Businesses committed to a fairer Coventry - Recruitment and retention - Print version

Recruitment and retention - benefits for your business

• Attract and retain staff, increasing productivity.
• Grow a workforce that has the relevant skills and abilities.
• Can showcase the benefits of working for your organisation.
• Good recruitment practices can save costs.
• Employing local staff grows the local economy.
• Attract a wider diverse candidate base.
• Retain employees with good and fair employment and paying the real living wage.
• Promoting a safe and healthy workplace

Did you know?

• 35.2 million working days are lost in Great Britain due to work-related ill health and non-fatal workplace injuries in 2022/23 Health and Safety Executive [https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/dayslost.htm]
• Stress, depression or anxiety and musculoskeletal disorders accounted for the majority of days lost due to work-related ill health in 2022/23, 17.1 million and 6.6 million, respectively. Health and Safety Executive [https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/dayslost.htm].
• 17.5 million working days were lost last year due to mental health-related sickness absence Office for National Statistics [http://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/labourproductivity/articles/sicknessabsenceinthelabourmarket/2018]  
• In 2021, 2.5 million workers took time off due to financial well-being problems CEBR [https://cebr.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Financial-Wellbeing-report-v1.2-1.pdf]

What is the health of the working-age population?

• 1 in 3 working age people in the UK have a health condition
• 1 in 6 adults will have experienced a common mental health disorder in the past week
• 1 in 10 employees in the UK reported having a musculoskeletal condition

Job Shop support with recruitment

The Job Shop [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/employerengagement] offers free support for businesses with recruitment. 

Supports all-size businesses (large and SME) with around 200 each year using the Job Shop for their recruitment.

• Can support your business to reach a wider range of candidates, and recruit employees with the skills and experience that your organisation requires, saving spend on employment agencies.
• Have over 30,000 registered customers who have a wide range of skills and backgrounds and have also supported more than 15,000 Coventry residents to find good quality employment over the last 10 years.
• Can support with all types of recruitment processes. Candidates can be pre-screened and supported to apply online, through CVs or booked directly for face-to-face one-to-one or group interviews.
• Have space for employers to use a wide range of selection activities i.e., pre-employment assessments, face-to-face interviews, and group workshops. Bespoke pre-employment training can also be arranged to prepare candidates to work for your business.

Thrive at Work

There is FREE support available from - Thrive at Work [https://bit.ly/484gONM]

Thrive At Work Awards [http://bit.ly/42mjnI8] – Thrive at Work is an award around health and wellbeing in the workplace.

This free accredited programme is suitable for organisations with 5+ employees within the Coventry Area, to enable them to become an employer of choice.

• Foundation level begins with a diagnostic, from this we create a bespoke action plan to accommodate your organisation’s needs.
• You will receive 1:1 support from our team.
• Access to our comprehensive toolkit - This contains a whole host of resources around health and wellbeing.
• Access to free Webinars , LinkedIn Group [https://bit.ly/3LP6qAF] and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@cccthriveatwork]
• Through our network within Coventry City Council, we can assist you with any vacancies you may have and business grant support.

With over 600 organisations currently working on this programme, to join please register .

You may already have incentives in place, doing fantastic things, or just starting to look at what may be needed. With our awards framework, you can showcase this.

Business case studies

Information on supporting good recruitment and retainment

Places of support for your business

• Coventry & Warwickshire Growth Hub [https://www.cwgrowthhub.co.uk/] offers businesses a range of services. These include start-up advice [https://www.cwgrowthhub.co.uk/service/businesses-support-coventry-warwickshire], information about raising finance, growth planning, decarbonisation, mentoring, innovation support, recruitment, skills, and training [https://www.cwemploymentsolutions.co.uk/] guidance and support with understanding supply chain opportunities [https://www.cwgrowthhub.co.uk/service/procurement-fiicw] and much more. To find out more about how they can help connect your business to local, regional, and national business support programmes please contact a member of the team on 0300 060 3747, email support@cwgrowthhub.co.uk [mailto:support@cwgrowthhub.co.uk] or visit www.growthhub.co.uk [http://www.growthhub.co.uk/] 
• Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce [https://www.cw-chamber.co.uk/] offer a range of business networking opportunities and business advice.  Including advice on starting up, growing your business, and trading internationally.  As one of 53 Chambers across the UK and part of a Global Chamber Network Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce can support with brokering business relationships, accessing opportunities and providing advice and guidance.  
• A Workplace Wellbeing Forum has been created for Coventry employers to improve health and wellbeing support for their employees. Warwickshire County Council and Coventry City Council have offered this as part of the Wellbeing for Life [https://www.wellbeing4life.co.uk/resources/workplace-wellbeing-forum] programme.
• Skilled workers may also have criminal records, NACRO [https://www.nacro.org.uk/nacro-services/advice/advice-for-employers/employing-someone-with-a-criminal-record/] has advice for employers on employing someone with a criminal record. DBS checks can support your business with safer recruitment practices. The NSPCC safer recruitment guidance [https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/safeguarding-child-protection/safer-recruitment/] will help your business to make sure your staff and volunteers are suitable to work with children and young people.
• Business in the Community Musculoskeletal Health Toolkit for Employers [https://www.bitc.org.uk/toolkit/musculoskeletal-health-toolkit-for-employers/] developed in partnership with ARMA offers advice on musculoskeletal health and reducing workplace absence.
• Businesses in the Community Health and Wellbeing at Work Summary Toolkit [https://www.bitc.org.uk/toolkit/health-and-wellbeing-at-work-summary-toolkit/] focuses on health and wellbeing at work. It provides practical, evidence-based guidance on how employers can support their employees to improve the health and wellbeing of their workforce.
• Encourage your employees aged 40 to 74 without a pre-existing long-term condition and are eligible to sign up for a free NHS Health Check [https://hlscoventry.org/our-services/nhs-health-checks/]; the check is for people aged 40 to 74 without a pre-existing long-term condition and focuses on cardiovascular risk assessment.
• Dear Life, [https://www.dearlife.org.uk/] has mental health and suicide prevention information and advice for people in Coventry and Warwickshire, for themselves or someone they are worried about.
• Mental Health First Aid [https://coventrycc-my.sharepoint.com/personal/cvlis103_coventry_gov_uk/Documents/Train%20your%20workplace%20in%20Mental%20Health%20First%20Aid] (MHFA) training course helps identify, understand, and help someone who may be experiencing a mental health issue.
• Change Grow Live [https://www.changegrowlive.org/drug-alcohol-service-coventry/info] Coventry Drug and Alcohol Service offer support employers to support employees impacted by substance misuse.
• Find out more from The Living Wage Foundation [https://www.livingwage.org.uk/what-real-living-wage] on the wage that people need to live. The hourly living wage is voluntary and amounts to £12 across UK for people aged 18 years and older.
• The Cost of Living and wellbeing support webpages [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/costofliving] contain information on the support available for Coventry residents who may be feeling the pressure from the cost-of-living crisis.
• Employer briefing: Financial wellbeing during the cost-of-living crisis [https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/work-foundation/publications/employer-briefing] provides six practical steps to support employees’ financial wellbeing.
• Flexible working can broaden your talent pool and make your business a more attractive place to work.  Read the Department for Business and Trade press release [https://www.gov.uk/government/news/millions-to-benefit-from-new-flexible-working-measures].
• Supporting employees to continue to breastfeed when returning to work can increase staff morale and wellbeing accommodating breastfeeding employees in the workplace [https://www.acas.org.uk/accommodating-breastfeeding-employees-in-the-workplace] and protect pregnant workers and new mothers [https://www.hse.gov.uk/mothers/employer/rest-breastfeeding-at-work.htm]. The NHS website contains information for employers to support employees on breastfeeding and going back to work [https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/breastfeeding-and-lifestyle/back-to-work/#:~:text=Supporting%20breastfeeding%20has%20business%20benefits,rate%20of%20return%20to%20work]. Supporting breastfeeding can also benefit your local community who feel welcome and are more likely to visit your business and recommend your business to others. For more information contact the Coventry Infant Feeding Team on 07904 984620 or visit the Infant Feeding Team website [https://linktr.ee/coventryift], further information is available on Coventry breast feeding friendly venues here.
• Take an active role in supporting employees with Domestic abuse: Guidance for people, professionals on managing and supporting employees [https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/guides/supporting-employees-experiencing-domestic-abuse/]
• Business in the Community Domestic Abuse toolkit for employers supports employers [https://www.bitc.org.uk/toolkit/domestic-abuse-toolkit/] will help your organisation to support your employees and contribute to tackling domestic abuse.
• The Employers' Initiative on Domestic Abuse [https://www.eida.org.uk/] (EIDA) is a free network of employers that supports around 1,500 large and small businesses that take effective action on domestic abuse.
• West Midlands Combined Authority Designing Out Homelessness Toolkit [https://www.wmca.org.uk/documents/homelessness-taskforce/designing-out-homelessness/designing-out-homelessness-full-toolkit/] provides information for employers to take action to prevent homelessness, support employees when issues arise and create pathways to employment for people who have experienced homelessness.