Disability Confident Leader
Inclusivity and accessibility have always been a core value of HLC’s, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because over the years, we have recognised the value of being a Disability Confident employer.
We represent our community and want to encourage other employers to do the same. We have learned that making adjustments to processes and working with people in a way that works for them, are key to fostering a productive and valued workforce. Because of this, we have recruited a dynamic team that share our values and those of our partners, which helps us support our learners to achieve the best possible outcomes.
“We try to take all areas of our operations into consideration. We actively seek to recruit a workforce that represents the profile of our local community, by designing and offering jobs through disability-positive processes.” Andy Crossland, HLC’s Chief Executive Officer.
This status will allow us to join forces with other leaders in the area to support more local employers to become disability confident leaders, share good practice, and work to reduce the disability employment gap. One in five working aged people in our local area are classed as being disabled
Across the UK the employment gap currently sits at around 25%, this means disabled people are 25% less likely to be employed than a non-disabled person. This is something we want to change.
One of the Disability Confident Leaders that have helped us to progress to a leader is Environmail; a local centre of excellence for recycling, training, and social enterprise, who share our vision around ‘reducing unemployment, tackling inequality, and improving social inclusion.’
Katy Swaby, Enviromail Director, said: “HLC are disability confident leaders. They strive for best practice especially when recruiting disabled talent. By achieving the Disability Confident Level 3 Leader status it will benefit our region, as they are influential and trusted with a large community network of organisations who use HLC as the benchmark. We need more leaders in the area and with HLC achieving the standard we feel more disability confident employers will have the opportunity to step up to leaders, improving
the prospects for disabled talent in our region.” For more information please contact Chantelle.Snee@hlc-vol.org. Or to sign up to be a Disability Confident employer.