Back to Work Strategies
Date: 03-02-2005
"Exit from the labour force is simply the transition from active to inactive life, as defined in Employment in Europe 2003. It can happen to anyone at any age who develops a health condition which impacts on work capacity."
It can happen to anyone at any age who develops a health condition which impacts on work capacity."
"29% of those who left work early did so through early retirement and 15% as a result of their illness or disability".
These stark messages come from a recent report, Employment and Disability: Back to work strategies, written by two Irish colleagues and founders of SDnet , Richard Wynne, Work Research Centre and Donal MacAnaney, REHAB Group.
Their report analyses efforts in seven EU countries to combat the effects of chronic illness and disability, and proposes a new model for understanding the problem and an assessment tool for new initiatives.
This report is one of those rare pieces of research that punctures long-standing myths about disability and work, and identifies many gaps and shortcomings in current labour market practices and policies. "The disabled" are not the clearly defined societal group that policy-makers so often assume, and the path to 'becoming disabled' may be long and tortuous, often devoid of social support and work protection. Those who become chronically ill or have a debilitating accident are in a precarious position - often losing not only their job, health and mobility but also their income, work skills, contact to colleagues and social standing.
This is an outstanding example of how trans-national, comparative case studies can be an important tool for social research - given that EU member states define and manage their social protection policies independently from each other.
Finding answers to the gamut of identified problems is everyone's responsibility. The report concludes with recommendations for policymakers, service providers and employers. It also highlights the ILO Code of Practice Managing Disability in the workplace (2002), as a good starting point for planning and redesigning systems for job retention and re-integration.
Download the report
Employment and Disability: Back to work strategies