Charity supports pioneering Work Wise North East campaign

AN ORGANISATION that provides support and employment for people with disabilities has become the first charity to sign up to Work Wise North East.

Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI) has pledged its support to the pioneering campaign to radically improve working practices across the region in an effort to provide greater opportunities for the individuals who rely on its services.

RBLI is the cousin to the Royal British Legion and works to provide support, advice and guidance for people with disabilities and health conditions to get back to work with the help of specific government funded programmes such as New Deal Disabled People and WORKSTEP. RBLI is also now working on a series of employer support programmes designed to help deal with sickness levels and managing people's performance in the workplace.

The organisation believes Work Wise North East's aims to consign nine-to-five, five-days-a-week working to history and the promotion of smarter working practices are important steps to creating 21st Century work places that are inclusive to people from all backgrounds and abilities.

Wayne Daley, Business Development Manager for RBLI (North East), said: "We believe that Work Wise North East is a fantastic campaign as it opens up a world of opportunities for employers and employees outside of the normal 9 to 5 existence.

"From RBLI's perspective, it is an important initiative for this region as in the past some firms have shied away from employing the people we support because they are not always able to fit in with standard working practices.

"Disability shouldn't be a barrier to work, the barrier is more often inflexibility on the part of some employers to work around a person's individual circumstances.

"The people RBLI work with are extremely capable and employers are often surprised at what a valuable asset they can be to their businesses. We would urge all firms to sign up to Work Wise North East to make our region a much better place for all employees."

RBLI already works closely with employers who are committed to recruiting and retaining staff and need help and advice in implementing flexible practices.

RBLI currently adopts much of the Work Wise initiatives with its staff - most of whom are home based and manage their day to day workloads themselves. This way, RBLI is able to be reactive to local people and their needs in the community.

Phil Flaxton, Work Wise chief executive, said: "We are delighted that RBLI has come on board to support the campaign. We already have widespread support from employers' organisations and being able to marry them in to the work of charities such as RBLI is important in providing a rounded approach to encouraging flexible working.

"Ultimately, we want smarter working practices to be the norm, not the exception and the more organisations we can get involved with Work Wise North East the better as this will help carry the message to employers of all shapes and sizes.

"The North East will benefit enormously from adopting ideas such as flexible working, mobile working, remote working and home working as staff recruitment and retention will improve, employee morale will be buoyant and productivity will increase."

Work Wise North East has attracted wide-ranging support from leading organisations in the region. Strategic partners include One NorthEast, Government Office North East, North East Chamber of Commerce, Onyx Group, EEF Northern, Workplace Travel Planning Company, Dickinson Dees and BT. Other supporters include the Journal, TUC, CBI, Federation of Small Businesses, Northern Business Forum and Women into the Network.

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For information about Work Wise North East, please contact:
Shelia Chapman, Sheila Chapman PR 07732 827 486 or scpr@btopenworld.com

For further information about the national Work Wise campaign, please contact: Roy Turner, Chelgate PR 020 7939 7939 or 07970 522232 or rt@chelgate.com

Notes to editors:

• A number of spokespersons are available for interview and comment. Please contact Sheila Chapman at contact details below
• Work Wise UK is organized by the IT Forum Foundation, a not-for-profit organization.
• Further information about Work Wise UK can be found on the website www.workwiseuk.org.
• A dedicated electronic media centre has been established for journalists to obtain further information, to download print-quality materials, and to register for media updates about Work Wise UK. This can be accessed either through the main website or directly at www.pressrooms.net/workwiseuk.