the initial identification of employer needs. Over the last few years we had increasingly focused our attention on employers as the key partners in this process. Quite simply, without employers there are no jobs. We had been keen to involve employers as fully as possible in the recruitment process and developed an employer network, Partners into Employment (PIE) to facilitate this. The Equal Partners project was funded by the European Social Fund to examine a number of key issues:
The project has seen a number of actions including the 'Embracing Diversity' awareness raising materials targeted at Personnel Directors. A project report has been issued that highlights the learning of project participants. We continued the project in collaboration with the employers represented on our employer network through our Embracing Diversity project which ran from 2002 to 2005. Project Conferences
A full report of the 2000 conference is available in pdf format. Today, businesses face many pressures from different directions and recruiting people with disabilities may not seem a priority. The 'Embracing Diversity' conferences have demonstrated that organisations of all sizes can benefit from employing a diverse workforce and they have provided tips and solutions to help you do so effectively. The 'Embracing Diversity' conferences highlight the advantages of developing a diverse workforce - in particular, the inclusion of people with disabilities into the workplace. Hosted by Bury Employment Support & Training and Stockport Employment Services, they have drawn on a wealth of experience from public and private sector practitioners. Partners into Employment: an employer network'Partners into Employment' (PIE) was a network of employers, supported employment agencies and statutory organisations that met on a regular basis to exchange good practice and find practical solutions for increasing the capacity of employers to recruit and retain disabled staff. The group met every month or so to discuss disability issues and was very influential in developing the Equal Partners project. The group produced the new CD and video and advised and participated in the 'Embracing Diversity' conferences of 1999 and 2000. PIE had representation from the Co-operative Bank Plc, B&Q Ltd, House of Fraser, Arden Packaging, Whitbread, the Federation of Small Businesses, Stockport MBC, Bury MBC, Stockport NHS Trust, Loot and others. Awareness Raising MaterialsWe produced an informative CD for Personnel Managers made by the Partners into Employment group, a training video as well as leaflets leaflets and project reports. Bury EST developed a CD ROM to guide employers through the process of recruiting and retaining disabled employees. The CD was developed in conjunction with Stockport Employment Services and featured employers from the Partners into Employment network talking about their experiences of supporting and employing disabled workers. Click for a look at the CD insert. The CD contains four video modules and a wealth of background materials. It is designed to be used by Personnel Directors as a reference guide to Supported Employment. The video modules are presented by a range of regional employers such as the Co-operative Bank, Whitbread and B&Q and look at:
The video modules have been packaged separately so that it can be used for staff development. We hope the video will be a useful prompt for training or briefing sessions about diversity issues. The CD also contains text modules on:
The reference section contains information about the Supported Employment process, the Disability Discrimination Act and disability etiquette. The Good Practice Guide was produced by Stockport Employment Services as part of their previous European funded project. We have a limited number of copies available. If you would like a copy of the video or CD, please contact us. We would welcome your feedback about all of our materials so that we can improve future versions. |
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