The government has awarded Sainsbury’s with a Disability Confident Leader status, the biggest retailer to have achieved the status thus far.
Regarded as the highest tier of accreditation in the Department for Work and Pensions’ Disability Confident Programme, Sainsbury’s achieved the status for demonstrating positive action to employ disabled people and for proactively encouraging other employers to become disability confident.
The Disability Confident Programme was launched a year ago with the aim of helping employers recruit and retain disabled people and people with health conditions for their skills and talent.
As part of the scheme, the Department for Work and Pensions also set up the Disability Confident Business Leaders Group, which engages with the business community on disability employment.
Sainsbury’s company secretary and corporate services director Tim Fallowfield was appointed as chair of the group last December.
“We have developed a number of initiatives, from our You Can programme which enables us to recruit colleagues who may face barriers to employment, to creating a guide to workplace adjustments for our managers,” said Fallowfield, who is also Sainsbury’s board sponsor for disability and carers.
“Through our involvement in the Disability Confident Business Leaders Group, we hope to encourage as many employers as possible to feel confident in employing people with a disability, providing those colleagues with the opportunity to realise their potential.”
