The Lord Mayor of London touched on the forthcoming EU referendum and discussed the Citys reputation in the first part of IBTimes UKs exclusive video interview with the Square Mile representative. But in the second section, Alan Yarrow urges City firms to do more on accommodating disabled people into their workforces.
The Lord Mayor argued the Square Mile has a very good record on the area, but he claimed it could be a lot better. Yarrow added: Its about finding the right people for the right job. Quite often you will find that someone who is marginally disabled would be very happy to be have a repetitive job because they want to belong to something, they want to show that they are actually giving some value. After all, we all have a net worth – we have pride in ourselves, we have well-being – therefore I want to give those people the chance to show that.
The Lord Mayor also talked about the Citys outreach work, which described as phenomenal. The Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment chairman said: Just look at what has happened to the inner London schools over the last 10 years – they were sink schools.
But because of good headmasters, because of mentors, because of people putting time in – it might very well be Deloitte, Linklaters and Slaughter and May who are going out there and putting people in – they are now some of the best schools in this country because there is a huge amount of outreach.
Yarrow added: It would be unfair to say that this is an old school tie network because actually you only have to walk down the street in the City of London and you will come across 60, 70, 80 nationalities, let alone languages. We really do use the City and employ people from almost any background if they have got the skills we require. We want variety of thought, creativity and imagination.
The full second part of the exclusive video interview with the Lord Mayor can be viewed above and take a look at part one.