A NEW campaign has launched to support employers to increase diversity and inclusion within the workplace by offering opportunities to disabled people looking for work.
Enable Works, the largest specialist provider of skills and employability services in Scotland, is forging the way for businesses to include everyone as part of a drive to create a more inclusive society and workforce.
Enable Works Corporate Partnership will encourage businesses to recognise the benefits of diversity in the workplace.
The team will provide employers with specialist support to identify their goals in terms of inclusion and offer recommendations, specific to their organisation, along with training and support. Enable Works already supports more than 2000 of Scotland’s employers across a variety of sectors including companies like Balfour Beatty, Diageo, ScottishPower, Strathclyde University Business School and STV.
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A diverse workforce is also good for business with many companies losing out as they are unable to engage large parts of society either as a customer or an employee. It is estimated UK businesses lose £2 billion a year by not being accessible to disabled customers or meeting their needs.
With more than one million disabled people in Scotland, of which 16% are of working age, the charity hopes to encourage like-minded organisations to make inclusion a priority for their business and increase the number of disabled people in their workplace.
Ashley Ryan, director of Enable Works, said: “Our offer comes at a pivotal time when many companies are revisiting how they operate.
“This presents us with an opportunity to encourage a more diverse workforce which we know is better for society as well as being good for business. Companies need to reflect the communities in which they serve and we can help them to achieve this.
Liam Coyle is one employee who has seen the benefits of the work completed through Diageo’s partnership with Enable Works. He said: “Progressing through the internship, I thrived, especially during the busy periods. It’s made me mature into the person I am that I believe all people are equal, disability or otherwise.”
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