We Are Proud To Be A Disability Confident Employer!

This week we are delighted to announce that The Women’s Organisation has been awarded the Disability Confident Employer Award, and we wanted to take a little bit of time to tell you all about this important scheme…

The Disability Confident Employer scheme is helping thousands of employees across the United Kingdom, and is designed to help employers recruit and retain disabled people and people with health conditions for their skills and talents, and they say; ‘Being Disability Confident could help you discover someone your business just can’t do without.’

We 100% agree with this sentiment, and are proud to have been awarded this certification. Diversity and inclusivity is at the heart of The Women’s Organisation vision and values and we work hard to input these into our everyday working life and culture.

Through the Disability Confident scheme, thousands of employers are…

Challenging attitudes towards disability

Increasing understanding of disability

Removing barriers to disabled people and those with long-term health conditions

Ensuring that disabled people have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations

So as a Disability Confident Employer we have…

Undertaken and successfully completed a Disability Confident self-assessment

Are taking all of the core actions to be a Disability Confident employer

Are offering at least one activity to get the right people for our business and at least one activity to keep and develop our people

IF you’d like to find out more about this scheme as an employer and employee – then you can do so here! We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and we are always looking for ways to continue developing our core values of diversity and inclusivity. 

The Women's Organisation Named Digital Champions @SENTogether Awards!

"Being short listed for an award is a great privilege. We were thankful for that. We are over the moon and still in shock that we actually went on to win!" said Jo Austin Digital Marketing Coordinator at The Women's Organisation in the wake of their victory at SEN 'Powerful Together' Awards.

The Women's Organisation were among a number of local social enterprises nominated as Digital Champions at the prestigious event held at the Town Hall, and were shortlisted alongside Sandbox Digital. 

The organisation have worked hard to build digital inclusion not only into their support programmes, but throughout their staff development and everything they do.

Through The Women's Organisation's business start-up programme women are invited to take advantage of free training around 'Selling Online - From Ebay to Etsy', shown how to use Excel for 'Basic Book Keeping' and introduced to the idea of using Social Media for business with 'Building a Social Media Strategy'.  Upon launch of their business they are invited to further build their confidence through master classes on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Mailchimp, Hootsuite and Blogging. 

Jo said "Digital literacy is crucial for businesses.  The fear of social media and online trading can be a massive barrier for people.  We have worked hard over the last few years to develop a full training programme to show people that e-marketing, social media and ICT practices don't have to be terrifying and complicated."

Maggie O'Carroll, Helen Millne &
Jo Austin collecting their award

And removing the fear of digital doesn't just translate to the clients of The Women's Organisation. Jo and team have been regularly supporting the staff at the organisation to grow in digital confidence and they now are awarding 'Social Media Star of the Week' for the member of staff who has boldly put some of their new found digital courage into practice. 

"From our front of house admin team right through to senior management, everyone is working to keep developing their skills so we can all be confident ambassadors of digital practices, and in turn offer brilliant support to the women who approach us for help" said Jo.

Over the last few years The Women's Organisation's digital reach has gone international, as they worked alongside partners from Slovenia, Ireland and Norway to develop a range of training modules through 'E-Business Enterprise Learning' (E-BEL) Project. Through E-BEL The Women's Organisation took the lead on developing a number of training resources and webinars that can be used by women entrepreneurs across the world to develop their e-marketing skills and understand key principles of Social Media Marketing.

The Social Enterprise Network's Awards event held on Friday 3rd October and gave recognition to the amazing work carried out by local Social Enterprises with 16 awards being presented on the night.  Host Paul Corcoran of Agent Marketing told the audience they were at the "best party in town" and the rapturous applause showed they were in complete agreement. 

The Women's Organisation would like to thank Social Enterprise Network for this award and their ongoing encouragement. 

To find out more about the work of The Women's Organisation and why they are 'Digital Champions' please visit www.thewomensorganisation.org.uk 

The Women's Organisation Awarded Health at Work 'Workplace Wellbeing' Charter Mark

We are pleased to announce that The Women’s Organisation has been awarded the Health at Work Workplace Wellbeing charter mark.  This is awarded to employers who can demonstrate their commitment to the health and wellbeing of their employees.

The framework has 3 key elements, Leadership, Culture & Communication.  For a number of weeks we have been working with our assessor from Health at Work to compile a portfolio of evidence to assess the organisation against the following elements:

•             Leadership

•             Attendance Management

•             Health & Safety

•             Mental health & Wellbeing

•             Smoking & Tobacco – related ill- health

•             Physical Activity

•             Healthy Eating

•             Alcohol & Substance Misuse    

Operations Manager Lynn Kelly said:
"We are so pleased to have completed this award successfully and show that our place of work is one to be proud of.  We value our employees greatly and this award demonstrates our commitment to their health and wellbeing."