12th Conference EUSE Lisbon 2015

1. “ Improving Diversity through
Supported Employment ”

2. Employer´s view on hiring and
support – results from swedish
studies
Johanna Gustafsson
hosted by:
In association with:

3. • Sustainable work – project
• 3 SE-organizations – 317 PwD, 20 employers
• Five studies; study of effects on employment,
employer´s view on hiring, employer´s view
on support, employees´view of social inclusion
and gender differences in the rehabilitation
process

4. • Employer´s view on hiring
• Semi-structured interviews with 20 employers
• Qualitative content analysis
– Attitudes to recruitment of PwD
– Suitable jobs for Pwd
– Necessary conditions for hiring PwD

5. • Employer´s attitude
– Shaped by past experiences
– Social responsibility
• Implications
– Past experiences is based on inclusion,
opportunities to meet – positive meetings –
otherwise stererotypes will prevail

6. • Matching
• Suitable jobs
– Structure of labour market; perceived demands of
flexibility and adaptability
– Low-skilled jobs
• Suitable traits
– Positive attitude and lojality
– ”happy being an assistent

7. • Matching to a ”disabilityspecific” position
Tasks
High qualified X (if competence)
Low qualified
X
Unqualified
”Complement” ”Ordinary” Supervisor Manager Position
•

8. • Implications
– Be aware of stereotypes –there are thousands of
different jobs and disability is relative to
environment
– Matching should not only aim at getting a job –
also at getting a sustainable job

9. • Necessary conditions
• Subsidized employment
– Social standards of productivity
– Compensation for individual inability
– Risk of being seen as ”second-class employees”
• Implications
– Question the necessaries of subsidies – risk that
subsidies are seen as compensation enough – is it
a good match?

10. • Accommodations
– Customized work situation
– Meet the demands of labour market
– Ability seen as environmental-relative
– Hamper development and reduce career
opportunities
• Implications
– Support the employers during employment, to
maximize the employee´s full potential

11. • Conclusions
– Employers give voice to an utilitarian perspective
– From this perspective disability is seen as limiting
rather than enriching
– But PwD could be highly valuable in ”disability-
specific” position
– Clash between the perceived demands on the
labour market and stereotypes of inability

12. Thanks for your
attention!
johanna.gustafsson@oru.se
hosted by:
In association with: