UK
The Textile Services Association (TSA) spring conference at St George’s Park, Burton-on-Trent, heard TSA |CEO David Stevens remarking wryly ahead of Emma Andersson’s presentation: “People matter, or, a lack of people matters even more.” Andersson confidently presented her segment on ‘Diversity, equality and inclusion’. She said a light bulb moment for her on the subject was a speaker at the TSA Congress in February who explained that we tend to surround ourselves by people like us. “It is not a bad thing in and of itself, but we need to be aware of different people and their perspectives which can help with deciision making. We need to bridge those gaps,” she said.
The ‘People Matter’ slot included a powerful and heart-warming presentation entitled ‘The personal side of giving people a second chance’ in which Matt Bowes, IT and digital director at Vision Linens gave an insight into TSA’s ‘Giving People a Second Chance’ initiative. An ex-offender, Bowes has recently been promoted to the board of Vision. Bowes provided a unique perspective of personally going through this experience, having been released from prison 12 years ago and being given a second chance through employment.
Since serving time, Bowes has attended prisons to talk to inmates about the opportunities that are open to them and how his own career has gone from strength to strength.
Bowes said his advice to employers is a simple one. “Be open minded. Ex-offenders can offer significant skills and value to your workforce. They’re not asking for special treatment, just equal opportunity,” he said.
Vison Linens Tweeted after the conference: “At Vision, we’re incredibly proud of what Matt has achieved and he continues to inspire and educate both prisoners and employers. As an employer, Vision has benefited from hiring a number of ex-offenders over the last few years and we’d encourage other employers to get involved with the TSA’s initiative and to learn more about the benefits of hiring ex-offenders.”
Caroline Siddell of VaVita Health followed up with a slot on ‘Menopause awareness and wellbeing at work’ a subject that resonanted with at least 30% of delgates at the cponference. As Stevens commented: “It’s great to see that almost one third of our record audience is female which is the best percentage we have ever had. So well done Emma Andersson and the People Steering Group for pushing it. It just shows we can get there although it really should be 50%.”
