WeCAN at West Yorkshire Combined Authority

WeCAN is a staff network for employees who identify as disabled or who have a long standing condition or illness that affects their lives.  The staff network was developed in December 2021 and was created as a safe space for employees to meet and discuss issues that affect disabled employees and discuss changes in the workplace to better support disabled colleagues and provide more inclusivity.

Staff network groups are critical for EDI at the Combined Authority, in providing nurturing spaces for colleagues, often with a shared heritage, experience (indirect or direct) or characteristic that come together to support each other. As well as supporting the organisation and the EDI activities in which they work, staff network groups can be effective mobilisers to support and empower colleagues, raise awareness, assess, inform decisions and/or problem solving, and enable innovative approaches to strengthen EDI efforts at the Combined Authority.