National Grid joins government’s Disability Confident campaign
National Grid has pledged to become a partner of the government’s Disability Confident campaign.
National Grid is a welcome addition to the Disability Confident campaign and joins a number of employers, including FTSE 100 companies and small businesses, who have already signed the campaign pledge. By businesses and government working together in partnership, Disability Confident is creating opportunities for disabled people to fulfil their potential and raise and realise their aspirations.
Their pledge summarises National Grid’s commitment in supporting disabled people to find employment. Their EmployAbility internship programme, introduced in September 2013, offers young disabled people supported work experience to help achieve a successful transition into permanent work.
The EmployAbility programme has been hugely successful for both employer and the young disabled applicants. National Grid has produced a case study of one of their applicants to demonstrate the business benefits of supporting such a programme and unlocking the potential of young disabled people. Read about Taurai’s ‘life-changing’ experience.
The Department for Work and Pensions is already seeing results since the launch of the Disability Confident campaign, with the most up-to-date statistics revealing a year-on-year increase of 141,000 disabled people in work – the equivalent of nearly 400 more for every day of the year.
Minister for Disabled People, Mark Harper, said:
I am delighted to announce that National Grid is the latest employer to sign up to the government’s Disability Confident campaign. This demonstrates their commitment to employ disabled people to contribute to their business success.
We have made great strides in supporting disabled people into work with 3.1 million now in employment, an increase of 141,000 over the past year. However, there is still more that can be done and the support of employers like National Grid is invaluable.
Emma FitzGerald, Director of National Grid’s Gas Distribution business, said:
We’d encourage all businesses to sign up to the Disability Confident campaign and run schemes like EmployAbility. Our experience is that colleagues with disabilities add real value and, having often overcome significant barriers in their personal life, demonstrate perseverance and a strong ability to manage challenges in the business environment.
They are role models to us all in really grasping the opportunity to achieve their full potential. Not only do we have competent, engaged, committed young people working with us, but also our existing staff gain greater disability confidence and a real sense of pride that they’re working for a company that offers these kinds of opportunities.
More about the Disability Confident campaign
Information and promotional materials are on our Disability Confident campaign page.
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