A Comparative Study of the Situation of Supported Employment in Europe

Abstract

Agencies offering supported employment (SE) in the European Union (EU) were surveyed using a Web‐based questionnaire in 2006. Responses were obtained from 184 organizations, primarily from Finland, Spain, and the United Kingdom (UK). The majority of respondents offered a wide range of services with 83% offering SE and about half having begun offering it in the last 5 years. The data showed many organizations offering services in addition to SE (e.g., vocational training or sheltered work provision). There was significant variation in provision of key elements of SE, particularly workplace support. This may disadvantage people with intellectual disabilities (ID). Funding of SE varied across areas, with 22% overall reliant on short‐term European funding. People with ID were the largest group of users by “minorities” in Finland and Spain. Most worked more than 24 h per week, with only a minority having permanent contracts. Hours of support were generally low. The authors conclude that funding for SE is fragile and that variations in the model used may disadvantage people with more severe ID, and thus lead to less effective SE. Fewer hours worked in the UK than elsewhere suggest a lack of harmonization of welfare benefit legislation provision across the EU, again affecting people with ID disproportionately. The study highlights the need for follow‐up studies.

Job Satisfaction of People With Intellectual Disability: Associations With Job Characteristics and Personality

“…These findings are inconsistent with prior studies on job satisfaction of people with intellectual disabilities, which point to higher job satisfaction levels in integrated employment. This may be explained by inter-country variation in context and conditions in sheltered and integrated employment (Beyer, Jordán de Urríes, & Verdugo, 2010;Visier, 1998), which could lead to differences in job characteristics of the employment settings. It might also be explained by differences in personal characteristics of those employed in the different settings.…”

Employment for persons with intellectual disability in the Nordic countries: A scoping review

“…One recurring element seems to be the varying supports that employers experience when hiring persons with intellectual disability. Employers highlight the need for advisory support (Kuznetsova & Yalcin, 2017), but at least three studies suggest that this support is not always adequate (Beyer et al, 2010;Knüppel et al, 2019;Saloviita & Pirttimaa, 2007). Supported employment programmes may be an effective intervention to address employers' experienced need for support to accommodate the workplace for employees with intellectual disability (Tholen et al, 2017).…”

“…Supported employment programmes may be an effective intervention to address employers' experienced need for support to accommodate the workplace for employees with intellectual disability (Tholen et al, 2017). However, three of the included studies indicate that there is considerable variation in the content of supported employment programmes, and certain programmes may even bar persons with significant disabilities, which may disadvantage persons with intellectual disability (Beyer et al, 2010;Saloviita & Pirttimaa, 2007;Skedinger & Widerstedt, 2007).…”

Changes in the Provision of Day Services in Ireland to Adult Persons With Intellectual Disability

“…The period from 2009 onward saw reductions in service budgets in real terms, which may have encouraged providers to consolidate around long‐established, center‐based models of care provision with higher levels of staff‐client ratios rather than diversifying into new styles of more personalized supports (Hatton, ; Hussein & Manthorpe, ). To date, there have been few cost‐benefit studies comparing the outcomes for service users receiving alternative service models, but these are necessary to assure governments of value‐for‐money (Beyer et al, ; Beyer et al, ). In particular, the opinions of service‐users and of their family carers to the day services they receive and the changes they have experienced deserves much greater scrutiny than has been the case to date in Ireland and in other countries (Hamilton, Mesa, Hayward, Price, & Bright, ).…”

“…In line with international trends, some service providers started to instigate supported employment schemes in which people with intellectual disability were placed in mainstream work settings alongside a job coach to facilitate their mastering of the job with the expectation that they would obtain paid employment in the open labor market (Beyer, de Urríes, & Verdugo, ).…”