Many people with a learning disability and/or autism can work and want to work but they are often shut out of employment despite having so much to offer. Mencap’s programmes give people the tools they need to get into employment, and we’ve supported people who have spent 2020 working in one of the key sectors in demand this year – logistics and warehouses.
Mencap recently celebrated Learning Disability Work Week, a week that highlights the invaluable contribution people with a learning disability and/or autism can make in key sectors across our economy. While we work with a wide range of companies, logistics is a key sector that the people we support have excelled in. Some of our successes have included working with Clipper Logistics, who set up a scheme back in 2018 that gave marginalised groups a chance to get into work.
It’s clear this isn’t a case of just ‘doing good for good’s sake’ – it meets a business need and offers a solution in a sector with a high turnover of people and a reliance on temporary staff. Our traineeship programme helps with recruitment, training and retention of staff, and are full of people who are loyal, hard-working and dedicated employees. People with a learning disability and/or autism tend to stay in their roles longer, have lower than average sick days, boost staff morale and enhance diversity within organisations.
One person we supported into a job in the logistics sector, Tim, was diagnosed with autism and had been out of work for a year before starting the Mencap traineeship. With support, he found a role and started with picking and packaging items for distribution. Tim never looked back and is now taking on new responsibilities and has completed training to be a company first-aider, as well as using his new skills to mentor other new Mencap trainees working in the warehouse.
Often all that is needed are small and cost-effective reasonable adjustments to open doors to people like Tim, such as offering accessible application forms or a work trial instead of a job interview. Mencap, and many other organisations like us, can provide support to make workplaces more accessible and also offer on-the-job support through job coaches paid for with government funding.
Now it’s time for employers – particularly in growth areas like logistics – to think about how they can be part of the solution as we move forward, and open their doors to an untapped talent pool of dedicated and loyal employees.
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