Region's diversity recognised at awards
David Knox • Published 7 Nov 2011 09:30
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Tesco personnel manager Patrick McGlone with his store's award.
FINDING employment for anyone in these current economic times can be difficult. When you suffer from a physical disability or brain injury it is an awful lot tougher.
But behind the scenes, dozens of companies in the Borders not only level the position-filling playing field but they actively encourage recruits from diverse backgrounds.
And on Friday many of them were recognised and rewarded for their work.
The Borders Supported Employment Network's Diversity Awards were held this year at the Macdonald Cardrona Hotel.
And earning the top prize, which was sponsored by the Shaw Trust, was the Galashiels branch of Tesco.
As well as providing additional support and long-term retention of staff with either physical or emotional difficulties, the supermarket works closely with the various voluntary and charitable support groups.
Patrick McGlone, personnel manager at Tesco Galashiels, said: "I'm delighted that we have won the award. It's not something that we expected.
"We try to bring people in on work placements and give them the experience of working in a big retail environment. We have a skilful management team in place who look after that side of things and they deserve credit for the work they do."
A total of 22 companies were nominated for the main four categories - Placement, Social Enterprise, Recruitment and Retention.
Judges Sally Scott-Aiton, from the Borders Chamber of Commerce, Lindsay Hewitt, from Skills Development Scotland, and Jobcentre Plus' Marion Joass deliberated over each nomination before announcing the winners on Friday.
Harry Wood from brain injury charity Momentum, who is chair of the Borders Supported Employment Network, explained the relevance of the annual awards. He told us: "These awards are really important as they recognise the contribution that these companies make to people with disabilities and disadvantages.
"We have multi-national companies all the way down to single-person businesses up for awards, which is very encouraging. Scottish Borders Council and NHS Borders also deserve credit as they have really supported us this year with their approach to employing people with disabilities.
"The awards have only been going for five or six years but they improve each year with the number and quality of nominations."
Peebles cloth manufacturers Holland and Sherry won the Retention Award, sponsored by Momentum, for the steps they have taken to keep an employee on their books after he suffered head injuries in a road crash two years ago.
As well as implementing a phased return to work programme, colleagues were briefed on how to provide support, and even the company directors paid visits to the man's home to provide initial support.
Holland and Sherry's operations director David Scott said: "We are extremely proud to receive this award. This recognises what we achieved by retaining a staff member. It was a challenge for us and for him to maintain working practices on his return but I think it has worked out well for both of us.
"He had been a member of the company for a good number of years and we felt it was the least we could do as a company to keep his job open for him and help him back."
The Placement category, sponsored by Borders College, was scooped by Philiphaugh Community Café. Judges praised the Selkirk diner for its work with Workwise students who help out in the kitchen and front-of-house for one day each week. Lesley Paterson and Rita Docherty from the café collected their award from the College's Anne Angus. Rita said: "We are genuinely shocked to have won.
"We get more out of the students coming to us than they probably do. We couldn't do without them.
"The café users enjoy having the Workwise students almost as much as we do. They work really hard and produce some lovely food."
The Social Enterprise award, sponsored by the Social Enterprise Chamber, was won the gardening group The Borders Green Team. The project, which was started at the Katherine Elliot Centre in Hawick five years ago, has grown almost as quickly as the trees and shrubs they plant.
By offering flexible working hours, arranging transport, and finding positions to suit each applicant The Borders Green Team provides training for around 35 workers at its centres in Hawick and Berwickshire. Sue Bennett, administrator with the Borders Green Team, told us: "Anyone with a learning disability or mental health issue is made welcome and we help them with each step of the recruitment process.
"As well as gardening we offer our employees training in woodwork to make benches, bird tables and bird boxes. It is very encouraging to be recognised for the work that we do."
Sainsbury's Human Resources manager Pamela Toward has been busy over the past few years - overseeing the opening of stores in Hawick, Edinburgh, and most recently Kelso.
She managed to take a day out of her busy schedule to collect the Recruitment award, sponsored by Ingeus. Sainsbury's in Kelso was recognised for engaging with local support groups over the past six months as they recruited for the new superstore. It used alternative methods to guide applicants with difficulties through the recruitment process and also adopted a buddy system for those new employees.
Pamela said: "Diversity in our employees is something that we look for in our workplace and we are delighted that the Borders Diversity Awards have recognised this.
"It's been a very busy few weeks in Kelso with the store just opening but our recruitment policy has went well."
The Borders Supported Employment Network hosts a number of activities throughout the year to support organisations and employers with supported employment.
Anyone who would like further details in becoming involved in the Network should contact Harry Wood - harry.wood@momentumscotland.org - of Kyle Hay - khay@ingeus.co.uk - for further information.
This article appeared in Border Telegraph 07 Nov 11
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