Jurys Inn, the hotel group, has announced a two year partnership with SCOPE charity to change attitudes towards disability in the workplace.
As well as holding fundraising events at all of its hotels, the hotel group is focusing on raising awareness of the barriers disabled people face getting into and retaining employment, and the disability employment gap – the difference between the employment rate of disabled people and non-disabled people – which has been stuck at around 30% for more than a decade.
Jason Carruthers – Managing Director of Jurys Inn
“We believe, as an employer, we can directly support Scope by making further improvements to the way we support people with disabilities.
Working with a partner who has expertise in this area will help us to inform our strategy about how we can open more opportunities for people with disabilities.”
He said the group is engaging with Scope to identify what kind of arrangements it can make to support people with different kinds of conditions, and how it can tap into groups that may have dismissed hospitality as an Industry. He added, “I would like to see a much more significant number of disabled people working for the business than we have today.”
Minesh Patel, Policy and Campaigns Manager at SCOPE
“Disabled people with certain impairments and conditions, for instance chronic fatigue, may need to take time off for treatment or rest, so the hotel industry, which is seven days a week and 24/7, lends itself quite nicely to flexible patterns of working.
“A key starting point for businesses is to begin at the top – for boards of hotels to really commit to looking at employment practices for disabled people.”
Mr. Patel went on to say, “It trickles down to giving line managers the support and awareness to understand disability better so that when somebody is going through the process of recruitment or has a disabled employee in their workforce, there isn’t that hesitation or fear about how to support that individual.”
Jurys Inn will also be working with Capability Scotland, Rehab Group (Ireland) and the Cedar Foundation (Northern Ireland). All monies raised by Jurys Inn and its customers will be distributed between the four charities.