Member Article

Staff approve of their inclusive employer

Staff from Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) Yorkshire and Humberside have been learning the practicalities and developing their skills and knowledge to create a more inclusive workplace.

Specialist training was delivered to the hearing colleagues of deaf staff to help create an inclusive working environment where everybody has equal access to opportunities and resources and can contribute to the organisation’s success.

Training was tailored and delivered by award winning workplace training and consultancy company, HearFirst to support National Inclusion Week in September.

The annual campaign, which ran between 21 and 25 September, was organised and run by Inclusive Employers and aimed to raise awareness of the importance of inclusion in the workplace and the business benefits to having an inclusive workforce.

The Deaf awareness training for hearing colleagues course was delivered to the organisation and tailored specifically to their employees’ requirements. The training was also delivered by HearFirst tutors who are deaf themselves, which adds real purpose, relevance and depth to the training.

Staff learnt about all ranges of deafness including hard of hearing, deafened, deafblind and Deaf and the communication methods that can be used. It also provided them with an improved ability to use good communication tactics and what they can do differently to improve working relationships with their deaf and hard of hearing colleagues.

Julie Ryder, Director and Founder of HearFirst, said: “More and more emphasis is placed on organisations to create inclusive workplaces to ensure that all members of staff feel valued, engaged and respected. Disability should not be a barrier – it should be seen as an opportunity to be able to practice equality and diversity within the workplace.

“Feedback from the training has been extremely positive and I congratulate UCU for aiming to create inclusive working by investing in this training.”

Julie Kelley, UCU Regional Official Yorkshire and Humberside, said: “The half-day session was fun and interactive for the team. We learned more about the different forms of deafness and were able to reflect on current practice so that we will be able to improve and hopefully communicate more effectively with colleagues who are hearing impaired.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by HearFirst .