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Enterprise Holdings is the largest mobility provider in the world, with a multi-billion pound turnover and over 100,000 employees worldwide. Diversity is a central goal in all areas of the Enterprise business, and our commitment extends to every employee, customer and business partner.
We are committed to providing every disabled person – whether their disability is physical or mental, visible or invisible – with support and guidance to help them live and contribute at their full capacity.
We continually look for ways to incorporate people with disabilities across all parts of the business. In line with one of our founding values “Our doors are open”, we actively recruit employees with disabilities and invest in training to increase awareness. We believe that doing this unlocks a huge candidate pool for the company, and through these efforts, we have achieved disability confidence status.
Thrive is our main disability support network, which is set up by employees for employees, enabling individuals to perform at their full capacity. Thrive offers training resources to managers, to assist them in providing the right support for their colleagues.
We want to ensure we’re able to support local businesses and larger companies owned and operated by a diverse range of people.
We recognise that no two people share the same combination of background, culture, abilities, and values – and it’s wonderful.
Here, we put a high value on diversity and strive to create an inclusive environment where everyone can be their best. For these reasons, we’ve forged relationships with key organisations to help us provide better approaches to diversity and disability:
Business Disability Forum
Best Diversity Awards
Disability Passport
Time to Change Pledge
MyPlus Recruiters' Club Most Progressed Inclusive Recruitment Award
MyPlus Recruiters' Club Most Successful Business-Wide Engagement Award
Best Diversity Recruiter - NUE Awards
Best Diversity Recruiter - student driven TARGETjobs awards
Best Diversity Recruiter - GradIreland Awards
Best Diversity Recruiter - NUE Awards
Best Diversity Recruiter - student driven TARGETjobs awards
Leading transportation provider Enterprise is working hard to embed a positive approach to diversity in every aspect of its business.
As European HR Director Donna Miller puts it; “we don’t want diversity to be just an HR thing. We recognise that the more diverse our workforce is, the more successful we will be, so it makes perfect sense that diversity should be a business directive, underpinning everything we do.”
In practice, such a commitment needs to start from the top, as Donna explains.
“Our directors are champions of different areas of diversity: disability, sexual orientation, social mobility, race, religion and gender”, she says. “That’s created a lot of traction, and really helped create an open door culture throughout the organisation.”
Making a real difference
It’s an ethos that is reflected in the company’s approach to recruiting talent. “We don’t have a checklist”, says Ashley Hever, Head of Talent Acquisition for the UK and Ireland. “It’s not about finding some perfect talented person that ticks all the boxes. We’re looking for the right competencies of course, but we want people who’re going to come in and make a real difference, hit the ground running, and look for opportunities to develop themselves.”
People with disabilities form an integral part of the rich mix. “There are so many different skills that someone with, for example, dyslexia or Asperger’s Syndrome can bring to the business”, says Ashley. “It’s a question of matching their particular skills to the right role.”
He also acknowledges the importance of having diverse role models, citing the example of a senior employee who spoke openly and blogged about his own mental illness and struggles to deal with stress. It sends out the right signal to employees that they can get the support they need, and to potential recruits that Enterprise is the employer of choice in this area.
“The partnership between Enterprise and MyPlus Students’ Club is really helping to get that message out there”, says Ashley. “It’s given a voice to all the stakeholders, both employers and graduates, and helped bring them together.”
A culture of openness
Being open about a disability when applying for a job is something that people often struggle with. It’s a decision that has to come down to personal choice but, as Donna explains, employers have a vital part to play by creating a culture that encourages disclosure. “We strive to create an environment where people can talk about their disability and feel comfortable doing so”, she says.
”But there’s a practical side to it too it’s difficult to be supportive about something that you don’t know about! We want people to come forward with the issues or challenges they’re facing.”
Ashley echoes the sentiment, pointing out that the whole recruitment process becomes considerably easier if the company in question has the information up front. “Our team of recruiters are very well trained, and ready to accommodate candidates’ needs.”
Any new recruits can also look forward to ongoing support. “We provide training about disability”, says Ashley, “and in our orientation sessions, we talk about the importance of having a good open relationship with your line manager. We have our employee assistance programme where employees can discuss any issues they have. There are role models within the organisation that people can talk to. We have an easily accessible online system allowing employees to order any equipment directly from our operations team and there are also a whole series of lunch and learn sessions talking about disability.”
As an organisation, Enterprise is committed to extending and deepening its own understanding of diversity. Again, the partnership with MyPlus Students’ Club comes into play: “it’s a great educational piece for us”, says Ashley.
Head office placements
You can have a role in a variety of different head office functions; Marketing, Communications, Finance to name but a few.
Summer Internships
Learn about sales, marketing, customer service and business management!
Management Trainee Programme
In this programme, you will experience running your own business from the ground up. You will obtain all the skills that you need to understand how to run your own section of our multi-billion dollar company. How many other employers can say that?
International Management Trainee Programme
If you want to learn the sales and management skills our Management Trainees are given, but also want an opportunity to work internationally then this is perfect for you! You will receive training in the UK then work in France or Spain and put into practice all you have learnt.
Apprenticeships
As an apprentice at Enterprise, we make a serious investment in helping you develop your skills, talents, and abilities. We’ll also put your career on the fast track by providing you with all the training and development you need to thrive – and all sorts of opportunities for promotion.
Elizabeth Freemantle, Talent Acquisition specialist, shares her tips for would-be applicants:
At Enterprise, you’ll need to show us how positivity and enthusiasm colours everything you do. Ask yourself – do I have a “yes” mentality? Am I driven by the desire to achieve results?
No matter what your disability, our graduate jobs are for those of you who want responsibility early on, and the opportunity to start moving up the career ladder quickly.
That’s why we tend to focus on the following competencies:
We find that these traits mean our employees are best equipped to make the most of any situation they find themselves.
Here are some additional blog posts written by current and/or previous employees regarding Application tips
Our recruitment practices are designed to allow you an equal chance to display your skills. We are committed to providing personalised adjustments depending on the needs of the individual. These are examples of adjustments we have made for candidates in the past:
Contact Ashley Hever for more questions and to find the best adjustments for you. Ashley.V.Hever@ehi.com, 01784221300
Enterprise provides a wide range of adjustments including an employee assistance programme, online equipment ordering systems as well as flexible working arrangements for employees with a long term disability.
We have signed The Accessible Technology Charter which sets out ten commitments to good practice on ICT accessibility. By signing it we pledged to ensure disabled and older people can apply for jobs with us, be employed by us and do business with us.
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