Disability Employment & Transformation:

How and why organisations should align CSI and disability employment in order to meet transformation targets.

Event Summary:

On Friday 2nd November 2018, at Sanlam’s head office, WiNN hosted an industry event on disability employment and transformation.

Over 100 management and senior practitioners RSVP’d for the event, from many of the leading corporate brands including: Sanlam, Sanlam (Glacier), ABSA, Amazon, Builders, Capitec Bank, Consul Glass, Digi Outsource Services, Discovery, Dimension Data, Engen, Hertz, HomeChoice, Libstar Operations, Mediclinic, Metropolitan Retail, Old Mutual, PPECB, State Street, TFG, Virgin Active, Webhelp, and WNS, amongst many others.

You can see the full list of ATTENDEES (as well as for the profilles of the speakers and the panelists) in the event’s forum-pack, HERE:

At the event we had industry panel discussions, thought-leader presentations and lots of networking. For more on all of these and to see the presentation slide-decks, read on:

Industry Panels:

At Nov’s event, we had two industry panel-discussions:

1. Employer Industry Panel:

The employer industry panel included managers and practitioners from leading corporate brands, including: Discovery, Dimension Data, HomeChoice, PPECB, Sanlam (Glacier), and TFG. They shared their challenges around disability employment at their organisations, as well as their insights and success stories.

2. Employee & Candidate Industry Panel:

The employee & candidate industry panel included people with disability who are employees, students or unemployed. They shared some of the challenges they face in seeking work and/or in the workplace, as well as what they look for in an employer-of-choice.

Speakers & Presentations:

There were four speakers at the Nov’ event, including:

1. Dermot Grazebrook, WiNN (www.winn.org.za), on: Transformation, CSI & Disability Employment – The BIG picture and connecting the dots.

2. Bruno Savaria, Sensory Solutions (www.sensorysolutions.co.za), on: Disability Tech’ & Assistive Devices – How you can use these to employ more people with sensory disabilities.

3. Lesley Shaw, HearAbility (www.hearability.co.za), on: Disability Tech’ & Assistive Devices – How you can use these to employ more people with sensory disabilities.

(Note: HearAbility presented without slides at Nov’s event.)

4. Jeremy Hazell, Shonaquip (www.shonaquip.co.za), on: Disability Tech’ & Assistive Devices – How you can use these to employ more people with physical disabilities.

Networking:

At our events, we allow plenty of time for everyone attending to network with each other throughout the event, including during the networking-coffee breaks.

Thanks & Acknowledgements:

We’d like to say a BIG ‘Thank You’ to Sanlam for providing their venue for the event and making everyone attending feel so welcome. [If you and/or your organisation would like to host a future event in 2019 or in 2020, we’ll greatly appreciate it. If so, please feel free to contact anytime Dermot Grazebrook at dermot@winn.org.za.]

Thank you to all the panelists who participated in the Employer Panel and in the Employee / Candidate Panel. We really appreciate the openness and sharing of everyone who participates in these industry panel discussions.

Also, a special thank you to all our speakers (Sensory Intelligence, HearAbility, Shonaquip & WiNN).

Next Event:

Our next event is an Industry Roundtable Event in Feb’ 2019, on disability employment in South Africa, hosted at PPECB’s office in Plattekloof (Cape Town) on the 13th of February 2019.

The format for the roundtable events is for approx’ 15 senior managers and practitioners from corporate employers to sit around a boardroom table and discuss strategic and operational challenges (and solutions) concerning disability employment. The aim is to foster shared learning, networking and inter-organisational collaboration.

RSVP to: dermot@winn.org.za