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Our statement on the findings of the Government’s independent review into prevalence and support for mental health conditions, ADHD and autism.
Awards recognise supportive employers in region
Businesses across Newcastle, North Tyneside, and Northumberland have been recognised for their commitment to creating placements and opportunities for autistic jobseekers.
The Supportive Employer Award was presented by the North East Autism Society’s (NEAS) Employment Futures service, to organisations that hosted work placements for its programme participants.
Employment Futures work one-to-one with autistic and neurodivergent participants, supporting them to find work, training, education, and opportunities for community inclusion.
Sue Morris, Employment Specialist at NEAS, said: “These employers worked with us to ensure that these placements were real life opportunities and reflected real life employment.”
Sue added:
“The idea of the award is to recognise that these employers have processes in place to ensure that the neurodivergent individuals working for them, or applying to work, are thought of in the actual role.”
The paid placements, funded through Employment Futures, included an induction, with employers also making reasonable adjustments to support the participants to work at their best.
Sue said: “The award was to recognise the effort the employers went through to support our project, and to thank them and recognise the effort they have put in to ensuring inclusion in the workplace.”
The full list of organisations to receive the award were:
- Tyres by Andy, Blyth
- The Commissioners Quay Inn, Blyth
- Morrisons, Bedlington
- The Community Kitchen, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea
- Newcastle Castle
- The Common Room, Newcastle
- Dreamshine Café, Wallsend
- Stagecoach, Slatyford Depot & Sunderland Depot
- Northumberland County Council Community team
Jen Hillyard, Library and Archives Manager at The Common Room, said: “As an employer we were keen to try out this partnership with NEAS to widen our opportunities for people, and we were delighted to be recognised with an unexpected trophy.”
The Common Room took on four placements, three of which took place remotely, using library management software to catalogue historical research by the National Coal Board, which covers hundreds of documents.
Jen said:
“We still get enquiries for this information from across the world and adding it to our online catalogue makes it more visible to a wider audience and faster for us to check and search.”
Jen added: “This was a hugely successful option for us, and it would mitigate our limited physical desk space on site, which restricts the number of opportunities we can offer.”
As a result of the placements, The Common Room is looking at offering remote volunteering placements in the future.
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