Holly Johnson – Nursery Assistant

“Some workers need risk assessing because they’re pregnant. What’s the difference with disabled people? We just need risk assessing.”

Nursery Assistant Holly Johnson, 21, ‘jumped around the room’ when she was invited for a second interview at Providence Nursery in Elland. She felt trapped in her job as a playworker and didn’t feel she was able to do anything really constructive in her job. She was ready for a change. However, Holly was very realistic about her chances of getting the job. She’d been turned down for jobs before and was actually one of over 30 people invited to attend an interview at the nursery.

She beat 34 other candidates

Holly first saw the advert for the Nursery Assistant vacancy in her local newspaper. She had a few ideas about how to complete the application form but as she always does, checked her writing with her mum. Something about Holly’s application clearly impressed, because not only was she invited for a first interview but for a second interview. When she was offered the job as a Nursery Assistant, she beat 34 other candidates to the post.

Holly doesn’t make a big deal of the fact that she has cerebral palsy. She is very honest about her physical limitations and very aware that specific risks may have to be managed when any disabled person is employed. However, Holly is equally aware that other non-disabled employees may sometimes need ‘risk assessing’.

Employer's story

As both the owner and manager of Providence Nursery, it is clearly in her interests for Jane Erlank to employ only the best. Working in a sector where the safety and protection of children is crucial to success, recruitment mistakes can be very costly. The recruitment process at the nursery has to therefore be very rigorous. Somehow, Jane has managed to achieve both fairness and rigour when she recruits new staff. “Our approach is to always look for strengths in the people we recruit and that’s what happened when we interviewed Holly.”

Interviews can sometimes be artificial in that they never really give employees the chance to prove that they are the right person for the job. Holly, did however have that chance because at Providence nursery, the interview process includes a ‘walk around’ the nursery. This gives managers the opportunity to observe the behaviour of potential employees and to also monitor their interaction with the children.

We saw strengths

Managers liked what they saw when they observed Holly’s interaction with children. Jane says, “We saw strengths in Holly’s ability to interact well with the children. She was fabulous”. New employees are also employed on a three month probationary period initially which gives managers another opportunity to ensure that a person really is the right person for the job.

Jane doesn’t believe that employing a disabled person is an easy challenge.  During the interviews, Holly had been very open about her tendency to in her words, ‘trip over fresh air’. Although she speaks very articulately, Holly also raised the issue of her slight speech impairment.  The issue of Holly’s balance was a problem that had to be addressed, especially in an environment where the health and safety of children is paramount. However, Jane also realised that it was a problem that could be managed. The solution was for Jane and Holly to work together to carry out a risk assessment and identify strategies for managing any risks. Those strategies clearly worked because Holly passed her probationary period and is now a member of permanent staff.

Employee's story

Holly does not allow her disability to prevent her from doing her job. “You know your own capabilities” she says.  Holly’s honesty and openness about which aspects of her work she would find challenging made it much easier for managers to be supportive. No physical adjustments needed to be carried out to help Holly do her job and she doesn’t need any special equipment. Her only requirement is to be allowed extra time for certain tasks. Other than that, she works just as effectively and in fact more so as far as Jane is concerned, as some non-disabled members of staff.

Staff here have been great

In terms of her satisfaction, Holly has found in her job what she was looking for. She wanted to feel she was doing something constructive at work and in many ways she is doing more than that. “I’m learning about childcare and learning something new every week. I want to get a Level 3 qualification in childcare” Holly says, “Staff here have been great and supportive and for me work has been a positive experience”.

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