Over the past year, we have helped 900 people with autism or a learning, physical or sensory disability to find work placements through our Surrey Choices EmployAbility service.
The success of the service was celebrated recently at our Making a Difference awards where we highlighted what a difference being within a work environment can make to our customers lives. However, it’s not just our customers who have seen the advantages – some of the biggest employers in the country have benefitted from adding hard working, enthusiastic and skilled individuals to their teams.
The catering department at the University of Surrey have been working with Surrey Choices for a number of years. They currently have six outlets which includes restaurants, coffee shops, bars and a Starbucks.
A University spokesperson told us:
“We mainly place students from Surrey Choices at Hillside Restaurant which is a busy restaurant offering hot food and grab and go products to staff and students, Monday to Friday. We have always found that the students from Surrey Choices build good relationships with our team, and contribute to our service delivery and customer satisfaction.
“I think the Making a Difference award is a great thing to do and is excellent for the development of students.”
Hillside have continued to support work experience students over the past few years and they describe Lewis as one of the best natural workers they know. He’s always smiling and extremely helpful.
Situated in Oak House at the University of Surrey, Hillside offers a variety of breakfast and lunch options to eat in or take away.