Periodic Reporting for period 1 - WORK.INC (The right to work for men and women with disabilities - successful collaboration between employers and support systems using the workplace as an arena for work inclusion)
Período documentado: 2021-10-01 hasta 2023-09-30
The employment rate of persons with disabilities across Europe is much lower than of the general population and the disability employment gap has remained considerable, independently of labour market policies. Over time different approaches to work inclusion of persons with disabilities have been developed, where support-side approaches, especially supported employment methods, that are using the workplaces as instruments of work inclusion, have been shown effective. The collaboration between employer and the support system is crucial when using the workplace as an arena for work inclusion, but there is a lack of research on employer-support system relations and how they can be formed to facilitate increased employment of persons with disabilities. This project goes beyond the state of the art by addressing the employer-support system collaboration in depth. The overall objectives are to: (1) develop in-depth knowledge of the workplace as an arena for work inclusion of people with disabilities, (2), study explanatory mechanisms that contribute to a successful collaboration between the labour market (employers) and support systems (professionals), (3) develop interdisciplinary frameworks and theories on work inclusion, and (4) establish a foundation for future research on work inclusion, and enhance professional capacity to be a leader in this field. These objectives have partly been met in the performance of two empirical studies, in a literature review and an combined observational and interview study and by a prominent orientation on enhancing professional capacity, by performing leadership activities, building research competence, writing book chapters and scientific articles, and by dissemination activities in scientific and practice forums. The overall results from WORK.INC have provided novel knowledge, that is useful to design support measures to meet employer needs and demands, as well as the needs of the support systems and the employees with disabilities. This knowledge has a potential for key impact on the development of effective support-side methods and as called for in EU policies, on the labour market participation of persons with disabilities.
The WORK.INC-project had two main objectives, to conduct empirical studies in the field of work inclusion of people with disabilities and enhance professional capacity to be a leader in this field.
The work performed to achieve the first objective includes two empirical studies. A literature review answers the question of what emerges as important core components in the literature regarding collaboration between employers and the support system in support-side approaches or methods for employment of people with disabilities. The review includes 81 peer-review scientific articles. The analysis demonstrated cognitive, emotional and manual core components for successful collaboration between employers and support persons. The second study was a combined observational and interview study exploring prominent features in the collaboration between employers and employment specialists in work inclusion processes of employees with disabilities. In the analysis, trust emerged as highly prominent feature in a successful collaboration. The trustworthiness of the process, and especially the trustful relations between employers and employment specialists, paved the way to employment of persons with disabilities. The findings have been disseminated to both scientific audiences and professionals within the field, such as the Swedish Authority for participation and to The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR), informing their policies on work inclusion.
The second objective, to enhance professional capacity, has involved several activities during the project. Professional capacity in research leadership has been enhanced by project management and supervision of six doctoral students. Supervision of doctoral students is needed to apply for a docenteur (i.e. associate professorship in the Swedish Academia). Enhancing professional capacity has also involved competence development by participating in higher education courses (needed to apply for a docenteur) and in other research activities, such as scientific conferences, research seminars and research networks. During the project period, four scientific articles have been drafted, two building on the data collections in the project and two building on previous data collections. These articles are in late-stage progress, planned to be submitted before July 2024. Professional capacity has also been enhanced by writing a book chapter on case studies (to be published by Routledge in 2024). Moreover, during the project period eight large research grant applications have been written where three have been granted, and two are still in the assessment process. Being granted external grants (and research time) is important in the Swedish academia, as there are typically few internal opportunities to be granted time dedicated to research by the academia. One of the grants, aiming to explore employment services for long-term unemployed, is an explicit outcome of this project, as the involved researchers were part of the Integrate-collaboration. These grants will enhance professional capacity to apply for a professorship, in the future.
The work performed to achieve the first objective includes two empirical studies. A literature review answers the question of what emerges as important core components in the literature regarding collaboration between employers and the support system in support-side approaches or methods for employment of people with disabilities. The review includes 81 peer-review scientific articles. The analysis demonstrated cognitive, emotional and manual core components for successful collaboration between employers and support persons. The second study was a combined observational and interview study exploring prominent features in the collaboration between employers and employment specialists in work inclusion processes of employees with disabilities. In the analysis, trust emerged as highly prominent feature in a successful collaboration. The trustworthiness of the process, and especially the trustful relations between employers and employment specialists, paved the way to employment of persons with disabilities. The findings have been disseminated to both scientific audiences and professionals within the field, such as the Swedish Authority for participation and to The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR), informing their policies on work inclusion.
The second objective, to enhance professional capacity, has involved several activities during the project. Professional capacity in research leadership has been enhanced by project management and supervision of six doctoral students. Supervision of doctoral students is needed to apply for a docenteur (i.e. associate professorship in the Swedish Academia). Enhancing professional capacity has also involved competence development by participating in higher education courses (needed to apply for a docenteur) and in other research activities, such as scientific conferences, research seminars and research networks. During the project period, four scientific articles have been drafted, two building on the data collections in the project and two building on previous data collections. These articles are in late-stage progress, planned to be submitted before July 2024. Professional capacity has also been enhanced by writing a book chapter on case studies (to be published by Routledge in 2024). Moreover, during the project period eight large research grant applications have been written where three have been granted, and two are still in the assessment process. Being granted external grants (and research time) is important in the Swedish academia, as there are typically few internal opportunities to be granted time dedicated to research by the academia. One of the grants, aiming to explore employment services for long-term unemployed, is an explicit outcome of this project, as the involved researchers were part of the Integrate-collaboration. These grants will enhance professional capacity to apply for a professorship, in the future.
The current approach within the support systems for people with disabilities and research on them can be considered problem-oriented, where the focus is on the individual outcomes and barriers (e.g. diagnoses), often without taking significant environmental factors, such as quality in support-methods into consideration. WORK.INC have started from another point of view with the aim to understand more about the explanatory mechanisms in successful collaboration between employers and support systems, as there is a lack of studies focusing on the organizational level and quality in the methods used in work inclusion of people with disabilities. By using a theoretical approach with an intersection of theories from psychology, sociology and nursing science, the results of the project have contributed with novel perspectives and in-depth knowledge on work inclusion processes. The findings from the empirical studies demonstrate important core components for successful collaboration between employers and the support system, and the importance of trustworthiness in the work inclusion process of persons with disabilities. A policy brief is to be published, when the results from the empirical studies are published, presenting the key findings and policy recommendations arising from this novel research. The results of the projecthave potential impacts on how to design evidence-based methods to be used in work inclusion processes of people with disabilities, and thus potential impact on the success-rates of these methods, and on the labour market participation of people with disabilities