Last week, we welcomed staff and students from Applefields secondary to our offices. Applefields is a York-based school for young people with special educational needs. The students visited to attend an ‘Insight into Work’ day with staff from both Family Fund and Family Fund Business Services (FFBS) to help them gain insights into the workplace and support them on their journey moving on from school.
Work experience is an important part of the transition to further education and working life for all young people. It’s also a vital part of closing the national employment gap for disabled people, alongside the supported internships we offer. Currently the employment rate for disabled people is 53%, compared with non-disabled people at 81% – making the disability employment gap 28%.
See it, be it
The students’ visit began with an overview of who Family Fund and FFBS are, what we do, and the types of roles we have within our organisation. Activities were designed to help students understand the wide variety of roles within a business and get them thinking about what sort of jobs they would like to do. As a purpose-driven organisation, we encouraged each young person attending to think about what drives them and what their purpose is, with some fantastic answers from the group.
There was a strong focus on how each person has unique skills and abilities, and we looked at where these could support roles across our Group.
Vital work insights
Our Group Diversity and Inclusion Officer Karen Newell, said “Raising the confidence and self-esteem of disabled young people is vital, as is listening and emphasising how valuable their lived experience is and meeting them where they are.”
We ended with an activity on our values, where students wrote in our values cards about a time where they lived one of our company values – supportive, connected, passionate and determined.
As a Disability Confident Leader, we’re committed to ensuring we have an inclusive and accessible workplace where disabled people and anyone with a long-term health condition can thrive. We also work to break down barriers to disabled people being able to work.
Karen said “We hope the visit inspired students to see how their individual skills and abilities are a valuable asset to any workplace. The essence of inclusion is a feeling of belonging and being connected and well supported.”
To work with us on building more inclusive workplaces please get in touch inclusion@familyfund.org.uk