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Beacon is a forever free service, built by businesses, for businesses just like yours. Providing support for managing mental health and disability or long term health conditions. Beacon offers everything you need to facilitate a more inclusive, diverse and happy workforce which in turn will improve your bottom line.
The Government’s goal1 million more people with disability in work by 2027
Back in October 2016, a Green Paper was published called ‘Improving Lives, Work, Health and Disability’ which set out the case for change, outlining the vision- ‘A society where everyone is ambitious for disabled people and people with long-term health conditions, and where people understand and act positively upon the important relationship between health, work and disability’.
Improving Lives, Work, Health and Disability
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (CIoS LEP) piloted a programme of work with SME business owners. In line with the findings of the Green Paper, the CIoS LEP fed back to the Government on the challenges and support available to employers, identifying the opportunities and how best to help people with long term conditions and disabilities to remain in work, prevent ill-health and support employers to recruit with confidence.
A year or so later, the Government published their response to the Green Paper and cites Cornwall’s involvement and the framework is shared with other LEPs areas.
An Innovation Fund bid was submitted.
We received confirmation that the Innovation Fund was secured and the Beacon Project was born.
Working with SME businesses on a local and national scale, we carried out extensive research sessions, working closely with our target audience to ensure we designed a system that would resolve a number of their pain points and get them the information they needed to help better their business.
Workshops hosted by the University of Plymouth, which utilised behavioural science to devise a clear marketing and communication plan of action.
Business Owners and employers were asked a number of research questions put together in collaboration with University of Exeter.
Qualitative and Quantitative data was gathered and extensive research was collated as part of a Discovery Report.
Prototype design concepts were created and tested with real life users, in order to create the best possible user experience.
User experience design concepts were turned into real life designs and retested with users.
We are currently still under development (meaning things are still a little bit in progress), but you can help shape the future of Beacon.
Whilst our research to date has led us to this point, and as we try to support as many SME businesses as possible by removing the pain points in finding the information that we need, we are doing our best to help employers create the best place to work, by assisting them manage, recruit and retain employees who may have a disability or mental health condition.
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