‘REMOVING BARRIERS TO WORK WILL REDUCE UNEMPLOYMENT’ - SAY SHEFFIELD ORGANISATION
Government plans to get one million people off welfare benefits and back into work, announced recently, have been welcomed by Sheffield’s Centre For Full Employment (CFFE) who claim they have long pre-empted the Government’s shift in thinking and are already putting into practice many of the measures the Government plans to implement nationally.
Doug Low, Chief Executive of CFFE said: “It is no secret that the face of the UK labour market is undergoing major changes - an ageing population has meant employers are having to consider engaging and retaining older workers, an increasingly culturally diverse population means needing to attract a more culturally diverse workforce and the growth of one-parent families has led to greater consideration of lone parent employees.
“All these changes in the make-up of the labour market mean that employers have to adapt and look beyond their traditional recruitment criteria, to those who may have previously found themselves at a disadvantage because of barriers to work.
“To achieve this the Government has indicated that they plan to encourage employers to diversify their workforce - offering incentives to encourage private employers to offer jobs to those who have been long term unemployed, encouraging take up of English courses to those who are having difficulties finding work due to language barriers and legislating against age discrimination in the workplace. There are also plans to extend the right to request flexible working from parents with children under 6-years-old and disabled children up to the age of 18, to workers who have a caring responsibility for an elderly or disabled relative.
“For many years, CFFE has been working with both employers and clients to remove barriers to work - delivering employment programmes to enable those without a recent work history to gain work experience so that they can demonstrate their skills to employers, as well as develop the confidence to apply for jobs. CFFE’s success over the years demonstrates that the gap between employers and the disengaged workforce can be bridged.
“It is important that employers are, and demonstrate themselves to be socially aware of the characteristics of the communities in which they operate. By helping to remove barriers to work and employing a more diverse workforce, businesses will not only be helping to improve the economic and social growth of local communities, they will also open themselves up to widened business opportunities and increase their customer base.
“These new Government plans are certainly a step in the right direction, and are a good indication that reducing unemployment is a key issue on the national agenda.
But, there is no doubt that this is a long-term issue, and as such calls for a sustained and long-term strategy. CFFE looks forward to seeing the benefits of these plans as they come into fruition and urges city businesses considering diversification of the workforce to get in touch with CFFE to see how we can support them to this aim.”
