Fundación ONCE - Ayho!: web platform and app for pre-employment training and on-thejob support

Ayho! is a project developed by Fundación ONCE in collaboration with Samsung and the Spanish Association of Supported Employment.

The name Ayho stands for "assisting and guiding tool"(by its initials in Spanish). It is a technological tool that aims to facilitate the labour inclusion of people with disabilities in the open labour market under the supported employment formula. It is an accessible multi-platform tool, with access from any web or mobile phone browser, and with native applications for Android and iOS phones and tablets. Its target users are workers with disabilities getting on-the-job support, their job coaches and pre-employment trainers in disability organizations, and the natural supports in the companies where they are employed.

Ayho! offers transversal pre-employment training content that can be useful in many sectors. It also facilitates workers’ task performance, with step-by-step directions on how to perform the tasks assigned to them, which increases their motivation and autonomy. And for trainers, job coaches and natural supports, it facilitates management and communication.The main features of Ayho! are:

• It provides pre-employment trainers with accessible training contents, which are transversal, interactive, and versatile to be used in different training contexts.

• It allows job coaches and natural supports in the company to create user profiles, describe tasks step by step (using texts, images or videos, depending on the level of support required by each worker), assign tasks and organise the schedule for different workers, set alarms, and use questionnaires to monitor their satisfaction and performance.

• It helps workers with disabilities to do a better job. Ayho! Allows them to take courses before starting to work, follow step by step directions to learn a new task, identify what they have to do at any time when they are at work, tell their job coach and natural support in 3the company if they have completed their tasks and if they have struggled with any of them.

• It promotes the use of technology.The project, developed according to the user-centred approach, has involved users with disabilities, experts, job coaches, end-user organizations and employers from the very beginning (design stage), in order to get their input and feedback throughout the whole process, as well as their validation of the final tool version, thus ensuring it meets the needs and requirements of all parties to facilitate work inclusion of people with disabilities in the open labour market. Responsible Department or Unit Department of Training and Employment, Operations and StudiesTarget group/sIt is addressed to all disability groups eligible for supported employment under the Spanish Supported Employment regulation (Royal Decree 870/2007), which includes:

• People with cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, psychosocial disability or hearing impairment with an officially recognizeddegree of disability greater than 33%

• People with physical or sensory disabilities with an officially recognized degree of disability greater than 65%Methodologies and approaches used to develop and carry out the initiative; service/s or activities that were developed. The project has been developed following a user-centred design methodology, putting the end user at the centre of the process, from the start of the project and throughout all its phases, to ensure that the product responds to the specific needs of every target user profile. Ayho! is based on a multi-stakeholder approach. Involving disability organizations who represent the target group and work with the supported employment model is a key success factor. It was built upon a previous project developed in 2013 with a similar goal, EcaTIC, which at the time faced many different barriers. Ten years ago, the supported employment ecosystem was not technologically prepared for it. Monitoring and support systems were totally paper-based, and there was a clear digital gap, which affected both the professionals and workers with disabilities.We learnt from that previous experience. Therefore, our first step was to run a consultation process with the Spanish disability movement to assess the state of play of digital transformation in supported employment, and specifically following the pandemic. We launched an online survey that was completed by more than 100 organizations. Based on their feedback, we could conclude that, because the pandemic forced people to see one other through a screen, to use multiple messaging applications, to work in collaborative environments, etc., the digital skills of workers and job 4coaches had improved, and consequently also the starting point of supported employment in terms of digitalisation and technology. The next phase was an intense work with different applied social research techniques to make an analysis of the requirements, needs, and preferences of the potential users of the tool. We conducted indepth interviews with job coaches, focus groups, and also field visits observe the needs in a real environment. This phase allowed us to identify what had and had not worked with EcaTIC, new features to be included, also for the new pre-employment training feature, and to define how to implement it.The involvement of the disability entities was key again throughout the development process to validate what was being developed. Two user testing iterations have been carried out, one with an earlier version of the prototypes, and a second one almost at the end of the development process for final validation.At the moment, a fully functional first web version and an Android mobile application are available, and we are finalising the iOS version. We are conducting a five-month pilot, where we have invited 30 of the entities that contributed throughout the development process to participate, so that they can test it in a real environment (in the daily activity of their workers with disabilities, job coaches, trainers, natural supports in companies...), and continue to share with us their feedback on how to better adapt the tool to their real needs and finetune and improve the application. After this pilot period, once all the improvements derived from it are implemented, we will have a robust application to launch onto the market (which in Spain will be free for all the disability organizations), hopefully by the end of the year.Elements of innovation and creativityIt is an innovative project developed in Spain to support people with disabilities under the supported employment model through technology:- Accessible multi-platform tool, which can be accessed from any web or mobile phone browser, and with native applications for Android and iOS phones and tablets (not existing previously)- Offering all necessary resources, providing step by step guidance and ongoing support to the worker, as well as communication between supported worker and job coach/natural support- Eventually allowing to reduce the presence of the job coaches.- Helping to mitigate the social stigma of supported employment, increasing users’ motivation and autonomy.- Developed according to the user-centred approach5How did the initiative demonstrate that it follows a rights-based approach?Reasonable adjustments are key to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the open labour market, and even more so for those with higher support needs. The personalized support Ayho! offers will foster the autonomy and self-confidence of workers with disabilities in the workplace, thusimproving both employability and job retention. Staff and resources (skills qualifications, infrastructure, materials) mobilised• Two experts from the Department of Training and Employment, Operations and Studies• A development team including two web developers, two mobile app developers, one front-end developer and one UIUX Designer• Two experts in Social Research and User ExperienceWere specific needs of the target group/s identified or people with a disability consulted in the realization of the initiative? If yes, how? (co-production approach)The project, developed according to the user-centred approach, has involved persons with disabilities, experts, job coaches, end-user organizations and employers from the very beginning (design stage), and throughout the whole development and testing process.Specifically, the following activities have been carried out to involve end-users:- A consultation process with the Spanish disability movement through an online survey to assess the state of play of digital transformation in supported employment and specifically following the pandemic.- Different applied social research techniques to make an analysis of the requirements, needs, and preferences of the potential users of the tool, including in-depth interviews with job coaches, focus groups, and field visits.- Two user testing iterations, one with an earlier version of the prototypes and a second once almost at the end of the development process for final validation.- A five-month pilot involving 30 disability organizations.Were other stakeholders or partners (employers, families, associations, informal network, etc.) involved? If yes, how?Ayho! has a multi-stakeholder approach: - Strategic Partner: The Spanish Association of Supported Employment (AESE), contributing to disseminate the projectand to identify disability organizations willing to provide input and feedback, as well as to participate in the pilot stage.- Technological Partner: Samsung, providing funds and technological support.- Disability organizations and persons with disabilities (endusers), providing input and feedback during the design and development process, and participating in the pilot stage. MONITORING AND EVALUATION6What have been the main impacts on your users/clients, staff and the organisation?The project is still in a pilot stage, so there’s no impact to be reported yet. Expected impacts include: - Improving the working experience of persons with disabilities with high support needs.- Increasing the employment rate of the target group.- Improving the communication among the worker with a disability, the company and the disability organization providing the support.- Improving the efficiency of job coaching services. How are you measuring/assessing whether the service/initiative is implementing some or all the key factors characterising the rightsbased framework? Do you have any evidence or studies to show the impact?The project has been developed following the user-centred approach, which means that persons with disabilities have been put at the very centre. Ayho! promotes the realisation of the right to work for persons with disabilities with high support needs, providing all necessary supports through a digital tool that helps to equate their conditions to other staff members, as well as to mitigate prejudices associated to in-personsupport. (Legality)The project specifically aims at improving the labour inclusion of persons with disabilities with high support needs, who usually face the biggest barriers to enter the open labour market (Non-discrimination). We have involved end-users with disabilities and disability organizations throughout the whole process, including design, development, testing and validation (Participation). The project is currently at its pilot stage, so there is no evidence of the impact yet.However, we have created a community of users, so that all the organizations using our tool will be able to provide us with feedback over time. Ayho! also includes an evaluation feature, so that workers will be able toprovide their job coaches and natural supports in the company with feedback (on their experience, on specific tasks, on their challenges, their needs…), which should eventually improve the communication among the worker, the service, and the company. What are, in your experience, the “success factors” or support measures which allowed your organisation to realize users’ inclusion, independence, participation and access toservices?Involving disability organizations and their service users with disabilities, and working under a user-centred approach, are two major success factors, since they ensure the output meets the real needs of the end users. Providing support through a digital tool will make the work of job coaches much more efficient, which will in turn allow them to support a higher number of workers with high support needs without reducing the quality of their service. 7What were, in your experience, the biggest hurdles or problems which made implementing rights-based approach to service creation, production and deliverydifficult to be developed or put in place?Some companies are reluctant to allow their workers to use mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets in the workplace. This decision is sometimes attributed to the specificities of the job or the workplace, to safety reasons, but in many cases the rationale is weak, based on HR policies, and could allow for more flexibility in the case of workers with high support needs. This has forced us to limit the types of jobs and companies where the tool could be piloted. FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS AND TRANSFERABILITYHow do you see the initiative developing in the future?To ensure Ayho!’s constant evolution over time, we have created a community of user organizations, starting with those who are involved in the pilot stage, which will be open to any organization using the tool once it is officially launched. The community will encourage all the entities providing supported employment services to use the tool, to share their experiences and support one another, and to collect feedback and identify areas forimprovement and new needs. What are the major future challenges you see in relation to the initiative, for your users/clients, staff and organisation and for employers? How does your organisation try to overcome them?The major challenge will be to keep the Ayho! community alive, organising activities that engage and motivate its members, and to attract new users. In Spain it is estimated that around 30,000 persons with disabilities work under the supported employment formula. The challenge will be to reach the organizations supporting those people with the collaboration of the Spanish Association of Supported Employment(strategic partner). Do you think the initiative could work in another country? If so, which aspect/s and why?Absolutely. Last 7th of June 2023, Ayho! was presented at the World Supported Employment Conference held in Vancouver (Canada). It highly raised the interest of the audience, specially from Latin American countries. Following the Conference, we were directly contacted by some organizations from Colombia and Chile, and we are currently discussing the design of an internationalization strategy, which in a first stage would make it accessible to Spanish-speaking countries. POLICYHow would you describe your organisation’s cooperation and dialogue with policy makersOne of the demands of the sector is the need for greater public support and increased access to funds for the supported employment modality, which in Spain is very low, with public administrations prioritising other measures to promote employment of persons with disabilities. 8and/or public authorities as to adaptations you had to make? Fundación ONCE, together with the Spanish umbrella organisation representing the interests of persons with disabilities in Spain(CERMI) and other disability organizations, is currently part of a working group which is drafting a proposal for modification of Royal Decree 870/2007 of 2 July (regulating the supported employmentprogramme as a measure to promote employment of persons with disabilities in the open labour market). The aim is to get a legal recognition for supported employment and on-the-job support tools as reasonable accommodations.Although the weaknesses of the regulation currently in force do not directly affect our project, it affects its impact, which would be exponentially higher if companies were not allowed to reject the use of supporting technological devices in the workplace. Have there been changes in legislation or regulations that positively or negatively affected the realization of rights-based services? If so, could you briefly describe what changed and with what effect for your users/clients, staff, organisation and employers.A modification of the regulation in force is being promoted in order to improve the status of supported employment as well as the working conditions of persons with disabilities in supported employment.Being recognized as reasonable accommodations would oblige companies to accept and implement supported employment methodologies and tools whenever required by a worker with high support needs. What would need to change in funding, policy and regulatory frameworks to better support people with disabilities’ rights?The modification we are promoting aims at getting supported employment methodology and tools like Ayho! recognized as reasonable accommodations for workers with high support needs.This recognition would have a direct impact on public funding allocated to supported employment, which would allow to increase the employment rate of people with disabilities in the open labour market.