Arbeitsassistenz - Work Assistance Programme - Austria
Abstract
Work assistance is an initiative which has been systematically carried out since 1996, and has the task of integrating people with specific disabilities and illnesses into the labour market and ensuring their retention at their place of work. In Upper Austria work assistance is carried out by four institutions: pro mente, for those who suffer from mental or psychosocial disabilities, the Clinic for the Deaf, for those who are deaf or whose hearing is over 50 percent impaired, Verein Miteinander (Together Association), for mentally, physically or multiply handicapped people, and also the Association for the Rehabilitation and Integration of the Blind and Visually Impaired (RISS) for persons suffering from visual impairment or blindness occurring later in life. OSH services play a subsidiary role in the programme.
Background
The 'Verein Miteinander' organisation was founded 25 years ago by parents of children who were mentally, physically or multiply disabled. Its aim was to integrate disabled children in normal schools. As the children grew up, the organisation expanded its aims to include the integration of the young disabled people into working life. The organisation proposed a project in 1989 and they applied to the Federal Social Welfare Office for finance for the project. As no funds were granted, the concept could only be implemented in a relatively modest way. Further applications for funding were also unsuccessful. The organisation pro mente also did early work on the idea of job assistance and carried out a pilot project with a partner in Lower Austria in 1992. After an evaluation was undertaken, job assistance became a permanent feature. Before work assistance was introduced, RISS had also tried to find jobs for the blind and visually impaired, and had provided clients with EDP training for this purpose.
In 1995, when funds from the EU Social Fund became available in Austria, the provincial offices of the Federal Social Welfare Department were given the task of supporting work assistance projects in each province . In Upper Austria, the Federal Social Welfare Office asked Verein Miteinander, the association for mental and social health pro mente, the association 'Rehabilitation and Integration of Visually impaired and Blind Persons' (RISS) and to the Clinic for the Deaf at the Hospital of the Brothers of Mercy to submit projects. All of these organisations had experience in the integration and retention of the disabled in the labour market when dealing with individual cases. Work assistance is now a part of the National Labour Plan and has been embodied in the Disabled Employment act. This means enables national funding should financial support from the EU be reduced.
The Federal Ministry for Social Security and Generations is responsible for work assistance, and it is this agency which devolved the implementation of the scheme to the federal social welfare offices . In the ministry a committee has been set up to decide on funding issues. Members of this committee include representatives of the War Victims' Association, Associations for the Disabled, the Trade Unions, Employers' Associations , the Provinces and the Ministry of Finance, and is chaired by the Ministry for Social Security and Generations. The models described below are based on the example of Upper Austria.
The projects are developed by the people who submit them. The federal social authorities have a monitoring role, but no influence is exerted on the project design. Monitoring takes place on a half-yearly basis.
Aims and Objectives
The general aim of each project is toe integrate clients into the labour market. If a client is in danger of losing a job, the aim is to maintain them in work. Clear objectives have been defined by the Federal Social Welfare Office. Each work assistance worker must take care of 18 persons per year, and of these 30 percent must be placed. 75 percent of these placements must be in the primary labour market, the other placements can be in the secondary labour market . The placement is considered successful when the employment has lasted for six months or if someone in danger of losing their job is kept in employment for a further six months after the intervention of the work assistance worker.
The project sponsors have set themselves a number of further aims. One of these is the sensitising of employers and employees to the problems of the work assistance clients. This is achieved by giving presentations of their work to groups in adult education, trade unions and employer's associations. Public relations work is a further important element of their work - much work is done in the media, using regional newspapers and trade newspapers. The four work assistance organisations work together closely. The work done in the area of prevention is of special importance, as many problems would not arise if the handicapped employee received the right care at the right time. In order to develop multipliers for job support, Pro Mente has organised two training courses ('Competence in Counselling and Placement' and 'Colleagues as Sponsors at Work').
The project owners find it important to move clients away from sheltered employment and into the labour market. For those who are unplaceable, training courses are provided or rehabilitation measures are undertaken. However, neither of these measures are counted as successful work assistance. The special situation of physically handicapped, blind or deaf young people is not catered for by the various vocational training systems, so work assistance endeavours to have vocational training adapted to their requirements.
The job support assistants do not only support their clients for integration in the labour market, they also provide more comprehensive support. The immediate environment of the client must be suitable, before they can be placed in a job - the financial situation of the client must be regularised (debt transference or out-of-court settlement to avoid confiscation of wages), therapy and family counselling may be carried out, accommodation found, leisure time activities organised. Solving the problems often necessitates a comprehensive analysis which can take up to three months. The aim here is to enable the client to be independent as soon as possible. Work assistance sees itself as a clearing house which provides its clients with the best possible solution in the shortest possible time.
Stakeholders and Target Groups
The client groups are people with mental or psychosocial disorders, the deaf and those with a hearing impairment of over 50 percent, mentally, physically or multiply disabled persons, and the blind and those with visual impairments. It should be mentioned that people awaiting placement are expected to search actively for a job using normal channels such as newspapers and the labour market service. Their job support assistant prepares them for and accompanies them to the interview.
More and more management personnel suffering from stress are among the with mental or psychosocial disorders. The number of single mothers is also increasing. Generally, the problems of the clients are becoming more complex and it is becoming more time-consuming to care for them. Illnesses and health problems are becoming more complex and the average age of the clients is rising as more and more applications for early retirement are being rejected by the pension insurance institutions.
Important stakeholders in the programmes are the Labour Market Service and the Provincial Administration who not only finance the projects but also direct clients to them who could be reintegrated in the labour market by means of work assistance. The Federal Social Welfare Department has a similar function, as it is not only a principal but also directs disabled persons to the relevant work assistance association when they are in danger of losing their job. Other important partners are specialists in neurology and psychiatry, ENT and ophthalmology who can refer patients to the relevant work assistance organisation. The work assistance workers keep in regular contact with the organisations representing the interests of their clients (for example the Association for the Blind) as well as with self-help groups.
The most important partners of the work assistance scheme are companies, as only they can employ or retain disabled people. It is no accident that the motto of work assistance is 'People at the centre - business as a partner'. Another relevant partner is the 'We-work' organisation, funded by the Social Welfare Department, the Provincial Administration (Authorities) and the European Social Fund, which canvasses for companies which are willing to employ disabled people under the work assistance scheme. The work assistance workers keep close in contact with the management, employees and their representatives in order to deal with possible prejudice in advance, to promote understanding of the circumstances of the person concerned and to adapt the work environment. The support of an occupational physician and safety engineer is needed for this.
The Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Labour are important contacts because they can bring the concerns of work assistance to the groups they represent. They are also prepared to give their active support concerning the changes in vocational training already mentioned. There is good contact with the provincial School Supervisor on this issue. Vocational training institutes are further partners for training, continuing vocational training and retraining.
Results Obtained
The Department of Social Welfare is pleased with the success of the project and recognises the efforts of the work assistance workers. They regularly take on more than the 18 clients required and the placement quota is also often exceeded. In the opinion of the responsible official, there is generally permanent integration of the client. Cost benefit analyses are considered positive and it would be desirable to have enough funding to finance a comprehensive expansion of the project. In the opinion of the Federal Social Welfare Department, the project would be even more effective if the work assistance workers could take enterprises needs more into account, as they currently focus on client requirements. Interviews with the work assistance workers revealed that one indicator of success of the project was that clients often contacted them, even after quite some time, to thank them for their care, which had not only brought them a job but had also helped to stabilise their personal and social circumstances. Companies, too, often give positive feedback and are prepared to take on further persons which work assistance wants to place.
The project sponsors, however, see more problems. There is not enough financial support from the public authorities, making it impossible to provide comprehensive care for all in need. They criticise the fact that enterprises can 'buy themselves free' from the obligation to employ disabled persons by paying a relatively low fee. They also criticise the lack of after-care for the clients (in crisis situations, for example). There is no evaluation from the project sponsors or from the Federal Social Welfare Department. An evaluation has been carried out in several scientific studies , one of which was requested by the Ministry for Social Assurance and Generations. The results of this study indicated that between the four sponsoring organisations, 83 people were placed in employment in 1997, 63 in 1998 and 91 in 1999, while 38 were retained in jobs ion 1997, 20 in 1998 and 60 in 1999.
About 42.5 percent of the funds necessary to carry out work assistance come from the European Social Fund, and the rest is provided by the Federal Social Welfare Department, the province of Upper Austria and the Labour Market Service. In the case of RISS, a sum equal to 10 percent of the funds allocated is provided by capital resources. Funding for the four organisations has increased annually, with budgets rising from 9.5m ATS in 1998 to 12.3m ATS in 2000.
On 1 July 2000 there were 25 people in full or part time employment with work assistance. 18 of them were work assistance workers. The staff of 'We-work' (4 employees) are indirectly attached to the project.
Role of Occupational Health Services
Discussions with project sponsors and the Federal Social Welfare Department revealed that systematic participation of the OHS arose only in the context of the job interview. Co-operation with the OHS was considered to be potentially helpful. At present occupational physicians or safety engineers are only contacted if workplace adaptation is needed. The possibility and advantages of co-operation has apparently not yet been recognised by either the work assistance or the OHS. There even seems to be some reluctance to contact representatives of the OHS. Only pro mente has built up contacts to a company which offers OHS to other companies.
However, OHS already make a positive contribution to the integration and retention in the disabled workers, but this depends on the engagement of the OHS representative and the active integration of the OHS by the work assistance worker, and is therefore somewhat random. Systematic inclusion of OHS in the client-oriented adaptation of workplaces is missing. In the occupational medical care of the client and in health and safety questions the OHS must cater for the special needs related to the client's disability, and also help with the social integration of the client. To achieve this, the Federal Social Welfare Department, as principal, should discuss this possibility with the work assistance groups and should require them to work together with the OHS .
Work assistance should also be integrated into the training of occupational physicians and safety engineers. The tasks and the concerns of work assistance might also be presented to the Austrian Society for Occupational Medicine and the General Accident Insurance Institute at their annual conference. Since work assistance has already been embodied in the Act for the Employment of the Disabled, it should also be embodied in the Industrial Safety Act in order to provide a legal basis for co-operation.
Generalisability of the Initiative
As work assistance is carried out in several EU countries in either the same form or a similar one, the general use of this instrument for the occupational integration of the disabled and their retention at the workplace is possible.
Assessment of the Initiative
This initiative provides and example of a programme for the integration and retention of disabled people into the workforce. It originates from 4 Disability organisations which have collaborated with one another to provide a job placement service for their clients. There are a number of features of this initiative which are worthy of comment:
The role of occupational health services - OHS services in this initiative played a rather haphazard if useful role in relation to easing the disabled workers into the workplace. Their role was confined, where it was exercised at all, to the adaptation of the work environment for disabled people entering the workplace. In this regard, their role may not be untypical for initiatives which are led by Disability agencies, where the links between these agencies and workplace actors tends to be relatively weak. However, where OHS services were active, the initiative illustrates how OHS services can play a useful and necessary part in the integration of disabled people into the workplace.
Results of the project - A significant feature of this project concerns the considerable numbers of people with a wide range of disabilities who are consistently being placed in jobs on the open labour market. There is a strong ethos within the projects that employment on the open labour market is the sole criterion of success, rather than focusing on sheltered employment as an option.
Relationship to employability - There is a very clear relationship between this projects activities and the promotion of the employability of disabled workers. The measures which the project takes, essentially the organisation of training and job placement, contribute directly to making disabled people more attractive on the labour market.