The Together Trust teams up with a restaurant chain to provide work experience for autistic students
Inscape House School, one of the Together Trust's specialist education settings, which looks after young people with autism, has teamed up with the premium restaurant chain Gusto in Cheadle Hulme to offer our students an 8-week work placement in the hospitality industry.
Following successful job interviews with all six students last month, they have earned the opportunity to participate in two-hour sessions in a real-life working environment, particularly gaining experience in both front and back-of-house skills. After the interviews, Mikey Rice, Training Manager at Gusto, shared that he was overwhelmed by the students and their capabilities. In addition, he even revealed that he would genuinely have offered permanent jobs to a couple of the students based on their performance.
Mikey is dyslexic and understands the importance of tackling the barriers autistic people face in the workplace. He shares that it is valuable for him to prove to the students from Inscape House School what they are all capable of with the right support. Thanks to Mikey and the rest of the restaurant staff at Gusto in Cheadle Hulme and Didsbury, who volunteer their spare time to run the training, the young enthusiasts have been practising bar preparation, mocktail making, setting tables, making pizza and taking orders.
One of the staff members working closely with the students is the 19-year-old bartender Olly. Olly has ADHD, Tourette's syndrome and is one of the 21.7% of autistic people in the UK who are in employment (Office for National Statistics, 2020).
After realising that pursuing a law degree wasn't quite for him, he moved on to undertake a hospitality course and, after graduation, ended up at the restaurant chain Gusto. Among those with autism, Olly is one of the lucky few since fewer than three in 10 are in work (The Guardian, 2023).
"The first time I met Olly was when I was training floor staff, and we were tasting some new menu items. I did notice he was very timid and quite reserved," shares Francesca Barber, Mentor at Gusto
Although he didn't bring up being autistic at first, the team at Gusto made him feel accepted and didn't mind his introverted, quiet and very literal personality. Within this environment, Olly felt safe to open up to his colleague, Francesca:
Following a conversation about Olly's preferences, he was given a role behind the bar on a permanent basis, and the restaurant team worked with him on strategies to help him flourish in the role:
"I can be quite literal, so the bar manager helps by wiring me out a list of tasks I can follow at the beginning of each shift. I'm also allowed short breaks at any time if things get too much", says Olly.
Since then, Francesca shares that she's watched Olly grow in confidence. This shows that with the right approach and accommodating environment, autistic people can thrive in the workplace too. When asked about what would be the best piece of advice he could provide to the students from Inscape House School, he replied:
Inscape House School’s collaboration with the restaurant chain Gusto strives to give the autistic students a chance to prove themselves in the workplace but also motivate employers to foster a more inclusive environment and tackle preconceived notions and unconscious biases about autism while transforming thousands of autistic people's lives.
