Adapting Training and employment services under COVID-19 - ONCE
Fundación ONCE – Inserta Empleo, Spain “Adapting Training and employment services under COVID-19”
  Summary information on the organisationFundación ONCE, founded in 1938, operates throughout Spain. Inserta Empleo works since 1988, currently employing 416 people. It’s main mission is to contribute to the full social inclusion of people with disabilities, it’s main fields of activity are training, employment and universal accessibility.Summary information about the programme Just a week after the announcement of the first lockdown in Spain in March 2020, Fundación ONCE and Inserta Empleo (its specialized training and employment services) resumed most of their services to jobseekers with disabilities and employers. Services were adapted and provided remotely, either optimizing and improving processes, or designing new ones, while preserving quality and proximity to clients. The organisation, which had been immersed in a digitalization process over a few years, took the situation as an opportunity to boost it and consolidate it. Based on the existing tools, resources, and work procedures, Fundación ONCE and Inserta implemented a series of actions both internally and externally, aimed at enabling a fully remote quality service provision. We worked on four different areas: Staff Training Programs Employment Services Employers And with three main priorities: Being present and available for our clients Meeting our clients’ needs Meeting the requirements of the European Social Fund. Results show the success of our work. In Spain, the impact of the pandemic on employment was huge, and much more for people with disabilities. According to the Public Employment Service, as compared to the same months in 2019, in the second trimester of 2020 (the peak of the crisis) contracts for people with disabilities dropped by 58.1% and by 27.1% in the 3rd trimester despite the reactivation of activity during the summer months. Additionally, training programs for persons with disabilities were mostly cancelled for the first 6 months, and very limited later on. Despite the adverse context, in 2020 we got jobs for 7,706 jobseekers with disabilities (81% of the results in 2019) and provided training to around 11,000 (67% of the results in 2019). The feedback from our clients was also very positive: The average satisfaction rate of those jobseekers with disabilities served was 7.87 out of 10. The average satisfaction rate of students was 8.93 out of 10. The average satisfaction rate of employers was 8 out of 10. Regarding funding, the ESF Administrative Unit (UAFSE) accepted our revised programs and adapted evidence tracking and reporting procedures. |