Company-wide agreement to promote the employment of handicapped workers at the SNCF (French Railway Board)
Abstract
Since 1992, the employment of handicapped workers and the rehabilitation of employees who have become unfit during their career have been covered by agreements between senior management and all the trade union organisations in the enterprise.
Conducted by a Central Task Force, this action testifies to the enterprise's commitment to the integration of handicapped people. Since its launching, it has permitted the hiring of 455 handicapped workers and the retention and/or rehabilitation of 2391 employees who had become unfit.
Foundations of the Project
As employer, the SNCF (French Railway Board) is subject to the provisions of the Act of 10 July 1987 in favour of the integration of handicapped workers.
Under this Act, it is, in particular, obligatory for enterprises with over 20 employees to employ handicapped workers for a proportion of 6 percent of their workforce. Enterprises can be partly exempted from this obligation
- by paying a contribution to a specialised collecting organisation;
- by signing contracts with the supported employment sector;
- or by signing a company-wide agreement enabling specific additional measures to be taken to promote the integration of handicapped people in the enterprise.
It is this latter approach - the company-wide agreement - that was selected by the SNCF senior management and trade union organisations.
Apart from the fact that it enables the enterprise to fulfil its legal obligations with respect to the employment of handicapped workers, the agreement was adopted in preference to the other possible approaches, because it
- enables the SNCF to manifest clearly, both internally and externally, its determination to take part in the fight against social exclusion;
- promotes the development of action plans in line with the corporate strategy, and
- it helps improve social dialogue within the enterprise.
To date, three agreements have already been signed. The first two covered the period from 1993 to 1998; the third, which is currently applied, is valid for the period 1999 to 2001, and an additional clause, moreover, was included in June 2000.
Aims, Objectives and Targets of the Project
The agreement signed for the period 1999-2001 is, like the previous two, based on a policy of active, joint participation in social progress and the fight against social exclusion, and of job enrichment for the men and women making up the enterprise.
Following on from the achievements of the past period, the ambition of the new agreement is to give new momentum to the social integration and personal development of the handicapped through their integration or retention in employment. In this perspective, it gives priority to the following objectives:
- hire handicapped people, thanks to appropriate, decentralised information and organisation;
- succeed with integration on the human and material levels;
- develop and adapt training actions in favour of the handicapped;
- search, preventively, for sensed cases of unfitness, whether temporary or permanent, and for possibilities for adaptation of the work position held;
- undertake systematically the rehabilitation of workers who become unfit for their job, since the prevention policy applied by the Enterprise cannot completely prevent cases of unfitness from occurring;
- make sure that the handicapped are taken into account in plans for training and adaptation to technological change and that their access to information is facilitated;
- drive new actions based on the experiments performed;
- prepare handicapped people outside the Enterprise to exercise a trade by contributing to their training, especially by offering them courses within the enterprise;
- entrust work to the certified supported employment sector, while endeavouring to diversify the work, and look for new forms of partnership with this sector.
By the various actions it provides for, the agreement therefore benefits a broad target of handicapped people:
- not only those already employed in the enterprise, who should be rehabilitated when they become unfit for their job;
- but also those outside the enterprise, who could be either recruited or received for courses;
- and also those who work in the supported employment sector.
Nature of the Action
To attain the objectives set by the agreement, the enterprise works out operating plans; for each of these plans a projected budget is established, and an annual quantitative and qualitative review is made.
- Plan for hiring in the ordinary work environment
The SNCF has set itself the objective of recruiting at least 340 handicapped workers during the period of the 1999-2001 agreement. To achieve this objective, each region and central department should recruit a number of handicapped workers equal to at least 5 percent of the number of recruits to be hired during the three years of the agreement (for jobs which are not excluded), with a minimum of four handicapped workers for each entity. Recruitment is performed at all training levels, in all the schools, without giving priority to the lightest handicaps. - ntegration and training plan
Integration involves several stages, each of which must be carried out successfully: recruitment, reception, vocational adaptation training, integration follow-up, social aids, and preparation for evaluation in the enterprise. We should emphasise here the importance of reception, which requires attentive preparation, especially by management staff. This preparation strongly involves the corporate doctor; it should also take into account ergonomics as of the work station design stage, and involve the Committee for Health, Safety and Work Conditions (CHSCT). Information provided to future colleagues and to the handicapped worker is also decisive for the success of reception. After recalling that training is a right for all employees of the enterprise, the agreement recommends the working out of a personalised training programme for each case of hiring, rehabilitation or retraining of handicapped staff. - Plan for adaptation to technological change
A plan for adaptation of work stations (fitting out, purchase of appropriate equipment, et cetera) and premises (chiefly accessibility) is worked out at the level of each plant; it is appended to the CHSCT prevention programme. Retraining of staff who have become unfit for their job and those already handicapped and who can no longer hold their position following technological change is systematically aimed at. This involves comparing, on the one hand, the physical, sensory or psychic malfunctions following on from their handicap and, on the other hand, the requirements of the various work stations. - Telecommuting could be considered whenever this solution will promote the integration of certain handicapped people; but attention should be paid to the problem of isolation.
- Plan for retention of people declared medically unfit
The search for rehabilitation of any employee declared unfit is an obligation for the enterprise, but the firm agrees to do everything possible to search for and put in place all possible arrangements to retain the employee in his or her position.
The agreement also provides for the establishment of a communication plan to increase knowledge within the enterprise of the implications of integration of handicapped workers. Note, in particular, that a specific module for promoting awareness of application of the agreement now forms part of the training of CHSCT presidents.
Partners Involved
Correct operation of the system put in place implies the involvement of all components of the enterprise: senior management, the human resources department, doctors, psychologists, ergonomists, social workers, and staff representative bodies, chief among them the CHSCT.
Three units in the enterprise, however, play a decisive role:
- The Central Task Force for integration of handicapped workers is responsible for the coordination and follow-up of the enterprise's policy with regard to the handicapped. Reporting to the Human Resources Department, this task force (which employs 1.5 people full-time) has a network of correspondents in each region or central department, and local correspondents in each plant. These correspondents are responsible, at their respective levels, for implementation of the agreement.
- The Medical Department is involved in all stages of the integration and rehabilitation of handicapped workers, in close cooperation with the other players in the enterprise: plant manager, ergonomist, psychologist, vocational guidance officer, integration correspondent, social worker, members of the CHSCT and trades union organisations. In particular, it is the plant doctor who evaluates capabilities and compares them with the requirements of the job position to be held, takes part in searching for positions in which handicapped workers could be employed, proposes possible adaptations and determines the person's employment restrictions.
- The Social Action Department, and in particular the social worker and the social and family economics advisor, informs and advises the handicapped worker on his or her rights and the material support from which he (she) can benefit with respect to housing, transport and acquisition of special apparatus. It is truly attentive to the handicapped worker to learn of all the difficulties faced, far beyond his (her) life at work.
Results Obtained
Since the signature of the first agreement in 1992, and for each of the objectives set by the agreement, figures can be presented.
| Period | Recruitment of handicapped workers | Rehabilitation of staff who have become unfit | Handicapped trainees received |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993-95 | 122 | 1078 | 380 |
| 1996-98 | 220 | 983 | 436 |
| 1999 | 113 | 330 | 182 |
Each year, a quantitative and qualitative centralised review is made of the results obtained, which is presented to the trade union organisations.
Success and Problems Encountered
Success
Clearly, the agreements signed since 1992 are a success for the enterprise, to the extent that the objectives set have been not only attained but even exceeded. Beyond the mere figures, the policy adopted must be credited with success in making handicaps "commonplace" within the enterprise. Thanks, in particular, to the communication programmes carried out, the employees have started to become aware of the problems related to handicaps, and this can lead to greater awareness of other problems of society, such as ageing of the population for example.
Difficulties encountered
The main difficulties mentioned are due to:
- The nature of the jobs performed at the SNCF. In most cases, the jobs are difficult ones requiring definite physical capabilities. In these circumstances, it is not easy to match the capabilities of the candidates for integration and the jobs available.
- A certain corporate culture. To be precise, because the jobs in the enterprise are tough, handicaps do not form part of the "railway worker's world", even though the number of job injuries is not insignificant. In this context, the integration of handicapped workers does not appear to be a topic arousing great interest.
- The size of the enterprise. The SNCF employs 175,000 people, in 340 plants organised in 23 regional branches.
Given both this "fragmentation" and the multitude of hierarchic levels within the enterprise, it was not easy to promote awareness among the personnel, and especially the management staff, of the implications of integration of handicapped workers. Moreover, to maintain the effort over time, one has to be dealing with highly motivated people who agree to become involved beyond their strictly occupational commitment.
Perception of these Successes and Difficulties
A survey carried out in 1997 on the populations concerned illustrated the fact that the firm's action in favour of integration of the handicapped was perceived better by the handicapped workers hired than by employees rehabilitated as a result of unfitness. The latter expressed the feeling that the enterprise made fewer efforts for their rehabilitation than for the integration of handicapped people.
For their part, the handicapped employees hired wanted better support and better follow-up after recruitment, to achieve better integration into the enterprise.
These two opinions were taken into account in working out the agreement covering the period 1999-2001.
Links with Employability
All parts of the agreement signed between senior management and the trade union organisations contribute to developing the employability of handicapped workers: whether it be the recruitment of people having handicaps, the reception of trainees, the retention at the work station or rehabilitation of employees who have become unfit, or again the close ties developed with the supported employment sector. The training actions for adaptation to the job (designed to integrate the worker in his or her first job), and the longer-term actions necessary to develop an occupational project also help reinforce the employability of handicapped people. The same is true for the necessary adaptation of work stations (fitting out, purchase of appropriate equipment, et cetera) and premises (chiefly accessibility).
Relations with Health and Occupational Safety
The integration of a handicapped employee often requires adaptation of the work station; the same is often true for the rehabilitation of an employee who has become unfit. To succeed with this adaptation, the design of the work station, or even the work organisation, has to be re-examined. This approach can have beneficial effects for all employees occupying the same type of station.
By way of example, we shall mention the fitting out of the workshop for overhaul and cleaning of braking units (parts which weigh between 5 and 30 kg). To enable people suffering from lumbar or dorsal complaints to work in this workshop, handling work was lightened by installing girders. This arrangement, in addition to making it possible to retain in their job three people suffering from affections restricting the carrying and handling of heavy loads and two others who suffered from tendinitis, contributed to a general improvement of work conditions and the prevention of risks of repetitive strain injuries for all the workshop personnel.
Fitting out of stations, whether performed for the hiring of a handicapped employee or the rehabilitation of an employee who has become unfit, involves, in addition to the worker concerned and his or her managers, all the people and bodies responsible for questions of occupational health and safety in the enterprise:
- Doctor: he plays mainly a counselling role. It is he who evaluates the capabilities of the worker and the restrictions due to his or her handicap, and suggests particular fitting-out arrangements;
- Ergonomist: he is responsible for adapting the work station; this can range from counselling for the purchase of appropriate equipment through to redefinition of the work station;
- CHSCT: it must give its opinion on any fitting out of a work station, from the viewpoint of employee safety and work conditions.
Potential for Generalisation of the Action
In France, about one hundred enterprises, mainly large ones, have developed in this way a contractual policy in favour of the integration of handicapped workers.
The company-wide agreement has a twofold advantage, making it possible to "stick to" the strategy of the enterprise while involving all the social partners.
General Evaluation of the Action - Conclusion
The agreements signed between management and the trade union organisations at SNCF since 1992 have undeniably given a new momentum and scope to actions in favour of the integration of handicapped people.
It is true that, before 1992, SNCF rehabilitated personnel who had become unfit, but such rehabilitation was not covered by an approach so formally expressed and contractual as that in force today. Above all, SNCF had no overall policy in favour of the handicapped, and in particular no plan for hiring such people.
Among the factors of success of the new policy, the following should be mentioned:
- the clearly asserted determination of the enterprise, expressed via operational action plans;
- the strong involvement of the Central Task Force (responsible for the coordination and follow-up of actions);
- the significant resources assigned to the various action plans;
- routine follow-up of actions by the signatories of the agreement.