Employer Seminars
Supporting inclusive workplaces and future workforce planning
In February 2025, Shetland’s Local Employability Partnership (SLEP) hosted a series of employer seminars to help businesses consider how to attract, recruit, and retain staff. The sessions were coordinated by Martin Summers, Team Leader for Youth & Employability at Shetland Islands Council and Employability Lead for SLEP.
Background and Context
SLEP is made up of various partners and stakeholders in the community aiming to:
- Create an inclusive, supportive, and dynamic employability system that empowers all individuals in Shetland to achieve sustainable employment and contribute to the local economy.
- Provide tailored, person-centred employability support that addresses barriers to employment, promotes inclusive growth, and ensures no one is left behind.
Shetland’s employability landscape is challenging and not reflective of national trends. Currently, Shetland has a high job density (more jobs than working-age people) with many local employers/services voicing concerns about recruitment, retaining staff and engaging with young people. There is a high proportion of those not in work also having some sort of Additional Support Need, disability or barrier to accessing work due to travel or childcare.
What We Did
As part of a range of related activities in February 2025, SLEP wanted to focus on engaging local employers and supporting them to consider potential challenges and issues facing their potential workforce so they are better equipped to attract, recruit and maintain staff.
A morning Session featuring three separate seminars aimed at local employers was held at Shetland Museum & Archives with three different themes based on perceived local needs and national priorities:
- Creating Inclusive Work Environment: Benefits of Flexible working for everyone. (Flexibility Works)
- Making Changes in the Workplace to Support People in Employment. (Scottish Union for Supported Employment)
- What is our future workforce telling us? How to engage them and develop existing workforce. (Skills Development Scotland)
Developing Young Workforce and Business Gateway invited local employers and staff to attend any of the seminars they wished. All events were free with a format of interactive presentation and discussions.
Impact
There were 37 local employers/staff attending the sessions (with the majority attending them all). As well as Shetland based employers and services, some employability staff from Shetland, Orkney and Western Isles also engaged.
Feedback was very positive with:
- All respondents surveyed afterwards saying they were ‘satisfied’ or ‘extremely satisfied’.
- Over half of respondents felt they knew ‘a lot’ more about future workforce engagement.
- All participants saying they felt they knew ‘somewhat’ (56%) more or ‘a lot’ (44%) more about Supported Employment.
- All participants saying they felt they knew ‘somewhat’ (50%) more or ‘a lot’ (50%) more about Flexible Working.
Learning and Next Steps
The numbers in attendance reveal that there is a local appetite for supporting employers and training on these themes. Most surveyed felt there should be at least two events like this per year. Some of the written feedback also stated a wish for more time and in-depth discussion.
As well as these seminars, employers/providers have now been invited to help support SLEP’s delivery plan from 2026. This will help inform priorities and activity in a way that is based on local employer needs.
Plans are in place to create similar formats in 25/26 with a combination of issues that employers want to discuss and ones which the Partnership and stakeholders feel are important. For example - one theme that was seen as a priority was supporting employers to hire people who are justice-experienced and tackling stigma associated with this. However, at the time of organising, no national body was able to commit to travel to Shetland to deliver this. The Partnership is exploring how to make this happen in 2025/26. Some of the suggestions from participants on future themes included succession planning, recruitment and employee wellbeing/engagement.
While the numbers of attendees were high, it was noted that some of Shetland’s biggest private employers were not represented. Therefore, next year more targeted promotion will be done in advance as their engagement can have more potential impact on recruitment and supporting individuals with barriers to work.
The timing of the event this year coincided with Shetland’s Career and Opportunities Day. Next year the plan is for both those activities to go under the banner of Shetland Employability Week so that resources and contacts can be pooled and activity streamlined.
Contribution to the Shetland Partnership
- Participation: Engaging employers in shaping local employability priorities.
- People: Supporting inclusive recruitment and better workplace practices.
- Place: Strengthening Shetland’s economy through a resilient, diverse workforce.
- Money: Helping businesses tackle recruitment challenges and plan for the future.