BUSINESSES have been officially rewarded for their efforts in recognising the superpowers of a neurodiverse workforce.

Leading employers from around South Yorkshire were awarded certificates by Harrison College at the official launch of the latest phase of an innovative initiative – HC Business Connect.Staged at Hex Connect, The Yorkshire Hive, Auckley, Doncaster, the home of the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, employers took the opportunity to share their ‘incredible experiences’ so far of giving young people with autism a chance to work.

Senior HR Manager with 2Excel Aviation, Doncaster, Caroline Herman told guests: “Everyone should embrace this, take down the barriers and just get on with it. Seeing how far these young people have come on is emotional and inspiring.“We need to show them what our industries are about as the young people will have no idea. They need to see that career plans aren’t always linear, that things will not always go their way. These young people just want to be given a chance so please give them a break.”

General Manager of Doncaster-based Dolphin ICT Rebecca Thompson told guests Harrison College students had designed an exhibition stand, which had been presented to the board and used at a business showcase.“So they added to capacity as this was something our employees didn’t have time to do and they came up with ideas we had not had ourselves,” she said.

At Doncaster-Sheffield Airport-based Vulcan to the Sky Trust, students had created a marketing video, including animation, and were helping sell products through livestreaming. “Working with Harrison College gave me a completely different perspective,” said education liaison manager Ian Straw. “The students have an incredible skillset which, as employers, we can help bring out.”

Felicity King, founder of Yorkshire-based Courage People, said: “We were working from home at the time which was hard but our student, Tom, only needed a specific set of instructions and his data analysis was incredible – better than AI. “They have incredible minds and this has helped us think differently about how we work together as a team.”

Clive Hogue, at trainer with GXO Logistics (Yorkshire), where five students have just started work, said: “It has been an absolute pleasure and an honour to work with these students.”

Harrison College is a specialist organisation founded in Doncaster seven years ago by Gemma Peebles to provide young people with autism and social, emotional and mental health issues the vital skills they need for work and adulthood.HC Connect offers employers the chance to support the development of an inclusive, skilled future workforce and access a range of benefits designed to strengthen business.Gemma said: “For our internships, we don’t follow the typical model of work experience, we take time to find the right person for the right role so they can add value to that business and themselves.“There can be barriers but there is nothing that we can’t work together to overcome. They are fantastic young people, and we all learn such a lot from them.”

The event was sponsored by Yorkshire Wildlife Park. Its conference and hospitality manager Matthew Zareba said: “We were delighted to welcome back Harrison College to Hex Connect after hosting such a successful conference recently. We have been working together for the past two years on employer-led projects and fundraising which is helping everyone understand wildlife conservation.”

The official launch will now be followed by quarterly networking meetings at which partners can gain further insights, access Employer Advisory Board sessions, receive neurodiversity in the workplace training and benefit from marketing recognition, including a Partner Certificate and digital partnership logo.

As part of HC Business Connect, partners can align with one of its four tiers – Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum – each with exclusive benefits, including access to hospitality experiences at Doncaster Racecourse. This includes, for bronze, businesses offering site visits, delivering a careers insight workshop or supporting the college through a donation of resources. Silver partners will commit their time and resources to co-design the college curriculum and offer live project briefs for young people to deliver. Gold partners will offer their time to support and mentor students as an intern, offering career insight workshops and support co-designing of the curriculum. Platinum will see partners commit their time to support and mentor interns and then offer employment and/or apprenticeships. Gemma said: “There are so many like-minded businesses in South Yorkshire so it is great to be able to bring them together and highlight all the great work they are doing for young people with neurodiversity, who certainly value the time and energy being spent on them.”

For more information visit www.harrisoncollege.co.uk.