AkzoNobel – Jill

How AkzoNobel Builds Community Partnerships and Inclusive Pathways

“At AkzoNobel, we work hard to build relationships across our local community – we think it’s really important. We work with several different schools and colleges, and offer work experience, supported internships, careers talks, community partnerships and more.

We really want to encourage other manufacturers and employers in the area to work with young people, including those with additional needs. We are part of both engineering and employer networks so that we can tell other companies – big or small – this is what we do.

We have learned so much working with schools and colleges. It has helped us to support our existing staff better and has helped us to recruit. One of our former Supported Interns, Emilia, did so well during her internship that we didn’t want to lose her! We encouraged her to apply for a job and Emilia is now a Kitchen Assistant at our site. She’s grown in confidence so much and we’re all really proud of her.

There can be challenges. It can be hard knowing who to speak to, and whilst an employer like us is lucky to have the support and knowledge we need internally, a smaller one might not. That’s why it’s so important to bring people together and share stories, make connections.

We have invested a lot in staff training. We worked with North East Autism Society to offer our whole site Autism awareness training. This allows our teams to gain insight into the various work styles of individuals and determine the most effective ways to collaborate, whether they are supported interns, work experience students or employed staff.

There’s a real untapped resource of people with additional needs or who may need adjustments in the workplace. There’s some really knowledgeable, hard-working young adults out there who would make a great addition to any team. They just need employers to give them a chance.”

Jill Johnston,
Site Services Controller, AkzoNobel, Northumberland