Digital Jobs Training
Lockdown and increased home working and learning has meant an increase in the digitalisation of our lives. This has meant that many jobs have changed how they work and so many people are needing to upskill their personal digital skills in order to enter the job market.
Leap, have listened to these issues and are offering free training in new skills for people whose lives have been impaced by the pandemic. The aim is to help them enter digital and creative jobs. Leap ofers short, felxible modules, which are taught online and therefore can be accessed from anywhere.
MORE INFORMATION HERE.
Employing Ex-offenders in the VCSE Sector Event Summary
VSNW Presents ‘Employing Ex-Offenders in the
VCSE Sector’
19th May 2021 4pm-5pm
A full recording of the event can be found here.
The pandemic has exaggerated unemployment levels, which has had dramatic effects on individuals, families and the wider community. Ex-offenders have a particularly high risk of unemployment after finishing their sentence, which, amongst other factors, enhances the likelihood of reoffending. Helping and securing employment can have long and prominent positive effects, not only for the individual but for wider society too.
VSNW welcomed a selection of speakers to discuss their processes and experiences of working with and employing ex-offenders, including an inspiring insight from John, who has been through the process himself.
Our key takeaway messages:
People deserve a second chance-employment is vital in lowering re-offending rates.
Re-creating real-life work scenarios inside prison is an important process of getting offenders ready to work.
Supporting offenders release from prison with travel expenses ,meeting them upon release etc is vital to the transition.
Many ex-offenders have transferable skills intrinsic to business and the workplace.
Support and buddy programmes needed as ex-offenders can be vulnerable.
Employment is only one variable that effects re-offending rates,family support and housing being examples of others. This needs to be kept in mind.
For organisations wanting to implement practices to employ ex-offenders, partnerships with other organisations to support can be key. Whether that’s another organisation already successfully employing ex-offenders to learn employment practices from, or a housing or mental health organisation for example to provide the wrap around support that can sometimes be required.
Darren Burns, from the Timpson Foundation, discussed the history of the foundation and how the group became invested in employing ex-offenders and giving them a second chance. They are now proudly the largest employer of ex-offenders in England.
They have four main streams of employment:
1: ROTL (Release on Temporary License)
This begins with informal interviews after liaising with prison staff, the aim of which is to grasp the character and personality of the individual. ROTL allows successful applicants to leave prison in the day to work and return to prison in the evening. They receive national living wage.
2. Prison training academies:
As a lot of prison work doesn’t get prisoners ready for the real world, these prison training academies aim to replicate a real Timpson branch environment for practice and assessing skills. When the prisoners are then eligible for ROTL, the continuity of environment is very positive.
3 .Some people in custody do not have access to ROTL (perhaps they are in category B prisons/sentence is too short). In this instance they are risk assessed and interviewed and then met upon release and given a travel pass and a job.
4. People feel confident applying through normal streams as Timpson is renowned for its employment ethos.
Darren explained some of main reasons why the Timpson Foundation has decided to engage with the above employment processes:
People deserve a second chance-reoffending rates are dramaticallyr educed if employed.
Reoffending costs the taxpayer vast amounts each year, thus reducing this benefits family, individual, wider society, tax payer and communities
Experience of prison often gives people qualities of personal resilience. They are often more hardworking, more honest and can be business savvy.
Annie Gale, from COOK Ltd and the Raw Talent Programme gave an overview of their experiences and processes too.
The RAW (Ready & Working) Talent Programme supports people with convictions, who suffer from addiction and who are homeless. Their company values see their employees as “essential ingredients” to their success, which they regard as doing the right thing by society as well as turning a profit. The programme has the following stages:
1. Training before job offer (a supported trial shift)
2. All those who complete the programme are interviewed
3. The programme is run 3 times a year and 2-4 jobs are offered from each.
COOK Ltd strive to see the potential in people and maintain that somebody’s past doesn’t have to define their future. They believe that doing good business attracts good people, shareholders, suppliers and customers. They put equality at the fore of their ethos and make sure that their employees are offered support, buddy programmes etc. They have high expectations and a disciplinary process, which has been devised from learning over the years.
Skills for Growth Programme in Greater Manchester
The aim of the Skils for Growth programme is to provide an up-skilling service to VCSE organisations across Greater Manchester. This programme can be tailor-made with the ambition to help improve productivity across the workforce, which in turn will help your organisation to prosper.
What your organisation can expect:
Develop your team with skills
Maximise future growth
Reshape your organisation
Improve your team’s wellbeing
Funding your growth
Support for individuals is also available to:
Explore training providers and grow skillset
Help maximising opportunities
Guidance improving your CV
Develop interview techniques
Skills for Growth is delivered by Growth Company (GC) Business Growth Hub with GMCVO and funded through the European Social Fund, which is commissioned by GMCA.
MORE INFORMATION HERE.
Employing Ex-Offenders in the VCSE Sector
On Wednesday 19th May, VSNW will be hosting an event exploring “Employing Ex-Offenders in the VCSE Sector” from 4pm-5pm.
As we exit the pandemic all reports suggest that the employment rate will improve. Whether this is a gradual improvement or a sudden spike remains to be seen. However, it is recognised that it will be some time before employment gets back to where it was in pre-pandemic days. This will affect many households and some who already have difficulties in accessing employment.
One such group is those who have served a custodial sentence. Without a job, the risk of reoffending is higher than would otherwise be the case. This hour long seminar, organised by VSNW, will hear from businesses who have a positive process to recruit from prison and also from a community development worker who works full time with ex-offenders with the aim of gaining them employment.
We are delighted to announce the following guest speakers:
Farhana Musarat, Project Officer at Lancashire BME Network in Blackburn. She is leading on work with ex-offenders and guiding into employment. A graduate of University of Central Lancs, Farhana is a stimulating and passionate speaker and an Experienced Employment Advisor /Transformation coach/ Project Officer with a wealth of skills gained from diverse working environments. Skilled in Communication, Leadership, Writing, Project Management, offender rehabilitation and Customer Service she brings a wide range of perspectives to this event.
Annie Gale, Head of RAW Talent & Apprenticeships at COOK Trading LTD. Arriving in Sittingbourne, where the company is based, via Birmingham University Annie cares deeply about good results, good values and good communication. She believes in people's potential - whatever their past - to do a fantastic job and oversees the 'RAW Talent' programme at COOK. This supports people from prison / homelessness / addiction / mental ill health into meaningful, sustainable work. Annie will be accompanied by John, one of the team recruited under the Raw Talent programme.
Darren Burns, National Recruitment Manager, Timpson Group. He specialises in the recruitment and retention of ex-offenders, veterans and others who face barriers to employment and also fosters relationships with many UK prisons and agencies such as Police and Probation services. Just in case he is not busy enough he also manages the Timpson prison training academies and is responsible for overseeing the transition from custody into the work place!
We will hear from all of our speakers in turn then move into a Q&A panel discussion, where you will be able to ask your questions to our guests.
Once registered for the event, Zoom joining details will be emailed to you the day prior to the event.
REGISTER HERE
Attracting & Retaining a Talented & Diverse Workforce Event
Covid-19 has highlighted the crucial role of the local public sector in keeping society going. Despite this, renewed talk about public sector pay freezes, and the perception of some that local public sector work is stuffy and inefficient, poses a real challenge to the effective recruitment of the next generation of skilled and motivated workers. This, combined with the phenomenon of demographic ageing across the economy, risks a potential skills shortage in some of our most socially valuable jobs.
In this webinar, colleagues are invited to learn about some of the innovative strategies and techniques being deployed across the sector to deliver effective apprenticeship schemes. This event is an opportunity to hear best practice examples of apprenticeship schemes that work to effectively attract, retain, and develop a talented workforce. We will also consider how you can make your organisation more attractive to prospective apprentices and some of the key benefits and support available when choosing to recruit via an apprenticeship route.
You will have the chance to ask questions to peers and leading practitioners on these topics.
Apply to attend here.
25th March 11.30-13.30 CET.
People and Places- what are they worth?
People and places – what are they worth?
This article has drawn significantly from one written by Stephanie Corking, People Director and co-owner at business consultancy firm, Laws of Attraction. Her article appeared on thebusinessdesk.com on 10th March 2021.
The pandemic has been tough for many employees: new working environments, disrupting routines, changing roles and responsibilities, long term friends that have been made redundant and for many, being furloughed and not working for long periods. All of these may have created worry and uncertainty with many colleagues. Now, your people are your biggest opportunity and will be crucial to reviving the fortunes of the region’s individual businesses, towns, cities, and the economy as a whole. Therefore, an investment in your people (now more than ever), could be the smartest ‘post covid’ move you can make.
There is much talk currently, amongst both large and small business owners, of the post-covid recovery plan. Strategies, agendas, objectives, and detailed plans to get consumers back to our brands and spending again have been the talk of many a zoom call up and down the country. And for many businesses, the PM’s announcement of the UK roadmap on the 22nd of February has resulted in a flurry of activity for ‘return to work’ plans and how to welcome their customers with open arms when the doors are eventually allowed to reopen.
Whilst many have spent the last 6-9 months continually revaluating their operations, the focus is now on strategic priorities, learning from the lessons of responding to uncertainties and capturing the changes (and opportunities) of the last 12 months to move forward.
The same level of thinking should have taken place within the VCFSE sector as well. There is a danger that we may have been wrapped up in too much “here and now” and have left inadequate space for the “tomorrow and beyond”.
The effects of COVID-19 on the sector are profound and unprecedented. While retailers must work through operational and tactical considerations to re-open retail stores VCFSE bodies have wider issues to consider as well. These do create an opportunity to re-examine who you are as an organisation, considering:
• Customer — How has your customer evolved during and after the crisis? What are their expectations, needs, behaviours, and priorities in this new environment? In purely commercial terms a customer is the one that pays the bill. We have service users who may not be customers in the strict sense. To change a service to reflect the needs of the service user without consulting the customer is a very dangerous strategy indeed.
• Brand — What is the purpose of your operation, and how can you best serve customers? Do you need to evolve your value proposition to stay relevant? If so, how? Who are the stakeholders with whom you have to consult?
• Product — What are the key, best-selling products and services? Is it the right time to consider new categories, new services, and new business models? This style of thinking is sometimes seen as “not sector appropriate”. In a world where financial resources will be finite and variable customer focussed thinking will be of paramount importance.
• Store — What is the impact on the store channel, its role, and the corresponding operations? How do you keep your customers and associates safe, while playing a new role in customers’ lives?
• Digital — How do you keep what you have developed and worked without ignoring those who cannot access digital for whatever reason.
(Deloitte)
However, what is missing from that list above is People…
It has been no surprise that HR functions have been at the core of managing change in the past 12 months. And now, as leadership teams begin to mobilise the operational plans, how do we ensure that employee engagement stays high on the agenda to ensure customer engagement stays ‘high’ on the high street?
Recent surveys have told us, that overall, most companies did a good job of addressing their employees’ physical and emotional needs during the working from home and lockdown periods, ensuring they met the basic needs of safety, stability and security. However, as we approach the next phase, those needs are evolving and the need for a sophisticated return-to-work strategy that focuses on employee wellbeing, managing stress as well as motivation, listening and encouraging innovation from your teams and overall employee engagement are all things that should be high on the people agenda.
So how should HR functions be adapting and realigning their people strategy and how does this link to the North’s post covid recovery strategy? Stephanie observes,
“Developing a human-centric people strategy that has relationships at its heart and the ability to evolve consistently to support the corporate strategy, enables improved employee wellbeing and business performance.
In the majority of client conversations, we have had recently, I’m often surprised to hear that HR teams feel they haven’t done enough to develop their post covid strategy, in line with the business strategy, and then communicate, engage and inspire their colleagues across the business so that they fully understand that the people are the intrinsic part of getting customers back through the doors”.
66% of HR functions develop people strategic plans that are not linked to the organisation’s corporate strategy.
Our regions voluntary sector operations have an opportunity to improve the employee experience during the return-to-work phase. The good news is, we have the tools to achieve that. Advancements in employee listening platforms, pulse surveys, two-way communication channels mean that leaders can now address employee experience in a data-driven and targeted way. By using the data to drill down on which groups of employees need more and varied types of support, they can also tailor their communication styles and actions that create feelings of wellbeing and build relationships across the workforce.
In a recent survey, 87% of highly engaged employees said they are less likely to leave the company they are work for compared to their counterparts. There is a danger of complacency creeping in here. Someone leaves and there are plenty of people seeking work at present. We need to ascertain why some one is leaving and try to improve the areas that they highlight. Exit interviews are important and valuable if they are acted upon. There is more cost to recruitment than the price of the advert. Think about lost productivity; time to read applications; to interview or even creating the new job description in the first place. An employee walking out of the door because they see somewhere better to work (and it isn’t always about money) is probably money and value walking out of the door as well.
However, the fundamental key to success is that leaders and managers are responsible and accountable for the employee needs to help them thrive during the return.
Employees will be looking to the leadership teams and line managers for both strategic direction and emotional support (after all the most important relationship you have at work is with your boss), whilst customers will be looking to businesses’ front-line employees to deliver a safe, engaging and enjoyable return to the quality operations that they are used to.
In summary, having a ‘leader led’ approach to employee engagement (it’s not just an HR thing) will be your quickest win to mobilising your workforce and ensuring your returning customers continue to come back as the Northern and wider economy reopens and your employees feel safe, inspired and engaged.
March 2021 – with huge thanks to Stephanie Corking.
Employing Ex-Offenders
BBC Radio 4 - Lent Talks, Faith in 'Lost Causes' was broadcast on 7th March 2021 and features Sir John Timpson who owns Timpson- the UK shoe repair and key cutting chain.
Sir John discusses Timpson’s positive experiences of employing ex-offenders or even those still serving a sentence. Unemployment is a huge risk factor in recidvism rates, exacerbated by employers often dismissing those with a criminal record; The Timpson Foundation’s commitment to employing this marginalised group helps address this risk factor. Timpson is one of the UK’s largest employers of ex-offenders in the UK; approximately 10% of its workforce have had criminal convictions, giving people a second chance. Prisons and re-offending are a huge financial burden on the tax payer and thus by including rather than excluding this vulnerable group, Timpson are able to make a real difference to society.
With this in mind, if a commercial business can employ those straight from prison could the VCFSE sector also? Yes, it is a challenge, but isn’t that what motivates us? If Timpsons (and group companies) can allow recent prison inmates the responsibility of banking the cash takings from shops then why can’t we? Safeguarding and DBS processes can allow this to happen – we just need to manage the risk. .
How could this work? Many, but not all, VCFSE groups have premises; do these need decorating; can the grounds be tidied up; are there groups that need refreshments served etc? Community payback has been used to provide staff for charity shops. It is also another means of assisting the rehabilitation process and this works even better if there is integration between teams of employees and paybackers; this may only be at a shared tea break but it is an important part of the process.
North West DWP Update
Below is an update from the Department of Work and Pensions regarding important information, toolkits and links:
· Personal Independence Payment Toolkit has been updated to reflect changes following the UK leaving the EU. This toolkit provides a guide for organisations and people in support roles to help explain PIP and changes to Disability Living Allowance to claimants.
· Guidance has been updated from the 1 January on GOV.UK explaining the rights of benefits and pensions for UK nationals in the EEA or Switzerland and benefits and pensions for EEA and Swiss citizens in the UK
· £7.5 million pound funding to Tackle Loneliness
· Mayday for Men – employer advice on male victims of domestic abuse
· Application for a State Pension Forecast has been updated
· Funding for Community Champions to give COVID 19 vaccine advice
· Changes to Kickstart programme https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/kickstart-scheme
· New legislation to ensure fair treatment for armed forces
· Face coverings exemptions
· Support for offenders - DWP working in partnership with HMPPS, Steering Women Away from Crime, Preventing Prison Leaver Homelessness
· Funding boost to get more Young People into Work
· Support for the Aviation Sector
· Carers Allowance Form has been updated
· Children in Poverty Enquiry - evidence for the enquiry to be submitted by 25thFebruary
· A consultation has been launched, aimed at extending debt solutions and helping vulnerable people in financial distress get a fresh start. The consultation closes on the 25 February 2021.
· This report sets out the key findings from the review by BEIS into how victims of domestic abuse can be supported in the workplace and the actions which government will take as a result
· From 14 January, victims of domestic abuse will be able to access much needed support from thousands of pharmacies across the UK. The government has teamed up with independent pharmacies and Boots to launch a domestic abuse Ask for ANI codeword scheme.
· The Disability Unit in the Cabinet Office has launched a survey to gather views and experiences for the National Strategy of Disabled People. If views are shared by 13 February, they will inform the development of the strategy. The Survey will remain open until 23 April, and views will be used to inform the delivery of the plans.
Job Centre Updates:
To help keep customers and colleagues as safe as possible in the latest phase of the pandemic Jobcentre opening hours will be 10am to 2pm beginning on Monday the 18 January 2021. Thus, the job centre is amble to provide safe, essential services for those who are unable to interact with them via the phone or digitally. Phone line opening hours remain as they were. In addition, the Relay UK service and the Video relay service are both still available. Anyone entering a Jobcentre will be required to wear a face covering, unless they are in an exempt category . We will follow the latest government guidance on meeting with others safely and lockdown restrictions .
Workforce Well-being in the VCSE Sector.
Workforce Well Being – ACEVO
ACEVO, in conjunction with Mental Health Foundation England, has published a significant report exploring the well being of the workforce in the VCSE sector. The report can be found here.
The main findings are grouped under four headings:
What makes it tough: the vulnerability of charity staff where the commitment and pressures brought by lived experience/personal connection or even a drive for social justice all combine to over burden the workforce – who may not realise that they are over burdened.
The impact on leaders with issues around the need to balance authentic honesty, with taking very difficult organisational decisions that can have an impact on people’s lives. Holding responsibility for workforce wellbeing, and the desire to compensate for the challenges of working in the sector, can be draining for CEOs. The scale of the challenges can feel overwhelming, and it is easy for leaders to feel they are ‘not coping’.
When the ground shifts which has become apparent as the operating environment for charities suddenly changed. Many teams and communities are experiencing deep sadness, loss, isolation and fear as they witness growing need and falling income as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Governance and strategy which states that the sector will not be able to meet challenges unless the mental health of staff and leadership is prioritised. Boards play an important role in highlighting mental health as an organisational priority if organisations are to do their best work, ensuring that leaders know they are not alone by giving them the permission they need to reach out and share the load.
The report explores many issues that are too often put into the “too difficult”, “tomorrow” or “to introduce this may imply weakness” piles. 2021 will continue to bring pressures. Trustees and CEO’s are urged to take time out to read this report and consider the impact on their organisation.
Andrew Rainsford, Policy and Research Officer, VSNW.
