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Research into the skills and competencies required by staff working with people with learning disabilities has concentrated on staff views. The purpose of this paper is to explore what people with learning disabilities want from the workforce supporting them. The evaluation was commissioned by Health Education England working across Kent, Surrey and Sussex (HEE KSS).

An easy read questionnaire, co-produced with people with learning disabilities, was completed with 70 participants, 65 of whom attended one of 10 workshops. Two questionnaires were also completed by parents on behalf of their child. The workshops also allowed for open discussion.

People with learning disabilities value a workforce with a positive attitude, with staff who are skilled in supporting people to gain independence and have a voice.

Findings are relevant to staff recruitment, matching of staff to services and staff training.

Although there is some previous research around service user views, this evaluation had a larger sample size. The findings were similar to previous studies, particularly around the kind of qualities required from staff, which were the ability to listen, have trust and be able to learn specific skills. Although the highest representation was from young people and young adults, participants ranged from 12 to over 65 years. Differences in views according to participant age ranges are also noted.

The study aims to investigate the usage of diversity and inclusion (D&I) signals in communications for employer branding through digital channels made by European companies.

A quali-quantitative content analysis approach was employed to detect the usage of D&I signals of the top 43 European companies ranked in the 2021 Refinitiv Diversity and Inclusion index. These signals were organized according to Plummer's Big 8 diversity's dimensions. A correlation analysis was conducted to verify a relationship between D&I initiatives and digital communication for employer branding on corporate websites and LinkedIn. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the D&I dimensions' pervasiveness in digital communications and relevance on LinkedIn.

The results show that the correlation exists only between D&I initiatives and communication on the corporate website, while LinkedIn is still underused in this field. The most pervasive and relevant D&I dimensions for European companies are “Gender” and “Sexual Orientation”.

This paper enriches employer branding research by providing original insights into the use of D&I dimensions in digital communications.