GIVE
OUR COMMUNITY
INTERWORK SERVICES
HELPS GUERNSEY
COMPANIES RECRUIT
AND RETAIN SKILLED ,
DEDICATED EMPLOYEES
WITH DISABILITIES.
with a degree of disability over someone without disability,
but there was probably more to gain! Gareth has proved
that our decision was the right one to make and the whole
team very much enjoy working with him.”
Denise Lay (Vice President of Finance)
Interwork Services, a specialist supported employment
and recruitment service within the States of Guernsey
Health and Social Services Department (HSSD). The
team work tirelessly to support disabled adults in their
quest for employment and ensuring that once companies
recruit their clients they are retained as employees. The
recruitment process at Interwork Services is in-depth
going beyond that of a typical recruitment agency with the
intention of ensuring a perfect fit for the role that is found.
in the first instance a new candidate is met to determine
if they meet the criteria, once successful the successful
candidate is assigned a Employment Support Officer. The
assigned ESO spends the next 12 weeks getting to know
the candidate before any job searching is undertaken.
Over these 12 weeks the candidate is assessed in a variety
of situations to ensure full understanding of the areas in
which they excel and the barriers they may face.
Once a role is fulfilled the process of support continues
well into the probationary period with the ESO attending
the work place with the candidate and supporting them
in their initial learning curve for their new Job. Once,
and only when the ESO is happy that the candidate is
undertaking their working responsibilities successfully, the
daily support is reduced.
“Shelly joined CT Plus in April 2012 and her role has
expanded as her confidence has grown. She is now our
main point of contact for Customer Services and has
excellent rapport with our customers. We envisage her
responsibilities to grow in time whilst Shelly develops
her skills.”
Camilla Poole (Operations Manager), CT Plus
Simon Robert has been employed as a Gardener assistant
at Paulo’s Gardening Works for almost 3 years. He works
fulltime and is very happy in his job. He says he feels
supported and gets on with everyone at work. Interwork
Services brokered the position with Paulo de Freitas, owner
and manager at Paulo’s Gardening Works and Simon’s
Employment Support Officer (ESO) keeps in regular
contact with both Simon and Paulo throughout the year.
Interwork Services work with people with a variety of
disabilities, including physical, learning, sensory, mental
health, autism and asperger’s to acquired disabilities.
Whilst initially viewed as a disability the level of
dedication the new found employees deliver is often
second to non, here are a few testimonials from existing
employers and supporters of the scheme:
“We are a small team here in our Guernsey office and
an opportunity arose for an Accounts Assistant. Gareth
was introduced to us by Interwork, as he had previously
been employed as a Senior Trust Administrator prior
to his stroke. Since his stroke, although he did secure
employment in a variety of roles, his knowledge of bookkeeping had not been exploited. We decided to offer
Gareth an opportunity to work in our small finance team.
Myself and other team members dedicated thought and
time to reviewing our existing financial processes ahead
of Gareth’s start date, to ensure that we gave him the best
possible chance to succeed in learning and mastering the
job requirements. The very fact that we are a small team,
meant that it was very important for us all that this level
of dedication paid off. Nikki – Interwork Services Senior
Support Officer also greatly assisted us during the first
weeks. Her support was invaluable as she learnt Gareth’s
role too as we provided training. She also compiled notes
for Gareth and her assistance was invaluable. From the
start, Gareth has proved himself to be a hard worker,
learning quickly from initial mistakes. Gareth is also
extremely reliable and displays an obvious enjoyment of
work. After completing a 3 month intensive probation, we
were delighted to confirm his permanent position with
our company. He has become a valuable member of the
team. From the outset, our senior management team was
very supportive of providing this opportunity. There is
always an element of risk in any recruitment but we firmly
believed there was no additional risk in employing an adult
26
Paulo Owner of Paulo’s Gardening Works
says that he thinks that the Supported Employment
Service does a great job working the way they do. He feels
that if the Supported Employment Service did not exist,
someone like Simon would find it difficult to compete with
other job-seekers and would be forever without a job. Paulo
thinks that the extra support he and his supervisors put in
to support Simon is well worth it and everyone benefits.
Paulo states that “Simon is a hard worker, very helpful, a
fantastic employee who always gives 100% at work.” “He is
cheerful and happy and I know that when I give Simon a
job to do it will be completed to a high standard.”
After visiting Interwork Services Gallery Magazine feel
passionately about the service they are providing. With
over 160 candidates on their books the likelihood is they
will have someone who fits the bill perfectly for many of
the un-appointed roles in the market today. If you are an
employer looking for a dedicated member of Staff or for
further information then please contact Nicola IoannouDroushiotis on 701032 or e-mail nioannou-droushiotis@
hssd.gov.gg
Disability - Change the way we think!
GUERNSEY’S STYLE MAGAZINE