By Steve Marriott on May 20, 2021
Spirit Health is delighted to virtually welcome Mims Davies, Minister for Employment, to meet some of its latest recruits through the government’s Kickstart Programme. Kerry Taylor-Kenyon, People Director and Vanessa Reading, Kickstart-Lead at Spirit, will be amongst Spirit’s team to welcome Ms Davies as she speaks with a number of the healthcare company’s young people who have joined the business for six months, gaining a variety of skills including IT, customer services, HR, marketing, finance and working in Spirit’s GP surgeries.
The Kickstart Programme is a government-subsidised scheme, aiming to help young people who are at risk of long-term unemployment to get back into work. Jobs from the Kickstart scheme are open to 16-to-24 year-olds who are claiming Universal Credit, for a six month period across England, Scotland and Wales.
Spirit Health is investing in these young people, providing them with the opportunity to gain essential skills and experience, essentially increasing their chance of employability. As well as on-site training and work experience, kickstarters will have access to external and internal bespoke training.
As part of the scheme, Spirit has created a bespoke plan for the programme, with Vanessa Reading, the Company’s Culture and Communications Lead, taking on the role of the Kickstart-Lead, who is providing pastoral support for the kickstarters. As well as on the job training and shadowing by colleagues, Spirit has put in place a buddy system so that those on the programme can work alongside their colleagues and continue to be supported in an engaging way.
Kerry Taylor-Kenyon, People Director at Spirit, said:
“We’re honoured to welcome the Minister today. Spirit Health is dedicated to investing in the next generation, as we are in achieving our company mission of making health easy for all. We see the Kickstart programme as a great opportunity for us, as a growing organisation, to give something back to those in our local community who need it most, particularly through these challenging times.”
Minister for Employment Mims Davies MP said:
“It’s fantastic to see Spirit Health brilliantly backing this Government’s Kickstart Scheme – helping our next generation of workers to develop the key skills, experience and confidence they need to thrive in work. Right across the country our Plan for Jobs is vitally creating opportunity, supporting people to retrain and getting jobseekers into work as we push to build back better – including importantly in the health and care sector.”
