Retail: A Call to Action

I'm biased. I believe that retail is one of the most fulfilling sectors that you can work in.

Why? Because I've been in retail for over 30 years and I've also employed over 2,500 people into retail roles. I've also been fortunate to help develop and support individual's careers within the organisations I've worked for.

Disability Confident in the Retail Sector

I also believe that the retail sector would truly benefit from being Disability Confident and then be able to fully realise the potential of disabled people, both as employees and customers. I became involved with the Disability Confident campaign as part of my journey back into employment following my own experiences of becoming disabled. I was part of making Swansea the first Disability Confident city and I support any initiative that positively engages and educates employers around the benefits of employing disabled people.

Why Retail?

Retail is an exciting place to be right now and the way we shop is changing radically, which brings with it great opportunities.

Within my career, I've always sought the best talent and potential to add to the business and that means drawing from the widest talent pool possible. That also means being as inclusive as possible, to ensure that the talent is available to bring into the business and so that all employees can be supported equally.

Why Disability?

Disabled people, like myself, have a wealth of skills, knowledge, experience and insight that can add so much true value to an organisation. The business case around inclusion has been proved time and time again. In addition we also need to consider that as a customer segment disabled people represent a combined spending power of £249 billion.

How?

Within our work at Delsion we concentrate on 3 things in supporting organisations to be inclusive employers, specifically around disability. They are: Knowledge, Empathy and Engagement. It's our KEE approach.

The Disability Confident scheme allows businesses to have the confidence, skills and tools they need to recruit disabled people and also to retain and support individuals as they progress and thrive in their retail careers.  

So this is a rallying call to retail. Let's lead from the front as always. Let's set the example and be the benchmark. Lets be Disability Confident.

Enquiries@delsion.co.uk

There are over 5,500 employers already signed-up to Disability Confident, including over 200 retailers. The scheme is free to join and the sign-up process is easy to access. There are three Disability Confident levels – committed, employer and leader. Being ‘committed’ is the first step. Signing up doesn’t mean that an employer is perfect on disability issues – but it is a clear signal to customers, colleagues and the wider world that they are committed to getting it right..