Parvalux – by Maxon
Parvalux – by Maxon
Parvalux Electric Motors was first established in 1947 by Mr L Clark in London where he provided motor rewinds and repairs. The business relocated to Bournemouth in 1957 where it started designing and manufacturing complete gear-motor units for industrial applications.
Acquired by Swiss motor manufacturer. Maxon, in 2018.
In May/June 2023 it relocated to its new headquarters within Bournemouth.
It currently employs around 207 people – 99% are full time. The work is largely physical work involving manual labour. 28% are female.
Disability status
Disability Confident – level 1
Company representative:
Ellie
Why did you join the scheme?
Our MD was approached by Dorset Careers Hub at a networking event and was introduced to the Disability Confident scheme. Soon realised that we already have people working for us within the company for whom we could potential help to enable them to work better.
But secondly, to be that first leading manufacturer within the area to sign up and have this type of accreditation. Manufacturing isn’t always adapted to accommodate people who may have additional needs. So this was an opportunity for us to lead the way and make the change within manufacturing. To be the leader and help others get there too. Since we’ve been doing this we’ve become quite passionate about it.
What are your impressions of the Removing Barriers initiative?
The networking sessions really opened our eyes to what can be done to help and adapt the working environment. It made me realise that we must have people within our organisation who are struggling but just don’t feel able to talk about it. It tugged on my heartstrings and made me realise we need to make a difference. Good work looks different to every body and we need to be giving them the tools to do so and make their lives easier and less daunting.
What do you do in practice?
We’ve made a few changes already (April 2023) and we’re looking at changing our recruitment process. We display the Disability Confident logo across our site and we introduced it to our staff – which encouraged a number of people to speak up. They’ve felt confident to come to us to tell us about their personal situation where as they haven’t done so in the past. We’ve seen the difference just by being open about it and given employees a voice.
We’re also moving site as of next week (May 2023) and initially in the plans for the site we didn’t really consider accessible points. Following us joining the scheme we’ve made sure that every area of the new site is accessible to everybody so there’s no exclusions and no one feels different. This current site we’re in is quite old and unfortunatey it’s not accessible to anyone in a wheelchair, for example, so we’ve made sure we’ve built that into the new site.
The work required is physical, some of which requires heavy lifting, so there’s a fine line we need to tread during the recruitment process. But there are a wide variety of jobs here and we’re very flexible about moving people around to different departments. There are some things that are more intricate; there are areas suitable for people who may prefer to work alone. And of course it’s not just the physical abilities of people to consider, it’s the mental and neurological aspects that we need to be aware of.
Our main focus is on working on our recruitment process: how we display our adverts; our screening and interviewing process. We’re hoping that by the end of the year we’ll have fine-tuned that so it’s fully inclusive and accessible to everyone.
It wouldn’t have even occurred to me beforehand if I’m honest, but looking at our current process now I realise that our job adverts on LinkedIn or Indeed mention nothing about disabilities; we never even offer any adaptations for interviews; don’t ask people who come into our offices if they would like us to make any changes for them.
There’s a lot to work on but we’re fully committed. In the next three months we’re hoping to reach level 2.
We’ve put a lot of legroom in to work with local colleges and we have a couple of students coming in (18th May) who have additional needs to do work experience and the HR director has devised a great programme for them that will show them what it’s like to work in a manufacturing environment.
What’s next?
The ultimate goal is to be an accessible employer where everyone gets a fair shot at each role and that when they are with us they feel as comfortable as everyone else would because they have the right support and tools around them.
In the new site we’ve provided numerous break out areas for people during their breaks. Some people may not want to sit in a crowded area during their breaks so there are quiet rooms. In the canteen there are facilities for them to heat up their own food should they wish. Multipurpose rooms – for quite, for prayer, for breast feeding, reflection.
The new site provides showers, including accessible toilets across the site.
The new site will allow us to work towards our ultimate goal of being a Disability Confident Leader. Had we not been moving I think it would have been more difficult to have been more open and accessible – so we’re really fortunate.
Some of the adaptations we’ve been requested to make have been quite minor. One of our guys came to us and told us he had Aspergers. He hadn’t disclosed this to us before now. He revealed to us that he found the radio quite triggering so all we had to do was turn down the radio.
Once we reach level 3 our plan is to showcase what we do to other manufacturers in Dorset. At networking events and conferences we’ll be sure to talk about what we’ve put in place and our experience so that we can influence others to follow suit.