We’re now three months on from joining Work In Progress and one of the inclusion areas we’ve focused on is in our staffing. When we signed up, we had just hired our new brewer, Michaela, whose addition increased the gender diversity of our team – but we thought there was more we could do.
So, a few weeks ago, we welcomed another James to Beerblefish. We’re very excited that we have partnered with West Lea School’s Supported Internship Programme. This is a programme that gives 16 to 24 year olds with Special Educational Needs (SEN), an opportunity to find work and encourages businesses to diversify their workplaces by employing people with SEN.Â
As a result, James has joined us on a year long placement, fully supported by the programme and a dedicated Job Coach, making his transition into the brewery so much easier on us. We have wasted no time in putting James to work – he’s already helped us brew, bottle and label our beers! James has been given a plethora of tasks in his short time with us so far, and has proven that he is capable of carrying out brewery duties.
He’s also made us think about things in a different way – we need to try to look at the world through his eyes when we’re working with him, which is a great benefit to everyone else in the team too; we’re all learning from each other and we’re used to there being two Jameses in the team now!
James has always wanted to work in the beverage industry, and his enthusiasm and willingness to learn have shone through from the get go. We are very excited to be working with James and the Supported Internship Programme, and look forward to guiding him in the future.
We’re proud to be giving a young person with SEN an opportunity to work and we’d love any of our customers and suppliers who can to consider doing the same – you can find out more by contacting the West Lea Supported Internship Programme at sip@westleaschool.co.uk, or by visiting the SIP website.
