| |
This toolkit has been designed to provide advice, guidance and information for:
Healthy Working Lives Advisors
Healthy Working Lives Advisors have an important role in working with employers to improve health and well-being in the workplace. They provide advice, guidance and support to employers throughout Scotland on all aspects of safety and health in the workplace.
A key aspect of their role is to support employers who are working towards one of the Healthy Working Lives Awards which recognises best practice in improving health at work.
The employers who have signed up to undertake the Awards have already shown a commitment to making changes that will benefit their workforce and their business. This puts Healthy Working Lives advisors in a strong position to support and encourage employers to undertake the employability option of the Silver and Gold Awards.
This toolkit has been designed to provide Healthy Working Lives advisors with specific advice, information and guidance to help them to work effectively with SME employers, to encourage and support recruitment from priority groups. It covers:
- Background - The employability agenda, the link between health and work, what SMEs are like and who the priority client groups are.
- Changing Attitudes - How to sell employability to employers, the business benefits of recruiting from priority groups, understanding the employability criteria, dealing with objections and effective signposting to appropriate employability organisations.
- Changing Practice: Pre-employment – Types of pre-employment activity and the benefits to business, how this type of activity fits with the Healthy Working Lives award(s) and effective signposting to employability organisations offering pre-employment initiatives.
- Changing Practice: Recruitment – The recruitment elements of the employability option, minimising the risks to employers and encouraging best practice in recruitment and retention.
- Changing Practice: Retention – how supporting employee retention relates to the Awards and straightforward steps employers can take to increase retention.
- Changing Policy - How to support employers to make long term and sustainable changes to their working practices that will benefit them and their workforce.
Employability Advisors
Employability advisors work in a very wide variety of different organisations providing a range of services to help people move towards securing and sustaining employment. The current focus of the National Employability Agenda means that they are likely to be working with an increasing number of clients from Priority Groups who will be facing a range of barriers to finding employment.
It is critical for employability organisations to engage with employers, in order to help clients make the transition to employment. SME employers have the potential to recruit from priority groups but they may need increased levels of support, advice and guidance to convince them of the benefits that this could bring.
This toolkit has been designed to provide employability advisors with specific advice, information and guidance to help them to work effectively with SME employers to encourage and support recruitment from priority groups. It covers:
- Background - The employability agenda, the link between health and work, what SMEs are like and who the priority client groups are.
- Changing Attitudes – The importance of effective employer engagement, methods for approaching and engaging with employers, how to ‘sell’ your service, dealing with objections from employers and developing ongoing relationships.
- Changing Practice: Pre-employment – Types of pre-employment activity and the benefits to business, why pre-employment is important, developing effective systems and dealing with problems.
- Changing Practice: Recruitment – Effective job matching, minimising the risk to employers and tools and methods to support recruitment.
- Changing Practice: Retention – Planning for support needs, developing a toolkit of support, helping employers to provide support.
- Changing Policy - How to support employers to make long term and sustainable changes to their working practices that will benefit them and their workforce.
|
|
