A week with Joe, our Employment Support Manager

In November 2021, Joe took the leap from courtroom to coffee, joining Redemption Roasters as our Employment Support and Partnerships Manager. Rather than trying to explain his very wordy job title, he’s shared a week in his shoes. Read on to find out how Joe supports our graduates from start to finish.

Monday

Mondays mark the first day of our weekly community training programme. Introduced in 2020 in response to the pandemic, our community training programme extends our barista training and support beyond the prison walls to individuals in the community who either have previous convictions or are at risk of crime. Our training lab is now located in our shiny new office in Kings Cross. Of the eight booked onto the course this week, only five have attended. Unfortunately this is the reality of working with vulnerable individuals, and you quickly come to realise that just getting someone to attend training is a victory in itself.

This cohort is a diverse group. They include a recent prison leaver who had been serving a lengthy sentence for burglary, a young man who was sectioned in summer 2021 with a diagnosis of psychosis, and a single mother from Sudan who is facing the prospect of being evicted by her landlord. These initial meetings on day 1 of training allow us to build a more complete picture of each graduate, to tailor our employment and holistic support to their specific needs.

In the afternoon I meet with our Head of Retail, Sam. We discuss the progress of existing graduates already employed within our shops and also potential internal employment opportunities for some of the upcoming graduates. We also discuss the importance of graduate development into supervisory and managerial roles in the future.

Tuesday

On Tuesday I meet with one of our wholesale clients who has expressed an interest in employing some of our graduates in the future. As a highly regarded speciality coffee brand we are fortunate to have a network of fantastic wholesale partners who stock and sell Redemption coffee in their outlets. For many of our wholesale clients the Redemption mission and ethos is just as attractive as the quality of our coffee, and it plays a large role in their desire to work with us.

As an Education Team, having the support of external employers is vital. Although our own network of coffee shops is expanding rapidly, we don’t have the internal capacity to employ every graduate we train. It is therefore important that we have external employers who are willing and able to employ Redemption graduates. We talk about the job opportunity and the realities of employing a Redemption graduate, including some of the inevitable challenges. We also discuss the support that we, as an employment team, can provide to the employer, including weekly check-ins, assistance with further training and holistic support for the graduate.

Wednesday

On Wednesday morning I meet with a graduate working in one of our busiest shops. Regular check-ins are an important part of the support we provide as our graduates make the transition from training to employment.

This graduate is only in his third week of employment. We discuss his progress over the last week and he explains that he has now started to spend more time on the coffee machine pulling espresso shots and steaming milk. We also discuss his financial situation and I offer to top up his Oyster card to assist him with his travel costs to and from work. We are fortunate at Redemption to have a dedicated hardship fund to allow us to assist those graduates experiencing financial difficulties. We also speak about the benefits of budgeting and arrange to have a session next week where we will draft a monthly budget for him together.

In the afternoon I meet with a charity also working with ex-offenders. We discuss the work of our respective organisations and lament the current lack of support and employment opportunities for ex-offenders. Referrals from charities are a key source of graduates and an important part of my role is to spread the word about our work so that we can reach more people in need of our support.

Thursday

On Thursday I visit our barista training academy at HMP Send, a women’s prison in Surrey. We currently have three in-prison training academies in addition to a number of prisons in which we “train the trainer” so that existing prison staff can deliver our training programme. After a lengthy wait at security I meet with our in-custody barista trainer, Claudia. Having previously worked as a barista (and manager) at Gail’s Bakery, Claudia was attracted to Redemption by the opportunity to use her skills to make a difference.

I get to sample some flat whites before having a chat with our trainees about the employment support we provide. One trainee is due to be released in less than a month after serving a lengthy sentence and is very keen to work with Redemption upon her release. Her enthusiasm and excitement is infectious and it is clear that she would be a great fit for a role in hospitality.

Friday

After a day of meetings, I attend a “cupping” at one of our shops. For those not familiar, a “cupping” is essentially a coffee tasting. It is an opportunity to bring the whole company together to learn about and celebrate the fantastic coffee we roast. Our roastery team takes us through the different coffees, explaining their origins and offering tasting notes. In-keeping with our company mission and ethos, many of our coffees are sourced from projects that do good in their local communities. Our house coffee, The Yard, includes a coffee sourced from the ASCAFÉ project in Columbia, a rehabilitation programme for ex-combatants in which they are taught agricultural skills like environmental sustainability and crop diversity.

It is the perfect way to end a busy week, although after sampling six different coffees in two hours I can’t help but feel my chances of catching up with sleep over the weekend have taken a turn for the worst.