Case Study

Celebrating our differences with Diversity and Inclusion

19 Mar 2025

Every Ingeus employee brings their own unique skills, strengths and personalities to our organisation – it’s what makes Ingeus a special place to work. This week we’re putting diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the spotlight for Neurodiversity Celebration Week, a worldwide initiative that encourages acceptance about neurological differences.
 
Ensuring we have an accepting D&I culture is integral to Ingeus’ core value of enabling better lives. Through all our programmes we help people, from prison leavers to career changers, to be the best they can be – a supportive approach that’s similarly taken internally.
 
Melisa Cunningham, Employee Relations, Diversity and Wellbeing Specialist and Diversity and Inclusion Chair, explains: “We strive for a culture that’s inclusive – our values aren’t just stuck on a wall, we live by them and that means making a difference internally as well as externally.
 
“We have various networks in the business to achieve inclusivity, from disability to wellbeing. Since I started almost five years ago the number of champions for these networks has increased from around 20 to over 100. For neurodivergent employees this means Ingeus can ensure an individual’s needs are met very early on.”
 
Inclusivity for people with disabilities or health conditions begins with Ingeus’ recruitment process, including an accessible website for anyone with, for example, sight impairments, enabling the user to change text size or colour. Job application forms allow people to share any additional needs, while successful applicants are asked if they need reasonable adjustments for their interview.
 
Melisa says, “We want to be welcoming to everyone and ensure there are no barriers to people joining our team. Once employed, we talk about D&I and encourage them to speak openly about any needs. We want to encourage people to speak up and to help remove any stigma.”
 
As part of her role overseeing employee engagement, Melisa has led campaigns and initiatives to encourage D&I in the workplace. Next week her team is launching a series of workshops for managers, helping them to learn how to support their teams even better. It’s one of Melisa’s earlier projects, however, which has established itself as a crucial part of Ingeus’ D&I culture.
 
“We have a workplace adjustment passport,” explains Melisa. “It’s a document that details what support an employee has in place, what a bad day looks like for them and what barriers they face. They take this passport with them if they change jobs and their new manager knows instantly what reasonable adjustments are needed.”
 
Diagnosed with dyslexia during her second year at university, Melisa knows first-hand how important it is to have reasonable adjustments in place. After a long journey of struggles through primary and secondary education, her formal diagnosis meant she was given extra time to complete exams, something which she believes made all the difference:
 
“I 100% believe that the right support can help you to be the best you can be. I felt comfortable in sharing my disability from day one at Ingeus. It meant there was an awareness of the impact my dyslexia has on the documents I write or read. 
 
“I travel to different Ingeus centres and see first-hand the positive impact of what we’re doing. It makes me feel so proud to be part of Ingeus’ team.”