As the spread of Coronavirus continues to affect lives all over the UK and Ireland, Autism Initiatives remains committed to supporting the well-being, health and safety of all of our staff and their families.
We are working hard and taking proactive measures to support each and every autistic person that we work with in a safe and supported environment.
In the spirit of transparency and awareness, I wanted to share some information about our ongoing efforts to support staff safety as we continue to provide autism support in the UK and Ireland during these challenging times.
We are supporting our teams by focussing on:
- Ensuring staff continue to be well trained, using remote interactive technology
- Providing Autism Practice Support throughout services
- Staying connected, between staff, managers and people we are supporting
- Maintaining good recruitment by getting to know people through remote interviewing. Using video technology to ensure that everyone can maintain safe social distancing.
Infection Control: For those staff who need to work from an office or service location we have introduced specific cleaning regimes designed to support health and safety and minimise the risk of infections spreading.
Safety Advice and Equipment: Staff understand and follow Government guidelines to protect themselves and people that we support. We have shared information and advice with everyone and provided PPE equipment to support this where needed.
Virtual Meetings: We are using mobile and video technology to conduct remote meetings with business partners and between staff.
Home Working: In order to minimise risk all staff that are able to work from home are being supported to do so.
Flexible Working: We have enabled staff to be flexible in their work schedules to help them to deal with the added pressure that home schooling has placed on parents.
We have all faced lots of new challenges in recent weeks, and no doubt there will be more to come, but colleagues across the Autism Initiatives Group continue to work tremendously hard to provide excellent services that meet the needs of those we support whilst keeping everyone as safe as possible.
The impacts of the Coronavirus global pandemic are far-reaching and varied but we are confident that with the continued support and dedication of our amazing staff throughout the UK and Ireland we can carry on providing safe, supportive and person-centred services.
