Welsh Water joins the community of businesses committed to disability inclusion

It’s sobering fact that people living with a disability are twice as likely to be unemployed compared to able-bodied people. Especially when we know that allowing a diverse range of people to be able to do their job in an environment where they’re free to be themselves is the best way to innovate and deliver exceptional service.

Welsh Water has long been committed to building the most inclusive working environment possible. We want to recruit and retain the best talent possible, and creating a culture of equality, diversity, inclusivity is the way to get this done.

We are already one of only twenty companies in Wales to have achieved Disability Confident Leader status and we promote equality, diversity, and inclusivity at work through our internal ‘Be Yourself’ campaign where we encourage all employees to champion a culture of mutual respect. 

We‘ve made encouraging progress in building this environment, but we know that the water industry still has a long way to go in making our workplaces attractive and accessible for disabled people to thrive.  So our most recent step on this journey has been joining the Work With Me community; a group of forward-thinking businesses committed to thinking and acting differently about disability at work.

Work With Me is a joint initiative from Scope and Virgin Media aiming to grow a community of businesses committed to thinking and acting differently about disability. Research suggests that those living with a disability are twice as likely to be unemployed compared to able-bodied people while insight from Work With Me has found that a quarter of businesses state they have never interviewed a disabled candidate for a job.

We’re pleased and proud to join the Work With Me initiative alongside businesses including Virgin Media, Ford, Deloitte, Elsevier, and JCB, all committed to disability inclusion in the workplace. Being part of Work With Me will allow us to benefit from opportunities to learn from other businesses and share experiences as well as access to disability employment resources, news, and information. 

We‘ve made encouraging progress towards building a truly inclusive environment, and are looking forward to making more improvements to make sure our workplaces are attractive and accessible places for all people to thrive.