How social enterprises provide vital employment support
Today is National Employability Day; an opportunity for employment support organisations and employers to celebrate their hard work supporting people to enter or progress in employment.
The theme this year is ‘Business as Usual’, which highlights the vital role that employment support organisations and employers will play in the unprecedented challenge we face in building economic recovery and getting Britain working again post-Covid.
Many social enterprises support those furthest from the labour market to access meaningful employment. Collectively, the UK’s 100,000 social enterprises employ over 2million people, with 40,000 of these specifically seeking to employ people from disadvantaged backgrounds, including those with disabilities, homeless people and veterans.
We have shared some examples below to illustrate the significant impact social enterprises have in terms of job creation, employment support, and providing training and development opportunities.
Evenbreak is a specialist job board, which connects inclusive employers with talented disabled candidates.
The employers who advertise on Evenbreak are actively aiming to attract disabled candidates and the platform enables disabled jobseekers to access a range of opportunities with employers who put talent first.
Evenbreak is run by disabled people for disabled people – all of the team are disabled and have lived experience of the challenges faced by candidates.
Jericho Foundation was established in 1993 to help support local people in finding employment. It now operates eight social enterprise businesses across Birmingham, through which it provides employment and training for marginalised individuals.
They work with people who experience significant personal or occupational barriers to employment, training or social inclusion and help them overcome these obstacles and gain relevant vocational skills to secure sustainable employment.
Yateley Industries operates one of the few remaining supported factories, which helps vulnerable adults to do paid meaningful work and training intended to help progress them into mainstream employment.
The factory is operated on a commercial basis, providing customers with specialised packing facilities, which includes machine shrink wrapping, boxing and bar coding. They also undertake light assembly and hand packing work.
Their aim is to encourage each individual to fulfill their own potential, both at work and at home. This is achieved by providing paid, meaningful employment alongside assisted accommodation (where desirable/required). Employees are supported towork towards identified goals, encompassing areas such as financial management, independent living skills, production output and social integration.
