ONCE AND MICROSOFT REPORT ON

NEW SKILLS FOR NEW JOBS: CHALLENGES FOR THE INCLUSION OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN THE JOB MARKET

This report is the result of an Expert Workshop and Brainstorming session organised by ONCE and Microsoft on the 14th of June of 2010

Sponsored by:

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The content of this report was prepared by a group of independent experts and only reflects the point of view of its authors. Neither ONCE nor Microsoft may be held responsible for the use that may be made of the information contained in this publication.

This document is available at: www.epractice.eu/community/eaccessibility

Cover: © Technosite, 2010

© ONCE and Microsoft, 2010. Reproduction is authorised provided that the source is acknowledged.

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New Skills for New Jobs: Challenges for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the job market

A report sponsored by ONCE and Microsoft

Chairs:

Elena Bonfiglioli, Director of Citizenship, Microsoft

Jose Angel Martinez Usero, Director of International Projects and Relations, Technosite, ONCE Foundation

Rapporteur:

Laia Pujol Priego, Head of International Strategic Initiatives at I2BC. Spain

Workshop Experts:

Ask Andersen, Policy Officer, European Disability Forum (EDF) Miguel González-Sancho Bodero, Deputy Head, e-Inclusion Unit, DGINFSO Catherine Grinyer, Director of Communications, Employers’ Forum on Disability Benedicto Gutierrez, Director of Strategy and Planning, Repsol, Spain Mihaela Ionasc, Head of Resourcing EMEA, British Telecom, United Kingdom Nigel Lewis, CEO, AbilityNet, United Kingdom Barbara Martin, Head of Technical Office for European Affairs, ONCE, Spain Inmaculada Placencia, Deputy Head, Integration Unit, DGEMPLOYMENT James Thurston, Senior Strategist for Global Policy & Standards, Microsoft, United States Julia Wadoux, Policy Officer for Health, ICT and Accessibility, AGE-Platform Europe (AGE) Graeme Whippy, Senior manager IT accessibility, Lloyds banking Group

Organised by:

With the co-operation of:

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 5

2. Setting up a dialogue among industry, government and NGOs ............................... 6

3. A framework for the discussion: Context and Trends .............................................. 7

3.1 Political, Economic and Social Context ................................................................... 7

3.2 Trends ................................................................................................................... 12

4. Analysis ................................................................................................................... 16

4.1 Demand side ......................................................................................................... 16

4.2 Supply side ............................................................................................................ 18

4.3 Role of Government ............................................................................................. 19

4.4 Role of other intermediaries ................................................................................ 20

4.5 Driving the Business case in a dynamic perspective ............................................ 20

5. Outcomes and Next Steps ...................................................................................... 22

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1. Introduction

Employment, skills, and accessible technology are key to making greater progress towards broad digital inclusion. This invitation-only workshop jointly organized by Microsoft and ONCE on the 14th June 2010 was an opportunity to facilitate a high level, multi-stakeholder dialogue on how to promote greater employment opportunities for people with disabilities with a focus on practical technical and policy solutions.

The dialogue was structured around two key documents: (1) New Skills for New Jobs: Action Now that is a report by the Expert Group on New Skills for New Jobs prepared for the European Commission (February 2010); and (2) Post Crisis: e-Skills Are Needed to Drive Europe’s Innovation Society, an IDC White Paper sponsored by Microsoft (November 2009).

Below we reproduce an illustrative snapshot of the themes addressed in the workshop as a word cloud made from the http://www.wordle.net/.

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2. Setting up a dialogue among industry, government and NGOs

The workshop set up a dialogue among representatives from the industry, government and NGO sectors. Industry was represented by global companies Microsoft, Repsol, British Telecom and Lloyd’s. Government participants were from the European Commission - Information Society and Media Directorate-General (eInclusion Unit) and the Employment and Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Directorate-General (Unit Integration of People with disabilities) of the European Commission. Finally, NGOs and user organizations included the European Disability Forum –EDF (EU), AGE Platform Europe (EU), ONCE (ES), Technosite (ES), Abilitynet (UK), Employers’ Forum on Disability- EFD (UK), and I2BC (ES).

By design the workshop was structured to include the participation of some representatives of the entire labour market value chain:

Demand for labour (the employers): organizations that hire employees or workers with disabilities (eg. Private sector –large and small enterprises- and public sector).

Supply of labour (the employees): people with disabilities hired by an employer to do a specific "job". They contribute labour and expertise to an endeavour.

Intermediaries: a third party that offers intermediation services between two trading parties (eg. NGOs, Unions, Training Organizations and Government1

).

1 Government is considered as an intermediary for its role of providing awareness, incentives and regulation for the market.

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3. A framework for the discussion: Context and Trends

During the first part of the discussion, the social, economic and political framework was outlined by presentations from Elena Bonfiglioli -Director of Citizenship of Microsoft-, Jose Angel Martinez Usero -Director of International Projects and Relations, Technosite- ONCE Foundation, Miguel González Sancho –Deputy Head of eInclusion Unit, DG Information Society and Media EC- and Inmaculada Placencia –Deputy Head of Integration of People with disabilities Unit, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities- and refined through the discussion by all of participants. While the themes addressed were diverse, they all contributed in setting the context and the trends for the discussion.

3.1 Political, Economic and Social Context

From the political perspective, several key initiatives were highlighted:

1. UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted on 13 December 2006 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and opened for signature on 30 March 2007. There are 145 signatories to the Convention, 87 ratifications of the Convention and 89 signatories to the Optional Protocol and 54 ratifications of the Optional Protocol. The Convention entered into force on 3 May 2008 (http://www.un.org/disabilities).

2. The Employment Equality Directive 2000/78/EC, prevents discrimination as well as harassment and instruction to discriminate2

2 In the Article 2 Concept of discrimination from the Employment Equality Directive 2000/78/EC, the definition of direct, indirect discrimination, harassment and instructions to discriminate are the followings: “(1) direct discrimination shall be taken to occur where one person is treated less favorably than another is, has been or would be treated in a comparable situation, on any of the grounds referred to in Article 1; (2) indirect discrimination shall be taken to occur where an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice would put persons having a particular religion or belief, a particular disability, a particular age, or a particular sexual orientation at a particular disadvantage compared with other persons unless: (i) that provision, criterion or practice is objectively justified by a legitimate aim and the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary, or (ii) as regards persons with a particular disability, the employer or any person or organization to whom this Directive applies, is obliged, under national legislation, to take appropriate measures in line with the principles contained in Article 5 in order to eliminate disadvantages entailed by such provision, criterion or practice. 3. Harassment shall be deemed to be a form of discrimination within the meaning of paragraph 1, when unwanted conduct related to any of the grounds referred to in Article 1 takes place with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person and of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. In this context, the concept of harassment may be defined in accordance with the national laws and practice of the Member States. 4. An instruction to discriminate against persons on any of the grounds referred to in Article 1 shall be deemed to be discrimination within the meaning of paragraph 1”.

. All employers must provide ‘reasonable accommodation’ for people with disabilities, which means

(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32000L0078:en:HTML)

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that people with disabilities have a right to adaptations in the workplace in order to be able to fulfil their job. Many Member States have had to substantially amend national laws to comply with these employment regulations. (http://ec.europa.eu/social/)

3. Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth3

. On 26 March 2010, the European Council reached an agreement on the European Commission’s EU2020 strategy. On that basis, the European Commission drafted the economic policy and employment guidelines that Member States will have to follow when drawing and implementing National Reform Programmes. Some of the 10 guidelines are particularly relevant for this discussion:

a. Guideline 7: Increasing labour market participation and reducing structural unemployment

b. Guideline 8: Developing a skilled workforce responding to labour market needs, promoting job quality and lifelong learning

c. Guideline 9: Improving the performance of education and training systems at all levels and increasing participation in tertiary education

d. Guideline 10: Promoting social inclusion and combating poverty

e. Within Europe 2020, special attention was given to a Flagship Initiative: "An Agenda for new skills and jobs". The aim is to create conditions for modernising labour markets with a view to raising employment levels and ensuring the sustainability of social models. This means empowering people through the acquisition of new skills to enable the current and future workforce to adapt to new conditions and potential career shifts, reduce unemployment and raise labour productivity.

4. European Disability Strategy. The European Commission is working on the European Disability Strategy, contributing to the Europe 2020 initiative. It will include a section on employment that will identify instruments, initiatives and relevant types of actions for implementation.

5. European Digital Agenda4

3 Following the Commission's communication "Europe 2020: a strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth" and the discussions held in the Council, on the 25-26 March 2010, the European Council reached an agreement on the new strategy, which will be formally adopted in June. The Europe 2020 strategy put forward by the Commission sets out a vision of Europe's social market economy for the 21st century. It shows how the EU can come out stronger from the crisis and how it can be turned into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion (

. The Digital Agenda is the first of seven flagship initiatives under the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive

http://ec.europa.eu/eu2020). 4 Brussels, 19.5.2010. COM (2010)245 final. Communication from the commission to the European parliament, the council, the European economic and social committee and the committee of the regions: A Digital Agenda for Europe.

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growth. The Agenda outlines seven priority areas for action: creating a digital Single Market, greater interoperability, boosting internet trust and security, much faster internet access, more investment in research and development, enhancing digital literacy skills and inclusion, and applying information and communications technologies to address challenges facing society like climate change and the ageing population. The action areas related to enhancing digital literacy, skills and inclusion, which are addressed in two different sub-chapters: Digital literacy and skills; and inclusive digital services. The two key actions envisaged in this area are:

a. Key Action 10: Propose digital literacy and competences as a priority for the European Social Fund regulation (2014-2020).

b. Key Action 11: By 2012, develop tools to identify and recognise the competences of ICT practitioners and users, linked to the European Qualifications Framework5 and to EUROPASS6

and develop a European Framework for ICT Professionalism to increase the competences and the mobility of ICT practitioners across Europe.

Other relevant actions are to:

c. Make digital literacy and skills a priority of the "New skills for new jobs" Flagship to be launched in 20107

d. Promote a higher participation of young women and women returners in the ICT workforce through support for web-based training resources, game based eLearning and social networking.

, including the launch of a multi-stakeholder sectoral council for ICT skills and employment to address demand and supply aspects.

e. Develop in 2011 an online consumer education tool on new media technologies (e.g. consumer rights on the internet, eCommerce, data protection, media literacy, social networks etc.). This tool will provide customised information and education materials for consumers, teachers and other multipliers in the 27 Member States.

f. Propose by 2013 EU-wide indicators of digital competences and media literacy.

g. Systematically evaluate accessibility in revisions of legislation undertaken under the Digital Agenda, e.g. eCommerce, eIdentity & eSignature, following the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

5 Cf. Recommendation of the European Council and the Parliament on the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning.

6 Cf. Decision No 2241/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2004 on a single Community framework for the transparency of qualifications and competences (Europass).

7 Cf. New Skills for New Jobs – COM (2008) 868 - e-Skills for the 21st Century – COM (2007) 496 - and the forthcoming Europe 2020 flagship.

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h. Based on a review of options, make proposals by 2011 that will ensure that public sector websites (and websites providing basic services to citizens) are fully accessible by 2015.

i. Facilitate by 2012, in cooperation with Member States and relevant stakeholders, a Memorandum of Understanding on Digital Access for persons with disabilities in compliance with the UN Convention.

Concerning the Member States, as stated in the document, they should:

j. Implement by 2011 long-term e-skills and digital literacy policies and promote relevant incentives for SMEs and disadvantaged groups.

k. Implement by 2011 the provisions on disability in the Telecoms Framework and the Audiovisual Media Services Directive.

l. Mainstream eLearning in national policies for the modernisation of education and training, including in curricula, assessment of learning outcomes and the professional development of teachers and trainers.

6. Related Financial Tools provided by EC. The EC provides a range of funding opportunities to support eInclusion for people with disabilities. One current example is an open call for proposals for pilot projects on employment of persons with autism spectrum disorders. The aim of this call is to fund projects, which develop or test approaches to improve access to and retention in the open labour market for persons with ASD in a practical manner. The Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP)8

was also mentioned as a financial tool in the topic of discussion.

The main theme across all these policy initiatives is that there is a need for both broad policy actions related to disability, ICT and skills along with more focused and targeted actions.

The socioeconomic overview outlined how the economic crisis is affecting the employment of people with disabilities. First, it is important to distinguish between what has been termed the “open” market and the “protected” market9

On the one hand, Member States are reducing their public investments, which affect negatively the integration of people with disabilities and older workers to the labour

for people with disabilities. The current economic crisis is impacting both negatively.

8 http://ec.europa.eu/cip/

9 The term open market is used generally to refer to a situation close to free trade, which means without

interference from government. On the other hand, protected market is usually used to refer the situation where there is a governmental intervention (eg. Regulation on a compulsory rate of employment by people with disabilities in private companies and public organizations)

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market. On the other, the enterprises are also reducing the workforce, which reduces the employment opportunities and increases the competition for scarce jobs

Special attention must been paid to young people with disabilities and low skilled people with disabilities. The combination of risks for these groups must be addressed. The importance of investing in skills development must be focused in particular on people with disabilities with low and medium skills.

Concerning eSkills, despite the progression of the last two years, 36% of Europeans lack even basic digital skills as Miguel González-Sancho highlighted from the Europe's Digital Competitiveness Report 2010, published by European Commission on 17th May 2010. When you look at the segment of the disadvantaged group, only 45% of these people have these skills and even fewer (34%) among the older people (above age 65). Unfortunately, we lack specific skills data for people with disabilities and older people10

Elena Bonfiglioli pointed out that there has never been a better time to invest in skills. Microsoft commissioned a study by IDC

.

11

In view of these trends, Microsoft is committed to investing eSkills development across the globe. Not just in Europe, but worldwide the company has been working with NGOs to increase the level of digital skills of the population in general and specifically to empower people with disabilities with greater access to work. Moreover, the company has also been working on job training, life long learning, eLearning and increasing the level of ICT skills of civil servants.

that interviewed 1400 employers in order to explore demand for job profiles and skills in the future. More than 90% of the jobs in the future will require substantial eSkills. To meet those requirements, it will be crucial to empower the groups that are most fragile or disadvantaged. eSkills can unlock employability for everyone.

Ms. Bonfiglioli outlined the importance of integrating educational, social inclusion and competitiveness strategies in order to have a significant impact on the employment of people with disabilities.

Finally, the discussion focused on the need for a smoother and faster transition between “learning and earning”, meaning that we need to bring together the worlds of education, work and training. The IDC study makes clear that today’s university graduates lack marketable knowledge12

10

Regarding older people the current European (and thus comparative) data available only concern people until 74. Over 74 we have no clue whereas this segment of the population will grow more and more (see section 3.2 Trends)

. That is very significant and explains why we

11 Post Crisis: e-Skills Are Needed to Drive Europe’s Innovation Society, an IDC White Paper sponsored by Microsoft

(November 2009).

12 “However, regular assessment of study curricula is also urgently needed to ensure that graduates enter the

workforce with the most marketable skills and knowledge. Not only should this include ensuring that ICT graduates are trained at the forefront of technology (e.g., cloud technologies, Web 2.0) but also that they have much stronger insight into the business impact of technology — what we previously referred to as business empathy. To do this requires close, ongoing collaboration between the ICT industry and the education sector” at Post Crisis: e-Skills Are Needed to Drive Europe’s Innovation Society, an IDC White Paper sponsored by Microsoft (November 2009); page 12

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have on the one side a high unemployment figure and on the other side skills mismatch and shortages. It is an unsustainable waste of potential and resources.

No further conclusions can be reached on the role played by ICT skills in employability of people with disabilities because of the lack of sufficient data. For instance, we have data on the diffusion and impact of ICT skills on employability; we have data on the employability of disabled person; but we lack cross-cutting data on the diffusion and impact of ICT skills on employability of people with disabilities. Data collection efforts and analysis must be improved.

3.2 Trends

1. Increasing older workforce and dependency ratio. The European population projection for the next fifty years13

, underlines both the rising number of older and elderly people and the increasing dependency ratio – which is the ratio of those typically not in the labour force (dependent portion) to those typically in the labour force (productive portion).

a. This demographic trend will make even more important the competitiveness and productivity of all employees and will require a much improved aligning of skills and job positions. Furthermore, it will lead to a growing number of ageing workers requiring flexible and adapted training programs to meet the demands of rapidly changing ICT and business environments. Life-long learning will be important to adapt their skills to the dynamic needs in the market. It also will be important to have accessible and adaptable working environments and conditions, including carers leave, flexible hours and phased retirement in order to address this demographic shift.

2. Increasing the eSkills demand in the labour market. Microsoft representatives

presented evidence on the increasing demand for eSkills in the labour market. A specific figure from the IDC study demonstrates the growing importance of ICT in the workplace: When considering requirements for the new jobs of tomorrow, it is clear gaps exist in curriculum development for key areas like: Green ICT; eHealth; Cybersecurity; and Cloud computing. These are four areas in which technology is making tremendous progress in advancing our well-being, increasing the innovation of our society, while also providing

13 See Eurostat’s latest demographic projection scenario: The EU population is projected to become older with the median age rising from 40.4 years in 2008 to 47.9 years in 2060. The share of people aged 65 years or over in the total EU population is projected to increase from 17.1 % to 30.0 %. And the number of 65 year olds is projected to rise from 84.6 million in 2008 to 151.5 million in 2060. Similarly, the number of people aged 80 years or over is projected to almost triple from 21.8 million in 2008 to 61.4 million in 2060. (http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Population_projections)

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opportunities for professional growth. To fully grasp these opportunities, the labour market will need people skilled enough to deliver and adopt those innovations. In order to meet the ICT skills demands of Europe's innovation society, governments, universities, and the private sector must work in concert to create education and skills development programs that will supply the market with qualified graduates and professionals, while being fluid enough to evolve with the increasing demands of technology developments and business needs. If ignored, the lack of ICT skills will be the bottleneck that prevents Europe from being competitive in the global economy and a leading innovation society.

3. Increasing the demand of high skilled people. The discussion from the study “New Skills for New Jobs14

” prepared for the European Commission pointed out that a highly skilled workforce is a more employable workforce (e.g. across the EU, those with medium level qualifications are 40 % more likely to be employed than those with low level qualification). A more highly skilled workforce is also a better-paid workforce and a more productive and satisfied workforce.

a. To complete a global, knowledge-based economy, Europe will require highly skilled people to drive an innovation society. In fact, the difference in global competitiveness across countries15

14 New Skills for New Jobs: Action Now that it is a report by the Expert Group on New Skills for New Jobs prepared for the European Commission (February 2010)

can be explained by the level of skills investments of those countries.

15 The Global Competitiveness Index is developed by the World Economic Forum to measure factors that set the

sustainable current and medium-term levels of economic prosperity of a country.

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b. As the study on “New Skills for New Jobs” mentions16

16

New Skills for New Jobs: Action Now that is a report by the Expert Group on New Skills for New Jobs prepared for the European Commission (February 2010)

: “The latest projections up to the year 2020 show that due to the crisis we can expect a smaller number of new job opportunities to become available. It is not all doom and gloom: in the next decade, we expect some 80 million job opportunities to arise, including almost 7 million new additional jobs. Most of these jobs will require a more highly skilled workforce. As we can see in Figure 3 and 4, the ‘skill intensity’ of jobs has been rising in recent years and is expected to continue to do so. Most job creation is projected for higher-level occupations but also for occupations involved in service activities. As a result we expect the proportion of jobs employing high-qualified people to increase to over a third, the proportion employing those with low qualifications to decrease to 15%. Those requiring medium level qualification will continue to constitute half of all jobs”. Find bellow two figures, that are above mentioned, from the study from CEDEFOP, 2010.

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4. The combination of these last two trends (b and c) presents a significant risk for

people with disabilities and for society in general. Faced with these growing and self-reinforcing risks, a “business as usual” approach is not an option. Proactive action is needed now to avoid possible future scenarios of even higher unemployment rates for people with disabilities and growing social and economic exclusion.

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4. Analysis

Building on the framework and context presented, the debate and brainstorming session focused on identifying key actions from both the demand and supply side of the issue of employment for people with disabilities and on defining roles for all stakeholders, government, industry, and NGOs.

Different perspectives of the challenges and opportunities were shared in order to create a potential common picture and a win-win scenario with incentives and deliverables for all the stakeholders involved. The result is the beginnings of a business case for increasing the employability of people with disabilities in a competitive labour market.

4.1 Demand side

Industry partners participating in the workshop shared their good practices for the employment of people with disabilities and highlighted the barriers, needs and challenges that they are facing.

The key elements that emerged are:

1. The relevance of leadership in the employability strategy of people with disabilities, including through the involvement of the top-level management.

2. The significant role of organisational attitude: driving a real commitment has to

be part of the culture of the enterprise.

3. The importance of partnerships and mentorship of experts and intermediary organizations representing people with disabilities. For example, collaborating with ONCE has been a key element of success for Repsol, a leader in recruiting people with disabilities in Spain.

4. Accessibility issues must be taken into account from all the life stages of the

employment:

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First, any vacancy information, including through newsletters or employment portals (eg. Portalento17 and Able to Work 18

), should be accessible.

Second, the recruitment process should guarantee the accessibility of the interview and be adapted to people with disabilities. Rules and recruitment procedures (eg. Logical reasoning exams) should be modified to account for people with disabilities. In addition, job requirements should be more outcomes-focused and less about the process to achieve those outcomes. Finally, integrating the employee into the actual workplace should help to guarantee the performance of necessary job functions, such asthe accessibility of the environment (physical and technological); the access to necessary information for on-the-job learning, e.g. accessible contents and some coaching resources to help if necessary-; and an accompanying process for social integration with the rest of the workers if necessary (e.g. awareness meetings for the employees chaired by the manager of the company).

5. The need of codifying procedures and workflows to guarantee that accessibility

is taken into account throughout an organization. To that end, Repsol offered to share with the rest of participants their White Paper on how to integrate people of disabilities into the workplace.

6. All the job positions of the enterprise should be analysed to identify which ones could be available or adapted for people with disabilities. It is important to analyse them by the expected outcome and not by the process.

7. Where appropriate, unions can play a relevant role in the process, including as

part of their communications to and negotiation with the enterprise.

8. The use of flexible workplace measures as a best practice to increase both productivity and the integration of people with disabilities. As an example, tele-work is cited as having a very positive impact.

9. The strategy of employing people with disabilities in the enterprise should be

addressed through an economic or competitive approach and not just a social responsibility one. The outcomes of such approach would be based on the common interests of both sides –demand and supply- and it would become more sustainable.

An example of such approach is the EFD’s Accessibility Maturity Model (AMM) and the AMM scorecard. This is a self-assessment tool designed to help organisations to improve the accessibility of ICT systems, products and services.

17 http://www.portalento.es

18 http://www.abletowork.org/

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The tool can be used to develop a robust policy for accessible ICT with reference to existing disability, flexible working and other relevant policies.

10. The useful role of a Disability Passport, which is a confidential document between an individual and their line manager. It helps employees who have a disability, who believe their health may have an impact on their job in the future, or who have a caring need to get the support they need without having to renegotiate their adjustments with every line manager they encounter in their career with an employer19

.

The passport is voluntary and mutually agreed. It is confidential and the manager is responsible for ensuring that their copy is handed onto the individual’s next line manager when they relinquish their line manager role of that person. The person keeps a copy of their passport and takes it them to whatever job they may move to or if they change manager and this should ensure continuity in the approach taken by the enterprise.

11. The need to address together with the public sector cost barriers to providing

accessible work environments and tools.

12. The role of Diversity Awards in a company to recognise employees who champion fairness and equality.

4.2 Supply side

From a supply-side perspective, the following key elements were highlighted during the workshop:

1. The potential employee with a disability can best define what he is able to on the job. Misconceptions about disability should be discussed together and confronted.

2. Awareness about the augmented skills20 of people with disabilities should be done to better match skills with job positions, to increase the employability of people with disabilities, and to increase the competitiveness of the enterprise (eg. A study carried by ONCE on 2009: ALTERA21

3. The barrier of initial work experience is common to many graduates and is a much bigger obstacle for people with disabilities. They often have even greater difficulty finding a first job. One possible solution discussed, could be for

, provides information on that)

19 http://www.cwumc.org/html/bt__disability__passport.html 20

Specific skills developed by people with disability that allow them to carry out a task in better conditions that people without disabilities.

21 http://www.proyectoaltera.es/

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educational organizations to provide internships and working experience as part of their curricula.

4. The differences between older workers and people with disabilities. It should also be considered that there are differences between people with disabilities and older workers in terms of their needs for accommodation in their employment. The needs of older workers should not be seen only from the perspective of advancing physical decline. Many older workers continue to enjoy good health and are fit and active. However increasing numbers of older workers, in particular women aged 50+, have family care responsibilities for their ageing parents and young grandchildren. This needs a more flexible approach from their employers to enable them to better reconcile their professional and caring duties.

4.3 Role of Government

The participants at the workshop recognized the important role of Government and outlined the following key actions:

1. Their role as a provider of data for a comprehensive picture that drives a better understanding between supply and demand side, as well as the intermediaries’ potential action. It should monitor and evaluate the situation for policy-oriented purposes but also to provide information to industry, NGOs and general public.

2. Governments can be a key player raising awareness across industry, but also throughout the public sector at all levels. The government’s first step should be to become an exemplary employer.

3. The importance of incentives and allocation of resources is one of the important

actions of governments22

.

4. Creating a regulatory framework to promote and protect the employability of people with disabilities.

22 As an example outlined in New Skills for New Jobs: Action Now that is a report by the Expert Group on New Skills for New Jobs prepared for the European Commission (February 2010): “Make greater use and better evaluate the impact of learning accounts or learning vouchers, especially for low-skilled workers, based on the principle of ‘co-investment’ by government, individuals and employers, as appropriate. Use tax relief or lower interest rates on borrowing to provide investment by individuals/employers at preferential rates. Establish co-investment as part of collective agreements and work contracts for people in work, and via counseling/PES for the unemployed” (p.20)

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4.4 Role of other intermediaries

NGOs and Organisations representing people with disabilities should pursue their work helping the industry and public sector to set up processes that help promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in labour market.

Their leadership in raising awareness across the public authorities and the private sector is crucial. In that respect, these organisations should also coordinate their efforts with organizations representing older people so that common goals and objectives can be jointly addressed. On the other hand, it is important not to equate the needs of disabled workers with those of older workers. The first ones need specific accommodation of their disability; older workers need appropriate ergonomic adaptation of their working environment to compensate for or accommodate any physical decline as well as adjustment of their working conditions to allow them the flexibility to balance work with family caring responsibilities.

The cooperation that these organizations have developed with employment services and enterprises appears to be very positive and should be further developed. In that sense, they should act not only on work and employment, but also on education. It is essential to act in a coordinated way in both areas. The experience of ONCE confirms this necessity. In fact, ONCE has provided 6.292 training courses for 54.198 people and created 71.269 jobs in the last 22 years. This experience underscores the importance of working from the very beginning of the process, from the education side identifying what are the skills and the potential the people, until the identification of suitable job for the skills developed.

Finally, training organizations should coordinate with enterprises and associations of people with disabilities to match their educational programs with the needs of the market and the perspective of the people. One good practice in this area was highlighted by Technosite, who provides an Online Master of accessible technologies together with the Virtual University of Catalonia23

4.5 Driving the Business case in a dynamic perspective

. Both Technosite and the University identified this potential and high skilled market for incorporating people with disabilities. Currently, 40% of their students are people with disabilities. However, barriers still remain for these students when they enter the labour market. The main barriers are misconceptions more than economic ones that are still in some private and also public employers.

Bringing together all the perspectives and potential roles of the various stakeholders involved allows for creating a dynamic business case for increasing the employability of people with disabilities.

23 http://www.technosite.es/masterUOC/index.html

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The figure below begins to summarize this joint effort. Actions by each stakeholder can spur significant sharedresults as illustrated by the symbol √ in the figure.

Most importantly, the combination of these shared benefits drives the ultimate goals (in the central overlap) of increased match in the labour market, resulting in positive impact on both competitiveness and inclusion.

The ultimate goal of this business case is to combine the actions of the different stakeholders in order to increase the bilateral and central overlaps: in other words, to achieve an impact where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

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5. Outcomes and Next Steps

At a conclusion of the workshop, 5 key next steps were agreed:

First, as a result of the workshop, a Summary Report will be produced to capture the main content and agreements reached during the session. This is that Summary Report.

Second, Microsoft committed to develop a suite of ICT training tools and resources for employers who would like to strengthen their commitment to accessibility in the workplace. The development is being done in partnership with Abilitynet, ONCE, Lloyds Bank and others.

Third, Microsoft committed to write a Policy White Paper on the topic of accessibility and employment that will include input from this workshop and other partners.

Fourth, ONCE and ONCE Foundation will develop a set of initiatives to foster new skills that facilitates the inclusion of people with disabilities in a better job market as well as to encourage and support companies in facilitating the inclusion of people with disabilities: specific studies (eg. Case study of Repsol); R&D projects (Altera) management tools (Easy Call Center) and specific bilateral agreements.

Finally, the organisers consider creating an open space for discussion and sharing among stakeholders to identify and support collaborative initiatives among a wide range of relevant European and international actors.