“ We have checked our building. We imagined someone who was deaf, someone who was blind and someone in a wheelchair. We found out we needed support from experts to look for
all accessibility aspects. They checked once more. That really helped us. In the end, only some small adjustments were needed.”

“ The job coach advised us to look at ‘how to get in and around the building’ and also to look at ‘how to get out of the building when there is an emergency’. We never thought of that part, now we have included ‘how to get out’ in our accessibility plan.”

“ We made adjustments inside the building. For the outside it was more complicated, we only had stairs. Then we were advised to ask for a subsidy to adjust the outside, now that is arranged too.”

“ We hired an administrator who was wheelchair-bound. On her tour through the building, it turned out she couldn’t open the glass swing doors, they were just too heavy. We readjusted all doors. Not only she, but also all our other employees were happy that we ‘finally got rid of those heavy doors’.”

“ The new employee with a visual impairment asked us whether our company newsletter and all our company instructions were also available in a digital way. We arranged it, now we offer it to all our employees.”

“ We know our workers are open to their new colleague. Still, they need to know what is expected of them and what kind of support is needed. We also support the new employee with how to be open where needed. We learned a lot from the job coaches; they are trained in providing everyone involved with simple and functional information, always only related to the job.”

“ The new colleague takes away some of the work our mechanics are happy to hand over to somebody else, now they can focus on their core tasks, which they like and it is also good for us as a company.”

” In the beginning, we thought we had to pay for the loss of production ourselves. Then we found out, we could receive subsidies for this. We also learned about receiving support of a job coach. It all made it much easier to hire our employees with a disability.”

” We receive a 50% compensation for the loss of productivity, which does not only reflect the employee’s functional performance, but also the adaptation effort conducted by the company, in terms of needs for supervision, for example”

” Our chef baker has the seniority to guide the new employees. He knows exactly what needs to be done, he knows the traps in the beginning, and is able to explain all the tasks in a very clear way. He also has the patience to support this new colleague to become a really good assistant baker!”

” Every employee with us has to be trained, that’s nothing new for our people. We always look at who is new and who then takes on the supervision. The arrival of this new employee is no different from others. It is always tailor-made and there has to be a click or it will not work.”

” We made a short film of our company and the work that needs to be done. This was really helpful for all new employees, also for those who had difficulties reading. “

”I start and end the day with a short conversation of five minutes with this employee. I find that it’s enough to take the pressure off the day and catch things at the end.”

” I talk to her for an hour a week about how the work is going and what she encounters. With other employees it takes me ten minutes at most. I have incorporated that coaching time into my targets and I still come out positive.”