Business West helps Young Bristol with HR and recruitment processes

Young Bristol is a youth charity driven to deliver Open Access youth work across Bristol. Their mission is to be an outstanding provider of high-quality community-based youth services and innovative programmes that positively and sustainably impact the lives of young people. 

Andy Kimber is the Head of Operations at Young Bristol and he spoke to us about the support he has received from Eithne Venney, HR Support Advisor and Fiona Malpas, Business Skills Advisor as part of the Workforce for the Future programme

Andy commented, “I was looking for support in the HR area, particularly in governance and structures that we needed to put in place to support our growth as an organisation”.

“Fiona and Eithne have been really helpful in mapping out a successful pathway that doesn't go too fast or too quick for the size of our organisation and what we're trying to achieve.

“With new policy integration. We have put a couple of new policies online and have had a review of the employee handbook to get it to where it needs to be. They have also supported ideas around employee reviews.”

With the West of England being a competitive recruitment market, Andy also worked with Fiona and Eithne to ensure that Young Bristol is a more attractive place to work to potential applicants.

“As we are growing and creating new positions, we wanted to look at what that recruitment process looks like and how to diversify our recruitment. The support allowed me to look internally at how we were advertising ourselves and think of new ways to make us more attractive within a competitive jobs market. It has brought in an increase in stronger applicants for the roles we have available. That builds on how we create a robust onboarding process to support people in the first few months of their development.

With diversity being vital for Young Bristol to become increasingly accessible to all young people across the city, Andy benefited a lot from the series of HR Support Workshops that Business West hosted alongside Leonard Cheshire.

“I attended a few workshops on HR and disability, on how to work with staff, and how to support staff around any extra needs – it all helps to make ourselves as accessible as possible as an employer. So, we're certainly striving to do more, by taking manageable chunks from each workshop, and knowing that we can't just fix everything overnight.”

The conversations with both Eithne and Fiona were invaluable for both Andy and the organisation. “It's been light touch with quite heavy processes. It is done in a very professional, very friendly way.

“They've been very approachable and very easy to speak to which I found really useful as someone new to this area.”

Andy believes that every SME would benefit from the support on offer via the Workforce for the Future programme. “I think it can go a long way to support in either development or growth, or it would act as a really good benchmark for your business. I would recommend it to others.”

Find out more about Young Bristol here.

Business West is delivering Workforce for the Future in collaboration with other partners and the West of England Combined Authority.

For more information on Workforce for the Future, please visit the West of England Growth Hub. The Growth Hub is the West of England Combined Authority’s dedicated business support service which offers free, one-to-one advice and guidance for SMEs.

The West of England Workforce for the Future programme has received £4m of funding from the European Social Fund as part of the 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme in England. The Department for Work and Pensions (and in London the intermediate body Greater London Authority) is the Managing Authority for the England European Social Fund programme. Established by the European Union, the European Social Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support skills development, employment and job creation, social inclusion and local community regenerations. For more information visit: https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.