Liberty HR Recruitment has just been awarded Disability Confident Committed status!
With our Director (and Social Media Guru!) Den Barry being visually impaired, we thought it important that we look at positive measures to be as inclusive an employer as possible. We wanted to be able to have ‘grown-up’ conversations about disability and employing people with disabilities, and to feel confident in doing so. It was necessary to make a number of reasonable adjustments (most of them free of charge) to ensure that Den was as comfortable working at Liberty HR Recruitment as the rest of the team, and this was easily achieved. We also want to make sure that, if and when we are in a position to employ more staff, we can draw from the widest pool of talent available. We feel that it’s important to be socially responsible and we are aware that people with disabilities are twice as likely to be unemployed as people who are not disabled. So in our own small way, we want to contribute towards a reduction in this trend.
The Disability Confident scheme is creating a movement of change, encouraging employers to think differently about disability and to take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. Being Disability Confident is a unique opportunity to lead the way in our community, and we might just discover someone (like Den) that our business cannot do without!
The scheme was developed by employers and disabled people’s representatives to make a rigorous but easily accessible scheme, and it’s particularly aimed at smaller businesses. Being Disability Confident Committed can benefit Liberty HR Recruitment as an organisation in a number of ways. For example it could help us:
- tap into the huge pool of talent amongst disabled people, and recruit, retain and develop people with the skills we need.
- increase our understanding of disability and how to make the most of the opportunities provided by employing disabled people.
- remove barriers that might be preventing disabled people and those with long term health conditions from accessing employment with us.
- play our part in ensuring that disabled people have opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations.
As a Disability Confident Committed organisation, we have access to free information, support and guidance, and a range of exclusive activities including:
- regular newsletters including up-to-date advice and support.
- Member-only online forums where we can ask questions, and share good practice.
- exclusive events like webinars and conferences led by leaders and experts on key disability employment topics.
- top tips guides.
- a wealth of information and advice to help us on our Disability Confident journey.
We will now spend some time looking to achieve the next step, which is becoming a Disability Confident Employer, and then hopefully to one day progress onto the higher level as a Disability Confident Leader.
If YOU would like to find out more about becoming Disability Confident visit https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/disability-confident-campaign
(and if you’d like to read more about Den’s story, see the Portsmouth News article written about him by clicking here https://bit.ly/35a23s6 )
