Inclusive employment guide for Local Economies launched at stakeholder workshop in Oxford

The project team with a copy of Partnering for Inclusive Employment

The Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership (OIEP), in collaboration with academic partners from Cardiff University, University of Exeter and University of Oxford, shared their new Partnering for Inclusive Employment guide for local economies at a stakeholder workshop on 25 September.

The workshop, held at the Old Fire Station in Oxford, brought together representatives of local public, private and voluntary sector organisations to explore the six key principles of inclusive employment identified by the research team - and to reflect on how these could be shared and developed into actionable recommendations for employers, local policy makers and community organisations who support people into work.

The six key principles, which act as a foundation for collaborative action around inclusive employment are:

1. Person-centred, place-based adaptation of policies
2. Invested commitment from all stakeholders
3. Lived experience leadership, which is used to review and adapt action
4. Stability for spaces and organisations that are lived experience led
5. Acknowledgement of diversity within diversity 
6. Awareness around trauma

Using Lego to visualise inclusive employment

Activities, including using Lego to visualise an ideal environment for inclusive employment, supported discussions on how to implement the principles effectively across the region and beyond, with a shared aspiration to co-design opportunities for individuals who face barriers around securing fair work. As part of wide-ranging discussions, stakeholders emphasised that:

• Inclusion is an ongoing process and is the collaborative responsibility of all stakeholders in a local economy. Meaningful action emerges when collaborations are sustained and community-level relationships centre on care and trust.
• While national and county-level data into social inequalities is important, community perspectives and personal experiences help to shape small-scale, high-quality responses to barriers around local employment opportunities.
• Inclusion is not a one-size fits all matter. Stronger communication between stakeholders, right down to the community level, can draw attention to small-scale actions that make a big difference for certain groups and individuals.

The event was an opportunity for sharing ideas

OIEP Co-Chair, Jeremy Long was delighted with the outcomes of the project, saying: “The multi-university team have provided us with a valuable insight into the issues of inclusive employment, a guide to how to address these, and we how might work collectively to tackle the barriers which individuals face. It has been a very worthwhile research project, and I’m very grateful to everyone who contributed to it.”

Aileen Marshall-Brown, Head of Engagement for the Social Sciences at University of Oxford said, “It has been fantastic to see inclusive employment, a key priority for our region, being addressed in this multi-university partnership with OIEP. It highlights again the importance of researchers, policy makers and local voluntary and community organizations coming together to understand and address local policy challenges. While Oxfordshire has been our case study, we hope that the outcomes of the project will, in time, have impact in regions across the UK.”

This project is part of a wider collaboration (The Role of Inclusivity in Local Productivity and Employment) between the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Oxford, Southampton and Swansea. It is part of a pilot research programme called Creating Opportunities through Local Innovation Fellowships (COLIF), funded by UKRI’s Creating Opportunities, Improving Outcomes Fund (Grant reference: ES/X004198/1).