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Join our free live webinar series from in national Mental Health Awareness Week
Did you know that every year, 1 in 4 of us will experience a mental health problem?
It's a staggering statistic that demonstrates the importance of prioritising mental wellbeing in the workplace.
You can help to raise awareness and understanding of mental wellbeing issues by providing information to your staff, to prevent it from becoming a problem.
As part of our latest offer, we have partnered with Wellbeing People to offer you and your staff a free monthly webinar series, starting with Resilience and Mental Fitness.
Launching next week in Mental Health Awareness week, the first webinar is on Thursday 16th May covering support for resilience and mental fitness.
Date: Thursday 16th May Time: 2pm – 3pm on Zoom
· Discover effective resilience ‘life-hacks’
· Move from poor mental health to mental fitness
· Discover how to make stress work for you.
Who Should Attend?
- All employees – this is for everyone!
- Business owners
- HR managers
- Team leaders and supervisors
Register now and also download resources to help promote each webinar to your staff.
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Are you a neurodiversity business champion? We want to hear from you
With the right support, anyone can be extraordinary in the world of work.
Many businesses in Staffordshire are leading the way with great solutions to help their colleagues with physical disabilities thrive and reach their potential.
But employees with autism or neurodiversity such as ADHD say that businesses need more help to get inspired to put in place reasonable adjustments for them – the small changes that make a big difference to their performance and wellbeing.
From having structured conversations about support needs and unique talents, to avoiding myths about the condition and having a support network in place, businesses can make a big difference to their colleague when they know how. It all adds up to a strong, productive and diverse team that benefits of any workplace.
Throughout Learning Disability Week (17th to 23rd June) and beyond, Staffordshire’s Disability and Neurodiversity Partnership aims to help everyone to know more about how people with these conditions make a difference in the world of work, and support businesses to get inspired to recruit from this talented community.
Are you proud of how you go about supporting your autistic or neurodiverse team mates? We’d love to showcase your company across the media during our campaign in June to inspire others to do the same.
Get a story to tell? Drop an email to clare.abbotts@staffordshire.gov.uk briefly describing your business and your workforce, the systems or adaptions you’ve put in place and how you’ve found working with a diverse workforce. We’ll be in touch to follow up!
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Now more of your employees can get the maths skills your business needs this Learning at Work Week
Most businesses say they need their workforce to have more functional maths skills to support productivity and growth.
And many even find that colleagues avoid tasks that involve managing numbers of data, or professional development opportunities because of ‘maths anxiety.’
Now changes to ‘Multiply’ eligibility means that many more of your team can get fully-funded and professional numeracy training support.
Now anyone that is:
- over 19
- has a Level 2 qualification or equivalent (e.g. GCE, GCSE) and needs to refresh their work skills for progression or to go onto higher-level learning for work (e.g. Higher or Degree level apprenticeships)
- has not got a Level 2 qualification and wants to develop new maths skills
- works for any Staffordshire business
is eligible for a short or longer ‘Multiply’ course, delivered online or offline by the county council’s commissioned adult education providers.
Forget maths they’ll never use. These courses have been developed with employers like you to make sure your workforce, and the workforce of the future, has the skills you need to grow and gain a real competitive advantage.
There’s no such thing as someone who can’t do maths. It’s all about getting a skills refresh, a confidence boost and learning in a supportive environment; often a million miles away the maths experiences they remember. Even short courses can really make a difference to people’s number confidence.
With hundreds of different work-based maths courses starting very soon, isn’t it time you helped your colleagues to get on in work and make today the day?
For higher performing workforce, get in touch with our team for an initial, informal chat on Multiply@staffordshire.gov.uk or browse the courses available right now this Learning at Work Week.
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Grow your customer base and say thanks
Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent businesses are being encouraged to offer cost-of-living support to social care workers, who help some of the most vulnerable people in society.
Care organisations across the area have teamed up with the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Growth Hub to encourage businesses to offer discounts to people working across social care.
With a workforce of over 30,000 across both Staffordshire and Stoke, the need for social care continues to rise. Staff numbers will also need to grow so that vulnerable residents can continue to be supported.
Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for health and care, Mike Wilcox, said:
Care staff were the real unsung heroes during the coronavirus pandemic and, in the face of the adult social care crisis, they continue to give their very best every day.
“Social workers, residential care workers and occupational therapists and nurses are just some of the workers supporting thousands of children, adults and more vulnerable people a day across our area. They do a great job and are crucial to mitigating some of the pressures that the NHS is under.
“Businesses in a position to offer discounts to social care workers can make a real difference to their wellbeing by helping to ease some of those cost-of-living pressures.
“This presents a fantastic opportunity for businesses to build their brand awareness and expand their customer base so, if this is something your business can offer, please consider it.”
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Wincanton recognised as outstanding employer
Major logistics firm, Wincanton, has been recognised by Staffordshire County Council and learning disability charity Mencap as an Outstanding Employer in supporting young people with special education needs and disabilities (SEND).
The supported internships programme, coordinated by the county council, is a work-based study programme for 16 to 24 year olds, where learners spend time both with an education provider and in the workplace, supporting by a job coach.
Ben Matthews, 21, has been working as a dispatcher at Screwfix since November as part of the Mencap internship programme.
Ben said: “When I first walked in, I was very shy and nervous. Now, getting the uniform and being part of a massive team, confidence in me has grown from head to toe completely. I am very excited to come back to work every day. I always feel welcomed here and it has been an absolute honour to work here."
The supported internships programme is government-funded with no cost to businesses. There is full support from the education and training provider throughout the placement and there is no requirement to offer employment when a placement ends.
Staffordshire County Council’s deputy leader, Philip White, said: “Young people with SEND typically face more barriers in the workplace than the average employee. This is why we are committed to supporting them into employment by helping to increase invaluable training opportunities across Staffordshire under the supported internships programme.
“I want to thank Wincanton and all the other outstanding Staffordshire businesses who have been championing young people with SEND, and I strongly urge businesses to sign up to the programme. It’s completely free, you get full support from education and training providers, and you will gain access to a diverse talent pool of young people like Ben."
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