Be Ready Employer Hub is still open for business!

Now that schools are getting back to their ‘new normal’ and we wait for the next set of rules for social distancing, the Be Ready Team wanted to let everyone know – we’re still active and able to support Devon based employers with any queries or information about recruiting, retaining and developing people with disabilities in the workplace.

You may remember we had our main launch event on 6^th March – just a week before lock down started! But whilst the team couldn’t get out and about, we focused on what we could provide through “digital delivery”.

Training – now online and still free to attend

We’ve adapted our classroom-based half-day training workshops to be delivered as live (and interactive) online workshops, along with designing some new courses too! Our Autumn 2020 Open Programme schedule is now available – visit our Events page for booking details of individual courses:

• Disability and Employment is now a series of five workshops (2 hours each, delivered weekly) covering all the key aspects of how to recruit, employ and retain talent inclusively.
• Language and Communication – our new workshop (2 ½ hours) supports you to overcome language and communication barriers you may have experienced when working with disabled colleagues or customers. It’s ideal as an add-on to the Disability and Employment series, or you can attend as a stand-alone workshop.

Plus a new workshop currently under development (expected to be bookable later in the year):

• An Introduction to Accessibility for Websites – in our Click-Away Pound Information Hub article, we reported in 2019 the online spending power of people with access needs was £24.8 billion (14.9% of the UK’s total on-line spend of £166.6 billion). But 69% of disabled people with access needs said they ‘clicked away’ from websites that weren’t accessible – a potential loss of 4.3 million customers! So we’re putting together a workshop to provide practical advice for business owners and managers (ie non-web developers) on what you need to have/do to make your website easy to use for everyone.

Disability Confident

Our training workshops have been designed around the requirements of the Disability Confident awards – to support your business either to get started and sign-up as Disability Confident Committed; or to progress to be a Disability Confident Employer or Leader. This award is seen as a “Badge of Honour” by disabled people when searching for potential suppliers or employers, as it demonstrates your commitment to equality and inclusion. Research shows buying behaviour is increasingly influenced by a business’ reputation (even more so in the current economy) and especially with regard to ethical work practices.

Disability Confident accreditation is about actions, not words – and we can help get you (still free of charge!). We can guide you through the application and accreditation process, plus (in the New Year) we will be hosting B2B Learning Networks around the county – regular facilitated meet-ups to discuss, analyse, solve and celebrate disability and workplace-related topics with other business owners and managers.

Helpline and Information Hub

We have kept our online library of information, data, resources and tools up to date to help you recruit and retain disabled people – including advice about Covid-19. Or if you have a specific question, use our Contact Form to get in touch.