Wheatsheaf’s Employer Engagement Coordinator, Lizzie  Chainey, was invited to speak at the LEADER (Local Employers Acting on Diversity, Equality and Race) Conference at St Mary’s Stadium last month.

With the theme Corporate Social Responsibility over eighty employers from across Hampshire attended the conference.

The main point of Lizzie’s presentation was that she would be unable to do her job effectively without the support of employers and she invited to speak with her two who have been involved with Wheatsheaf’s work - Sue Booker, People Manager at Southampton’s ASDA , and Richard Binns, Retail Manager of the PDSA (People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals).

Lizzie’s presentation covered the support Wheatsheaf is able to give clients to enable them to progress to participating in work experience, and stressing the importance of Wheatsheaf’s continued support through these placements.  

She gave the stories of two clients, one over 40 and who had never worked, and the second who had mental health problems and English as a second language. Neither would have found a job through a normal interview process. Both would still be on Benefits and probably have regressed, with the client with mental health issues continuing under the care of the community mental health nurse.

But for both clients the outcome has been far more positive. Having started on half a day experiencing work in a charity shop, they are now both employed full-time by ASDA - and one is an awarded employee!

Lizzie says, “The presentation was very well received and was an opportunity to make a lot of new contacts. It also enabled employers to see that there is an untapped labour market from which they can recruit, train and employ people in a safe, controlled way that offers them and the potential employee support during the whole process, as well as the satisfaction of helping to turn people’s lives around.”

LEADER is an umbrella group of employers from the Southampton area working together to help build a diverse workforce, and focusing on community and social responsibility.