Here, Aditi Dave, HR Business Partner for Medequip, summarises how the company has implemented a Supported Employment policy, striving for equality, diversity and inclusion, helping people into gainful employment and ensuring they are assisted, recognised and rewarded for their work.
“As an equal opportunities employer, one of Medequip’s areas of focus is to create more inclusive job roles, employing people living with disabilities. In 2022, as an integral part of our co-production engagement, we started on a journey to understand exactly what that meant for our business and communities.
Connecting with the right experts
We began by partnering with BASE (the British Association for Supported Employment) and connecting with Disability Rights UK. Engaging with organisations already embedded into the supported employment culture continues to provide us with valuable insights into how we can develop our processes and create a positive work environment to promote our objectives.
These early collaborations led to additional partnerships with associations including PURE, Dynamic Training, Forward to Employment and Ambitious About Autism, giving Medequip practical insight into how the company could adapt and improve, creating sustainable inclusive employment pathways.
Medequip is a Disability Confident Employer
In 2023, we engaged actively with the Disability Confident Scheme, seeking a strategic framework for guidance. The scheme encourages employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. Medequip is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer Level 2, demonstrating our commitment to prioritise disability inclusion.
We are currently working towards Level 3 of the Disability Confident Scheme to earn our status as a Disability Confident Leader, acting as disability champions within our local and business communities, supply chain and networks.
Guidance from Disability Confident Scheme has also helped us to make important recruitment-related changes, involving more inclusive job adverts and sharing information on vacancies with disability employment agencies.
Understanding and Embedding the Supported Employment Model
As the foundation stone for our commitment to this work, we have created a Supported Employment Action Plan, where Medequip engages and connect with our own depot managers and with supported employment agencies to discuss different types of employment, job coaching and support we can provide to onboard suitable candidates.
Regular meetings to discuss supported employment are supplemented by our own workflow procedures, which mean that when someone joins Medequip, they complete a detailed information form. Where they choose to share that they are living with a disability, then their depot manager is advised and appropriate support is put in place, where required.
Our Supported Employment Plan covers offering interviews with reasonable adjustments for disabled applicants, with working Interviews and ‘Buddy Systems’ for onboarding success. We offer paid employment through supported apprenticeships and internships.
We work hard to support and retain our valued existing disabled employees through regular support meetings, ensuring there are no barriers to the development and progression of disabled staff. We also ensure managers are aware of how they can support staff who are off sick or absent from work, and we actively listen and respond to staff feedback.
Our established in-house leadership development programme (LEAD) includes Disability Awareness Training for managers and for new starter induction programmes.
Identifying the benefits
At the time of writing, Medequip employs some 1500 people, of whom almost 200 have shared that they are living with a disability. We aim to provide tailored support for these individuals, promoting skills enhancements, confidence and independence as well as social inclusion.
As an employer, we benefit from creating a more diverse workforce. We foster a culture of respect and inclusivity which we believe enriches our entire team and contributes to innovation and creativity, as well as reinforcing Medequip values of respect, trust and empathy.
Our approach also goes hand in hand with our commitment to co-production within the communities where we work, helping to build a positive work culture and increasing staff morale and motivation.
Practical identified benefits include higher productivity, lower rates of absenteeism and staff churn, with reduced recruiting costs, fostering a wider talent pool and attracting new employees.
Medequip’s commitment to supported employment is not a project - it’s a long-term cultural shift. Through partnerships, internal adaptations, and continuous learning, we are shaping an inclusive, diverse, and resilient workforce - one success story at a time.
It has been a positive experience for us so far and one of which we are immensely proud.”
Aditi Dave was recently invited to speak at a Department of Work and Pensions webinar, where she discussed why supported employment matters to Medequip and how the company is embedding the policy to be part of the employee’s journey to achieve their goals.
In November, she will address over 60 employers from across the UK at the BASE Conference in London, where the theme will be ‘Quality Support, Lasting Careers; Values at the Heart’, recognising the crucial impact that quality has upon inclusive recruitment and sustainable employment outcomes.