Reading Citizens in action to ensure fair access to local jobs

Reading Citizens in action to ensure fair access to local jobs

Our Research Action Team have been been having one to one conversations and small group meetings to uncover the barriers that newly arrived communities in Reading face. One of the barriers we have identified is a lack of access to local jobs that match people's skills.

Last Wednesday - 15 July 2022 - thirty leaders from the Diocese of Reading, Reading University, Refugee Support Group, Reading Muslim Council, ACRE and newly arrived Hong Kong and Ukrainian communities delivered gifts to three of the largest employers in Reading (Microsoft, Oracle and Wipro) and spoke to senior staff members about the issues they have faced applying for jobs.

Many members of the group have chosen to make Reading their home because they have skills and expertise that local employers are looking for, such as in the tech industry. They have applied for lots of jobs but have struggled to even get interviews.

We asked Microsoft, Wipro and Oracle to meet with us to discuss how we can work together to ensure newly arrived residents of Reading can find jobs that match their skills, and to commit to implementing three measures we have identified that would ensure that members of newly arrived communities have fair access to local jobs. We have already had a positive response from Wipro and are in conversation with the Director of HR at Oracle.

Our aim is to have a negotiation meeting with each of these organisations by October.