Wakefield College and YPO have been shortlisted for a Supply Chain Excellence Award, acknowledging the life-changing work experience opportunities they are creating for young adults with learning disabilities or additional educational needs.

The Supply Chain Excellence’s Workforce Planning Award recognises efforts to create a future workforce fit for purpose, mitigate the skills and talent shortages, enhance recruitment and retention, and attract new people into the industry through promoting diversity and inclusion, as well as working with schools and colleges.

Since 2021, the joint work experience programme has helped a significant number of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) learners experience the workplace for the first time – enabling them to gain insight into the recruitment process whilst developing their vital skills and independence.

To further reflect the real-life experience of gaining meaningful employment, a process was implemented where each student had to apply for their role through an expression of interest letter outlining their skillset and what they could offer YPO.

After successfully completing an interview, each student was given the opportunity to focus on one area of their choice within logistics at YPO to ensure they got maximum benefit out of their placement.

Adrian Field, Head of Logistics, YPO, said:

“At YPO we’re always committed to going above and beyond, so we implemented the same approach for the work experience scheme, ensuring the maximum value is taken for both the organisation but also the students."

"To do this, we introduced an application and interview process so that the students could gain practical skills and confidence which are essential for real-life job searching, before starting their roles. It was also important to us that our staff were engaged in the students’ learning and progression to develop their mentoring skills. This ensured the best possible outcome for the students and our staff and has seen YPO become the largest provider of work experience placements for SEND students at Wakefield College.”

Each student is assigned a job coach from Wakefield College and a workplace mentor who is an experienced member of staff from YPO, who supports the student’s personal development and wellbeing.

With the support of YPO Warehouse Supervisor, Phil Green, student Bruce was able to try varied roles across the business, including picking and packing, stock logistics and industrial cleaning. This led to Bruce securing a full-time role in Warehouse Industrial Cleaning Team at YPO, where he is continuing to build his skillset.

Barry Nathan, Unison representative at YPO said:

“We worked closely with Wakefield College to understand each learner’s personal needs so that we could offer a tailored and meaningful work experience programme, which would also benefit our staff and productivity."

"The scheme is life changing for some of the students and to see them go on to secure full-time employment because of the training we provide them here at YPO is a testament to all the staff involved. The branch chair is heavily involved and gets just as much out of the experience as the students do.”

Wakefield College, YPO and YPO Unison, continuously work collaboratively to support current students on the work placement and develop innovative ways to further expand the programme.

Laura Lavender, Director of Inclusion at the Heart of Yorkshire Education Group, said:

“Evidence shows that students with additional needs have historically struggled in finding work initially, even though they are capable of sustainable employment when equipped with the right preparation and support."

"Without the opportunities such as the YPO work experience placement, these young people are three times more likely to be unemployed than their counterparts without additional needs. That is why we value our excellent working relationship with the YPO and the life-changing opportunities it has given our Foundation Learning students, which has significantly boosted their confidence in the workplace whilst building their life and social skills.”

In its 28th year, the Supply Chain Excellence Awards now stand alone as the standard for best practices in European supply chain management. The awards are known for their thorough judging procedure delivering valuable insights to entrants through feedback from esteemed judges, who collectively hold over 750 years of experience.

The awards will take place on Monday 28th October 2024 at Grosvenor House in London.