“A friend of mine used to work for an organisation supporting people with intellectual disabilities. It was through him that I heard about this opportunity. For me, it only felt right to take on our social responsibility and employ people with partial work ability. We have been doing so for twenty years now. One of our employees has already retired, another has worked for us for over ten years, and Tomi, our youngest employee, started two years ago. He is currently on sick leave. He will come back as soon as his situation improves.”
“When I started, I contacted the local employment agency and they put me in touch with a job coach. She explained how it worked. It is our responsibility to specify our requirements, after which they select and prepare candidates for interviews with us. Then we select our new employee. In our case, if we hire someone, we pay them from the outset. This was according to our collective agreement.”
The restaurant comprises different workstations, including a kitchen, a pastry shop and a café. The aim is to have one trainee per workstation in future. When we started, we excluded tasks that wouldn’t fit, such as the hot areas of the bakery. All the other tasks were divided among all the employees, both those with and without partial workability, so that everyone has a little bit of everything. Of course, each employee only has to perform tasks that match their abilities. Fortunately, most of the tasks in the kitchen, pastry shop, bakery and dining area are suitable.”
‘My disabled employees are an integral part of the working community and are well-received by customers. Up until now, after all these years, customer reactions have always been positive. That’s great — our employees have gained self-esteem and feel part of the community. They take great care of their own responsibilities. Everyone comes to work in a good mood. My employees with a partial capacity for work are a beacon of light for the workplace. I now also have a reputation as a responsible employer. I have achieved this, and I will continue to hire people with partial workability wherever possible.
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