When a sector perhaps not top of many school leavers’ lists needs to recruit, it sometimes needs to think a little bit outside the box. That said, many companies within the highways industry pride themselves on being resourceful, adaptable, and innovative.
The Kiely Group, a Safer Highways member, is one of those companies showcasing these qualities with its inclusive recruitment programme, “Don’t judge, Inspire”.
The programme is an initiative being delivered in a pilot scheme with HMP Leicester, giving serving inmates an opportunity to make positive changes in preparation for their lives upon release and all training is carried out within the prison walls by Kiely’s Head of HR & Training, Ash Howard.
As an independent, family-run company established in the 1950’s and currently being managed by the third generation of the Kiely family, this unique ownership structure gives the flexibility to create and mould talent in new and exciting ways that larger corporate organisations are unable to offer.
There are a variety of market sectors that the group business covers which include Highways, where they are the UK’s largest surface treatment contractor, and Waste Management where they are the largest skip hire and recycling company in the West Midlands.
The programme centres around narrowing the skills gap by bringing new people into the highways & civils sector as labour-based operatives, HGV drivers and Traffic Management crew, with an emphasis on a judgement free process and providing second chances for those individuals who are looking to move forward with their careers, and indeed their lives, away from prison.
Within their company trading divisions Kiely’s have leading ‘one of a kind’ technology which they have either self-developed or imported from all corners of the globe to ensure a technological and competitive edge.
With operations nationwide from Scotland to England’s south coast, and west Wales to the east of England, The Kiely Group is well positioned to help individuals from all over the UK find a new career and to support their contracts within local authorities. The company already has several avenues to accept the right candidates into and have a long-proven record of developing people and promoting from within the business. As with any labour-intensive organisation, they are regularly keen to speak to HGV class 1 and 2 drivers/ labourers and engineers with the highest number of opportunities coming through the seasonal nature of the business.
The company’s commitment is to promise is opportunity to those who value it and want to better themselves and if jobs are unavailable at the time of release with Kiely’s themselves the company have signed a partnership with an organisation called Bridge of Hope.
Bridge of Hope is a portal helping the hundreds of thousands of people who are overlooked for employment because of their identity or history. They could be overlooked based on their age (youth and experience), race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, sex or gender identity, time out as a parent or carer, service in the military, disability, neurodiversity, previous homelessness, a past history of addiction or mental ill-health, or a criminal record.
The Bridge of Hope Careers portal is run by Prosper4 Group, a social enterprise founded and led by people with lived experiences of marginalisation and discrimination in the workplace and anybody who Kiely group cannot offer immediate employment to are automatically signposted here for assistance.
Finally, the potential positive impact on UK Plc is huge too, with those leaving prison without employment being 80% more likely to reoffend within two years of release than those leaving with a job. Government released figures put reoffending costs in the UK at circa £18bn per annum, so any improvement that this scheme (and others like it) can provide to stop prison leavers reoffending is a positive contribution to the country as a whole, regardless of the enormous benefits afforded to the individual, their friends and family and, lastly, the company itself.
Story originally appeared : https://www.highwaysindustry.com/kiely-group-inclusivity-recruitment-project-provides-second-chances-whilst-bridging-skills-gap/
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