Sims announces new Social Enterprise project

Run in partnership with Pluss; an established Social Enterprise, POD is designed to provide people with disabilities, disadvantages and long term health issues with training opportunities so that they can enhance existing skills, develop new skills and gain work experience in an integrated commercial setting.  The aim of the partnership is to provide genuine opportunities which will help jobseekers into permanent and sustainable employment.

Along with learning about IT Asset recovery services, computer refurbishment and remarketing, computer recycling and secure data destruction services, the trainees will also study accredited qualifications to formalise and validate their training.  They have each been assigned a training provider, who will work with them to help find long term employment with an external employer at the end of their traineeship. 

Dumfries Operations Manager, Stuart White, said: “We are delighted to be taking part in this initiative and pleased to welcome our first trainees who are all from the Dumfries area. Embedding social values into a commercial environment is extremely innovative due to the fact that this business model can encourage up to ten times more people back into mainstream employment than historical models of helping disadvantaged people which were based on the old supported employment model.

“We are giving people a great opportunity to get back into the working environment, helping develop life and work skills, whilst at the same time, the personal rewards of the mentors and those involved in supporting the programme cannot be overlooked.  The success of the programme is dependent on the candidates managing to gain full employment in the competitive job market, and we are really looking forward to our first success. I would like to thank everyone at Dumfries who has supported and fully embraced this project, particularly the mentors and supervisors who have put time and effort into making this work.”

Robert Fairbairn, Head of Operations at Pluss North said: “The development of POD is an exciting opportunity to give disadvantaged people the support of a Social Enterprise whilst being embedded directly into a mainstream employer. Not only do the trainees get commercially focused employment in a very dynamic environment, they get all the support from Pluss and our welfare sector partners to ensure their transition into unsupported employment is given real focus. This model of employment also helps develop a more inclusive work environment for all staff on site and demonstrates the positive impact disabled people have within the workplace.”