Employment of People with Disabilities

Effective recruitment measures and actual employment of people with disabilities is a challenge facing many companies in many countries.  Despite the fact that many businesses are equipped with accommodating facilities, the challenge of attracting people with disabilities to apply for positions persists.  In order to successfully recruit and employ people with disabilities, this Laboratory aims to identify the reasons behind the lack of attraction in order to develop effective recruitment and employment solutions.

Leader   Facilitator
O2  BITC Ireland

Project Description

Companies are experiencing difficulties in attracting skilled staff from the disability sector to apply for jobs. Despite having very good and accessible facilities, people with disabilities are not applying for positions. This Laboratory aims to identify the reasons behind this, in order to begin attracting applications from outside of main stream channels. Based on an initial sharing of experiences, the Laboratory will conduct follow on workshops on specific aspects of employability for example recruitment and supported employment in order to gain further insights into the issues involved.

Main Project Objectives and Targets

Objectives:

  • Gain a greater understanding of disabilities, as the issues can vary.
  • Gain information on specific issues in order to contribute to solutions
  • More information on support bodies and specific programmes around disability
  • Involve a wider group of business people in the workshops, to get the message out to a bigger audience.

Deliverables:

  • Conduct workshops on specific topics e.g. attracting new recruits
  • Collect case studies and examples from employers to feedback to disability organisations and other employers

Additional topics of interest in the wider diversity field include:

  • Female diversity/cultural integration
  • Technical/high skills shortages in the Irish market
  • Emotional health & wellbeing in the workplace

Laboratory Leader

O2

Facilitator

BITC Ireland

Company Participants

AIB Group, Bord Gáis Éireann, Eircom, ESB, KPMG, Irish Life & Permanent, Microsoft Ireland, O2 Ireland, Savills Hamilton Osborne King

Stakeholder Participants

Access Ability, AHEAD, Aisling Foundation

EU Commission Participants

To be determined

Contact Information

Linda O'Sullivan, BITC Ireland
losullivan@bitc.ie