Positive Actions with employers for re-integration and retention
- Belgium: INTRO_DM
- UK: London Workforce Futures
- Poland: ZORON
- Italy: Ex-Aequo
The above named Development Partnerships supported by the European Social Fund under the EQUAL programme are working together to develop new strategies and best practice to address the needs of individuals in the labour force who are suffering from mental health or physical health issues which are preventing them from taking full part in economic activity.
The EQUAL Initiative is a laboratory for new ideas to the European Employment Strategy and the Social inclusion process. Its mission is to promote a more inclusive work life through fighting discrimination and exclusion based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. EQUAL is implemented in and between Member States and is funded through the European Social Fund. http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/equal/index_en.cfm
The RETAIN Transnational Partnership has a key focus on enabling disabled people to play a positive role in the workforce and piloting strategies to enable them to be successfully (re)integrated and retained within the workplace. The Partners collaborate and share experience on the following key aspects:
- approaches which prevent people dropping out of the workforce due to physical or mental health problems, including acquired problems, often due to stress
- models to ensure successful integration into work of people with physical or mental health problems with a specific focus on reintegration of those on long term sick leave .
Key themes and products / results
The transnational partnership addressed four key themes, collaborating in thematic groups to share experience and best practice as well as developing joint products and tools. The following table gives an overview of themes and developed products:
| Theme groups | Developed products |
|---|---|
Theme group 1: Development of a competency framework for the role of intermediaries supporting disabled employees in connection with integration, reintegration and job retention. This competency profile should be suitable for use in other countries |
‘A Competence Framework for Intermediaries’ |
Theme group 2: Development of a code of conduct for professionals who aim at increasing the participation of people with a disability in the open jobs market. |
CD-ROM |
Theme group 3: Development of a joint case for trade union involvement, which reflects successful models of supporting disabled employees in relation to disability and the healthy workplace from a trade union view. |
Brochure ‘Disability in the work place – the case for trade union involvement’ |
Theme group 4: Formulating joint recommendations to influence European and national policy and practice. This will include developing a joint framework report that reflects policy, legislation and current perspective on disability in relation to each of the partner countries and relevant to the partner projects and identifying how the RETAIN projects can achieve impact both nationally and at EU level. |
