Praxis New arenas for teleworking ascii version

New arenas for teleworking - PRAXIS
Background
Rheumatic diseases are almost always chronic and mean reduced mobility, pain, tiredness etc. The disease is changeable and this means that many sufferers have difficulty in planning their lives. Sometimes they feel well but at other times the disease worsens and the person feels very ill. For many, full-time work is impossible. Even part-time work, with journeys and fixed times, is a problem for many.

The result is long-term sick leave and disability pensioning, which is a waste of resources for society and unsatisfactory for the individual who becomes more passive. As the effects of rheumatic illnesses often vary over time, teleworking from home can be a solution for many that enables them to choose continued work instead of sick leave. At the moment, employers lack the incentives and possibilities to take their share of responsibility for health care whilst at the same time the National Social Insurance Offices (Försäkringskassorna) have too few personnel. It is extremely important from the viewpoint of the both individual and society to take forceful action with the aim of finding ways that fundamentally strengthen the individual's rightful demand for work during ill health. In total, rheumatic illness cost society ca 27 billion SEK in 1997. Of those 27 billion, the indirect costs for production losses accounted for 80%. Rheumatic illnesses can therefore be described as social insurance illnesses as the social insurance system covers a large part of the costs of production loss. Disability pensions accounted for the largest part of this cost.

The illness group that cost most were the soft tissue rheumatism cases. The cost was nearly 13 billion SEK and the majority of these costs were indirect costs. (Source CMT report 1999:5) This application deals with a large problem. The project wants to contribute to the efficiency of both the sick leave and rehabilitation processes and base them to a greater extent on the relationships between the individual and the work place. Rheumatic illnesses are not only a national problem but also an important common issue for the whole of the European Union. The European Disability Forum (EDF), the umbrella organisation for the disabled in Europe, has over 37 million members and the number of people with rheumatic diseases in Europe is more than 100 million.

PRAXIS shall be permeated by active equality work according to the working method for integrated equality as described in chapter D.

The project wants to develop positive examples of how bottle-necks in the first place the sickness benefit system for teleworking can be reduced in order to increase the possibilities of work for rheumatism sufferers with disabilities. Today’s technical possibilities for distance learning and telework open new routes for disabled people. The combination of new technology and working forms can give the disabled increased opportunities for teleworking. Thanks to the investment in IT in the workplace, a disability need only be a small work handicap in certain jobs.

The project wants to create guidelines for dealing with this issue for the authorities that deal with benefits, the National Social Insurance Office, the Swedish Employment Service (Arbetsförmedling). It also wants explain and improve the possibilities of distributing benefits in order to initiate teleworking for rheumatism sufferers (and subsequently other people that are sometimes in need of the possibility of working from home in order to be able to function in working life.) In order to achieve this, the project will initiate ca. 30 pilot cases where this is carried out under realistic conditions. The aim of the pilot cases is to identify the problem areas and study how these can be dealt with. The pilot cases will form the basis for the creation of guidelines for recommendations concerning the use of teleworking in conjunction with rehabilitation. Hopefully these cases will also be good examples and inspiration for others.

Objective

Aims:
¨ To make teleworking easier for rheumatism sufferers in the future
¨ To influence the systems and practices for handling benefits
Goals:

¨ Initiate pilot cases, ca 30, where this is carried under realistic conditions
¨ Create guidelines for dealing with the matter for the authorities dealing with benefits, the National Social Insurance Office, the Swedish Employment Service as well as explaining and improving the possibilities of distributing benefits in order to initiate teleworking for rheumatism sufferers.
¨ Produce a handbook about how one can go about initiating this for oneself/as a private individual, trade union or business owner. Simple but detailed description of necessary steps and things to consider.
¨ Document and spread the results.

Innovation

Nature of the experimental activities to be implemented	Rating
Training	****
Training on work place	***
Work placement	**
Work organisation, improvement of access to work places	**
Studies and analysis of discrimination features	***

Type of innovation	Rating
Process-oriented	**
Goal-oriented	***
Context oriented	***

Budget Action 2

500 000 – 1 000 000 €

Beneficiaries

Assistance to structures and systems and accompanying measures	Rating
Gender discrimination	***
Discrimination and inequality in employment	****
Disabilities	****
Unemployment	*

Promoting individual empowerment

Empowerment

With beneficiaries

Participation

Developing collective responsibility and capacity for action

Changing attitudes and behavior of key actors

Between national partners

N.C.

Transnationality

Linguistic skills

svenska

Percentage of the budget for transnational activities

11.6%

Transnational Co-operation Partnerships

Transnational Co-operation Agreement	DPs involved
656 TELA	DE EA-29616 DE EA-43395 GR 200944

Background

Involvment in previous EU programmes

Nobody involved in A&E

National Partners

Partner	To be contacted for
Reumatikerförbundet	Co-ordination of experimental activities Design of the project DP managing organisation Transnational partnership
IMI Institute for Management ofInnovation and Technology	Evaluation Monitoring, data collection
Kristinehamns folkhögskola
SclumbergerSema Norr AB

Agreement Summary

Text available in

The overall objective of this transnational cooperation is the improvement of the employability of persons with disabilities and persons with severe diseases. This will be achieved through the identification of discrimination conditions faced by disabled people in the labour market and the development of more effective information, support and training mechanisms and procedures to facilitate their vocational integration.

More specifically, all DPs involved in the transnational network have identified the following common objectives:

- Improving the level of information

The low level of information, particularly that of employers but also the general public, concerning the different kinds of disabilities, their implications on the person itself and the others, the needs, abilities and aspirations of disabled people with regard to their vocational training and employment, etc., creates barriers to the vocational integration of disabled people. The low level of information concerns also other aspects, such as the impact of information and communication technologies on the vocational training and employment of disabled people and people with chronic diseases (e.g. e-learning or tele-working).

The transnational network of the DPs will implement activities to improve the level of information and its widest possible dissemination to all relevant actors (employers, employment services, disabled people and their organizations, NGOs, training centres, etc.).This will be achieved through the development of new methods and tools, that will provide information on disability issues with regard to employment and also information about existing opportunities and experience that could be further developed for the improvement of the vocational training and employment of disabled people and people with chronic diseases (e.g. standards and possibilities of internet-based learning and quality criteria in order to support the evaluation of e-learning training programs).

- Improving access of disabled people to information and qualification

One of the main problems faced by disabled people and people with chronic diseases is the lack of access to information and communication concerning the labour market. In the framework of this transnational cooperation, the national DPs will exchange experience and knowledge and develop common methods and instruments to improve this access by exploiting information and communication technologies. Such technologies will be exploited also for the provision of access to appropriate vocational training that will meet the needs of the labour market. It is a fact that many disabled people because of their disability cannot access vocational training programs addressed to the non-disabled population and as a result they have limited opportunities to obtaining qualification that will respond to the needs of the labour market. The transnational partners will collect comparative information on the training and employment systems in the respective countries of the national DPs and study the regional differences and similarities of qualification demands in the different labour markets, with the aim at a next stage to develop training modules (e.g. in the frame of e-learning or with the use of innovative technological training tools) that will be adapted to the individual needs of people with different kinds of disabilities or different kinds of chronic diseases and will provide access to a wider variety of training contents.

Finally, in the framework of this transnational partnership, the possibilities, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of tele-working will also be elaborated with the aim to encourage the creation of new working places in the frame of tele-working and improve employment opportunities for disabled people and people with chronic diseases that are excluded from the labour market.

- Improving support structures and increasing synergy effects

Among the objectives of this transnational cooperation is also the development of strategies for combining the resources and experiences of various actors in the field of disabled people’s rehabilitation and vocational (re)integration (e.g. NGOs, employment services, employers organizations, etc.) with the aim to create synergetic effects of manpower and competencies in the different countries and at European level.

At the same time, the transnational partners will examine and develop common strategies for the improvement of support and counselling provided to disabled people and people with chronic diseases but also to employers. Such strategies will be developed in a way that will facilitate their wide application and exploitation by public and private employment services which are often the bridge to the employment system and could contribute to the development of more individualised ways to integration.

Box 128 51
Reumatikerförbundet
112 98 Stockholm
www.reumatikerforbundet.org

Reumatikerförbundet

Tel:46-8-692 58 13
Fax:+46 8-650 64 15
Email:rolf.greiff@reumatikerforbundet.org


Responsibility in the DP:	Co-ordination of experimental activities Design of the project DP managing organisation Transnational partnership
Type of organisation:	Organisation providing support and guidance for disadvantaged groups
Legal status:	Non-profit private organisation (including NGO...)
Size:	Staff 50-250
NUTS code:
Date of joining / leaving:	24-08-2001 /

Contact person(s)

Name	First name	Phone	E-mail	Responsibility
Greiff	Rolf		rolf.greiff@reumatikerforbundet.org	Co-ordinator

Box 6501 Stockholm
Box 6501
113 83 Stockholm
www.hhs.se

IMI Institute for Management ofInnovation and Technology

Tel:+46 8-736 95 96
Fax:+46 8-34 58 11
Email:


Responsibility in the DP:	Evaluation Monitoring, data collection
Type of organisation:	University / Research organisation
Legal status:	Semi-public organisation
Size:	Staff 10-50
NUTS code:
Date of joining / leaving:	02-05-2002 /

Contact person(s)

Name	First name	Phone	E-mail	Responsibility
Rognes	Jon	+46 706 95 15 53	tjr@hhs.se	.

Strömbergsgatan 15
681 32 Kristinehamn
www.kps.liv.se

Kristinehamns folkhögskola

Tel:+46 550-392 50
Fax:+46 550-810 08
Email:monicam@kps.liv.se


Responsibility in the DP:
Type of organisation:	Education / training organisation
Legal status:	Non-profit private organisation (including NGO...)
Size:	Staff 10-50
NUTS code:	VAERMLANDS LAEN
Date of joining / leaving:	02-05-2002 /

Contact person(s)

Name	First name	Phone	E-mail	Responsibility
Marker	Monica	+46 706-58 33 67	monicam@kps.liv.se	.

Skeppsbrogatan 39
S-972 31 Luleå

SclumbergerSema Norr AB

Tel:46-920-27 66 24
Fax:46-920-27 66 99
Email:


Responsibility in the DP:
Type of organisation:	Enterprise
Legal status:	Private
Size:	Staff < 10
NUTS code:
Date of joining / leaving:	24-08-2001 /

Contact person(s)

Name	First name	Phone	E-mail	Responsibility
Wallbing	Thomas	+46 70 -372 60 24	tomas.wallbing@sema.se	.

Warning! This section is not meant to be read directly, but rather be navigated through from the main page above.

New arenas fore teleworking

Rationale

Bakgrund:
Reumatiska sjukdomarna är nästan alltid kroniska och innebär nedsatt funktionsförmåga, värk, trötthet m.m. Sjukdomen är föränderlig och innebär att många har svårt att planera sina liv. Ibland mår man bra och ibland går sjukdomen in i s.k. skov och man mår mycket dåligt.

Att arbeta på heltid är för många helt omöjligt. Även deltidsarbeten med förflyttningar och fasta tider är för många ett hinder. Följden blir långtidssjukskrivningar och förtidspensionering, vilket är ett resursslöseri för samhället och för individen kan det även bli både passiviserande och otillfredsställande. Eftersom reumatiska sjukdomar ofta går i skov kan distansarbete från hemmet var en lösning för många att kunna välja att fortsatt arbete framför sjukskrivning. Idag saknar arbetsgivaren tillräckliga incitament och möjligheter att ta sitt ansvar i hälsoarbetet samtidigt som försäkringskassorna har för små personella resurser.

Det är såväl från individ- som samhällsperspektiv ytterst angeläget att vidta kraftfulla åtgärder i syfte att hitta former som i grunden förstärker individens berättigade krav på arbete vid ohälsa. Totalt kostade de reumatiska sjukdomarna samhället ca 27 miljarder kr 1997. Av de 27 miljarder kronorna stod de indirekta kostnaderna för produktionsbortfall för 80 procent. Reumatiska sjukdomar kan därmed beskrivas som socialförsäkringssjukdomar eftersom socialförsäkringssystemet täcker en stor del av kostnaden för produktionsbortfallet. Förtidspensionerna svarade för den största delen av denna kostnad. Den sjukdomsgrupp som kostade mest var de mjukdelsreumatiska tillstånden. Kostnaden var nästan 13 miljarder kr och större delen av denna kostnad var indirekta kostnader. Källa CMT rapporten 1999:5
Det är ett stort problemområde denna ansökan berör. Projekt vill medverka till att både sjukskrivnings- och rehabiliteringsprocessen effektiviseras och i högre grad utgår från relationerna mellan individen och arbetsplatsen. Reumatiska sjukdomar är inte endast ett nationellt problem utan är en viktig gemensamma fråga för hela den Europiska gemenskapen. EDF European Disability Forum paraplyorganisationen för funktionshindrade i Europa har över 37 miljoner medlemmar anslutna och antalet personer med reumatiska sjukdomar i Europa är över 100 miljoner.

Objective

Syftet:
· Underlätta framtida arbete på distans för reumatiker.
· Påverka system och praxis för hantering av bidrag.

Mål:
· Initiera pilotfall, ca trettio st, där detta genomförs under realistiska förhållanden
· Ta fram riktlinjer för hantering av frågan för bidragsgivande myndigheter, Försäkringskassan, arbetsförmedlingen samt klargöra och förbättra möjligheter att disponera bidragsmedel för att initiera distansarbete för reumatiker
· Ta fram en handbok om hur man gör för att initiera detta för egen del / som privatperson, fackförening eller företagare. Enkel men utförlig beskrivning av nödvändiga steg och saker att tänka på.
· Dokumentera och sprida resultatet.

”Informationsteknologin ger möjligheter att utforma arbetsplatserna så att de blir individuellt anpassade och stöder den enskilda individens fysiska/motoriska förmåga och behov. Flera lyckade exempel kan åberopas idag. Det är därför angeläget att gå vidare och utveckla denna kunskap så att vi gör det rimligt för fler individer med funktionshinder att få meningsfulla möjligheter i vardagslivet och i arbetslivet. Det går att tillgodose olika behov. Med detta mål för ögonen kan vi verka för att fler får möjlighet att fungera på arbetsmarknaden på mer jämbördig basis.” Säger Birger Rapp, Professor i Ekonomiska Informationssystem, Linköpings Universitet och projektpartner.